A refrigerant is an integral component of an AC. The chemical blend ensures that you have cool air in your home by absorbing heat from the inside of the building and releasing it outside, helping to maintain a comfortable temperature indoors. By design, you should never have to deal with refrigerant leaks in your home. They occur rarely but have devastating effects on your health and the environment when they do.
It’s easy to tell when there is a refrigerant leak in your home if you are observant of your health. Also, your AC would fail and start to short cycle when there is a refrigerant leak. Click here to find an example of some experts to contact when looking to repair a refrigerant leak.
Meanwhile, this article explores the dangers and risks of refrigerant leaks in your home, including health risks and system damage. So, keep reading to learn more.
Risks and dangers of refrigerant leaks in your home
A refrigerant is vital in the performance of an air conditioning system. However, it is potentially hazardous when it leaks into your home. Therefore, it’s advisable to hire an HVAC contractor when you detect a refrigerant leak. Here are the risks of refrigerant leakage.
Health risk/refrigerant poisoning
Refrigerant poisoning is the most significant adverse effect of a refrigerant leak. It starts with a manifestation of a series of symptoms. Typically a refrigerant leak is quick, so you don’t have to worry about the refrigerant slowly filling your space.
The symptoms of refrigerant poisoning usually appear in its presence and disappear once you get away from it. Its effects are typically short-term. However, since they have small bodies, refrigerant poisoning has more brutal consequences for pets and children.
They are also closer to the level ground where a refrigerant settles due to its high density. As mentioned, there are various systems you can look out for to tell you when you have refrigerant poisoning. These symptoms include:
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Eye, nose, and throats irritation
- Nausea
- Unconsciousness
- Seizure
- Death
You can find a refrigerant leak by listening for a hissing sound at the outdoor condenser unit and indoor air handler. Refrigerant leaks often occur due to vandalism or after natural disasters like earthquakes and storms. Inspect your unit after such events to eliminate their occurrence.
Evacuate small children and pets first when there is a Freon leak, and open windows and doors to allow circulation. Then, ensure a technician checks the leak to avoid further problems with the refrigerant.
Air conditioning system damage
The health of your air conditioning system relies on everything working as it should – that entails the refrigerant remaining at the predetermined level. Low refrigerant levels after leaks strain the compressor as the pressure changes.
The compressor and the entire system work harder to cool your space. What follows is that the compressor overheats and fails. It takes replacing the burnt-out compressor and the whole system to work again.
Another part of the system that might suffer damage is the coil. The refrigerant’s lack of pressure to move as it usually does will become colder. As a result, any moisture on the coil freezes, creating a layer of frost and preventing heat exchange.
The frost eventually turns into ice, and heat exchange will cease altogether. Finally, all the ice will damage the coil if you don’t do something about it.
How to identify a refrigerant leak in your home
It helps to identify a refrigerant leak for safety and energy efficiency. Take the symptoms of refrigerant poisoning as a sign of a refrigerant leak in your home. Here are other signs that can tell you when dealing with a refrigerant leak.
- Spike in electric bills: Your system works harder to cool your space. It ends up consuming more energy causing the electric bill to skyrocket.
- Hissing sounds: Hissing sounds originate from holes and cracks in the coils. You’ll hear them when the refrigerant passes through the loops.
- Bubbles in evaporator coils: Leaking coolant tends to collect as tiny bubbles in the evaporator coil.
- Water leaks: The frozen coils from leaking refrigerant will cause exclusive water from the overflowing drain to spill.
Causes of refrigerant leaks
If the refrigerant in your AC is leaking, the system is already compromised. If you ask your technician, you can know the exact cause of a refrigerant leak. Although vandalism and natural disasters can contribute to a refrigerant leak, there are other causes that you can’t rule out.
Wear and tear
It’s common for air conditioning units to start acting up after the tenth-year mark. Refrigerant leaking is one of the ways your air conditioning unit will act up. It starts with the rubber seals around the valve stems wearing out over time.
Rust also comes along as the elements overwhelm the outdoor sections of your AC, which is a standard design with central AC units. It affects the assembly joist and so leaks. Leaks that occur from wear and tear due to time are simple to fix and only require replacement.
Improper installation
The nature of the installation of your AC unit plays a significant role in how it performs. It’s essential to ensure an expert installs it to ensure you get excellent service out of AC. Parts that need fixing together to prevent leaks are delicate in this context. Failure to follow instructions about putting components together will cause coolant to escape as a gas or liquid.
Factory defects
The assumption is that you examine an air conditioner after purchasing. It is an essential step to help eliminate defects that might stop it from working correctly. However, you might fail to spot some issues, especially if you are not an expert, which could later result in refrigerant leaks.
Factory defects may include missing or damaged components that facilitate a leak. Also, improper handling of the units, especially during transportation, could damage sensitive parts related to refrigerant work.
Final Words
There are a lot of dangers and risks associated with a refrigerant leak in your home. It is hard to tell when there is a Freon leak. If you suspect it, it’s better to act quickly in your suspicion instead of waiting for things to get worse. It is impossible never to attempt to deal with a refrigerant leak yourself.
DIY refrigerant leak repair is dangerous as it’s an unstable compound. Always involve an expert since handling refrigerant requires skill for safety. Sometimes simple AC repair will end a refrigerant leak, and other times you might have to replace the entire system.
