can a portable air conditioner be low on coolant?

Question

Mine is sucking hot air out, and pushing some slightly cool air in, but... not cool enough. Does that mean it's low on coolant?

Answer 1

You mean refrigerant, and yes it probably needs a recharge. Good luck finding someone to do it though. Maybe a backyard auto mechanic, or an HVAC guy with the equipment who does side work. To get a professional HVAC company, it would probably be cheaper to buy a new portable unit.

Answer 2

A couple of things to check. The filter (on the inside part) might be plugged (usualy this is easy to remove, wash out, and replace). Also, there is one other, relatively uncommon, possibility; the condensor (the set of fins on the outside) might be blocked by crud. NOTE: the outside of these fins will always look clean; you need to get a look at the INSIDE surface of these fins. Try looking into the side vents of the case, with a flashlight if necessary. Usually, these only get plugged on fairly old machines that have been used for years, so if your machine only a few years old, I wouldn't even bother to check this. I would suggest you not open the case unless you know what you're doing, if you puncture one of the tubes refrigerant gas and often oil, will spray out under high pressure! Also the exposed terminals of the starting capacitor present a hazard as, in some models, there is no resistor to bleed off the charge. PS If the gas is low I would suggest getting a new one, they're pretty cheap nowadays.

Answer 3

Air conditioners are sealed systems. If there is a leak, the gas will leak out and you won't get any cooling. Are the coils and filter clean? If the unit cannot absorb heat from the room, it won't give you cool air. Also check the vent/fresh air lever.
Package air conditioners only last a few years, then you replace them. It costs more in labor to fix than a new unit. They are not designed/built to be repaired. The most you can do is clean them. When they stop removing the heat, get a new one.

Answer 4

1-hose portable A/C's do cause low air pressure in the room, and will suck in unconditioned air from the outside. This is the reason for dual-hose systems, in which there is no net exhaust of gas from the room, making them more efficient. There is no way that you are going to collapse a structure with the small air pressure difference we are talking about, nor will you be able to hermetically seal the room such that a vacuum is created.

Answer 5

Could be low freon, but then you should see frosting on the coils unless its almost out of freon, the Capillary tube that supplies the freon to the coil could be restricted and it might be that the compressor has bad valves and not pumping the compressed gas to the evaporator. The best is to take it in and have a service tech check it out.

Answer 6

Yes, it is most likely low on refrigerant. Unfortunately, there aren't many professionals around that can recharge them. If you do some searching around, you may be able to find a kit to recharge it yourself. You might just want to save yourself the trouble and buy a new unit.

Answer 7

No...Unless something broke inside and released the coolant..More likely answer is that the compressor is shot

Answer 8

check wal mart they havecoolant an the connection hose,to recharge it check it out reasonable prices as you know

Answer 9

low refrigerant dirty or under sized