I wanted a second opinion on my central A/C, so I decided to ask here for some opinions. I had my A/C checked, an here were the findings: - freon level good - coils fine - "A/C in general, condenser and evaporator" operating properly - 9 degree difference between inlet and outlet temp. Solution by A/C guy: condenser (outside unit) is going bad (valving, bearings, etc) and needs replacing. I know the inlet - outlet temp difference should be 18 - 20 degrees. Does anyone have any suggestions / info before I consider buying a new condenser?? Thanks in advance for the information and help!

First of all, some basic info. I live in a condo that had central A/C installed when I bought it. Not sure of the brand. The condo is only about 6 years old, so the A/C is no older than that. On Friday, my wife called me at work, and said she thought the A/C was not working. The whole house was pretty warm, except for the basement, which was nice and cool. The thermo was set at about 67 degrees, and the lever was set to cool. The A/C seemed to be running, but nothing was coming from the vents. She looked at the furnace, and the lines coming out of it for the A/C were all frozen! They were one big block of ice. As were the connections into the condensor outside. She immediately shut it off, and called the fixit people. The guy came out on Saturday to look at it. He said the only problem was that it was low on refrigerant, and proceede to recharge it. She asked him of there was a leak, and he said he couldn't find any, but from what she said, he didn't look very hard. Now for the actual question..... Is refrigerant a consumable, where it would go low without there being a leak? If so, should it have gone low this quickly? Thanks