Will cloged AC freon pipes be a costly fix?

Question

My home ac system is not working to par. Sometimes it works great, other times it hardly works.

When it first started acting up I had a ac tech come and top off the freon. He told me it was 2 pounds shy.

It worked good for a few days then acted up again. I had the tech come back and he said it was 2 pounds shy again. Toward the end of filling it back up he noticed it jumped back up to 4 pounds over.

He told me that I had an air bubble or some other kind of clog in the freon pipes. It worked again for a while after removed the 4 pounds...

Now it's not working again. The pipes are freezing up again.

My question is Is this common to have a clog in the freon pipes? What will a ac tech have to do to get this cog out? Is this going to cost a lot?

Please note everything is clean, & using clean filters.

I would like to clarify one thing. The tech that I had come over only deals with the freon. I knew this from the get-go.

He only came over twice. The first time he added 2 units of freon. He charged me $10/unit.

The second time he added 2 more units then checked the level/pressure??? whatever it's called. He realized it was over by 4. The total amount he had put into it.

He then on that same visit released the extra 4 units, and charged me nothing.

At that point he explained to me how he thought there was a clog or air bubble in the freon line....

Answer 1

there could be many problems depending on how your system meters the freon into your a coil...1 if it has an orfice to meter freon it would take a serious problem to cause this to clog such as contaimaints in the system....2 if it has cap tubes to meter the freon these would only stop up if there also was some contaimaints in the system....if it has a thermal expansion valve then this is bad and needs replaced...contaimaints such as water or sludge from a compressor going bad and causing the freon to be acidic would cause this problem...have you ever had your compressor replaced.....if so why burn out or lock up ...did they install filter dryer in system....it wil cost a lot to have this problem fixed as they will have to recover all the freon in the system...check for acidity...run a cleaner through the system ..install filter dryer, pull a vacumun(this removes all water from system) reinstall freon if it is not acidic , normally for a job like this I charge 300 dollars plus service call 50 dollars, plus parts( filter dryer suction and liquid line, silver solder. torch gas and cleaner and freon if yours is acidic...I have done this many times and have repaired units that ran for years after this was done properly... usually you can get this fixed for around 400 to 700 dollars depending on what your local hvac tech charge for this service

Answer 2

The thermal expansion valve may be defective, or you have a little moisture in the refrigerant line that freezes up the thermal expansion valve when the water hits it and causes a blockage. The suction pressure will drop, tricking the technician into thinking the unit is low on juice. When the unit reaches temperature, the refrigerant will warm up and the ice block will melt and the pressure will jump up again.
The technician will need to check the thermal expansion valve and see if it is defective.
If you have water in the refrigerant line, the system will need to be pumped down, a filter/dryer installed, and then tested. Some systems cannot be pumped down, and the refrigerant will need to be recovered. There is a charge for disposal, but EPA allows recovered refrigerant to be put back into the same machine. Tech's don't want to do this, as it is extra labor, and they can't charge you for recovery and new juice.
You will need to call the company and have a master tech come out to diagnose your system.
Keep on Koolin'

Answer 3

He duped you 3 times so far with adding refrigerant without fixing a leak, i wouldn't cal him back.
What you have is either a leak or, if you have an orifice, a clog there. he orifice is in your evaporator section (the inside coil). The fact that the ipes have frozen means you mau have done damage to your compressor. What needs to be done is have a REPUTABLE tech come out, pump down the system and check out your orifice. If there is no oricife installed, you may have an expansion valve problem. Either way, it's an inside coil problem.

I dont expect you to understand the terminology im throwing out but if you use it with the AC tech, he may think twice about taking you for a ride.
In the future, know this-refrigerant doesnt go bad-if you have to keep adding it, you have a leak! plain and simple. If the tech just charges your system without fixing the leak, he's not doing the job. Call his supervisor!

Answer 4

It,s very rare that you get clogged freon pipes unless there is a foreign object in it.
My suggestion is to remove all the old freon and vacumn the system again before re-charging it to the correct pressure.
Pipes getting frozen is an indication that it is undercharged.
Also get the A/C tech to do a check in the lines for leakages.

Answer 5

Your freon won't in simple terms run out. If there is not any leaks and the compressor is nice then this is going to constantly blow chilly. (think of of a refrigerator or freezer). Now what you opt for is a dve kit. i offered one for approximately $30 and it got here with the dye and the ultraviolet gentle, glasses and stuff to clog the leak. You spray it in there and in the journey that your compressor no longer kicks on. (some structures will disable the compressor whilst the rigidity drops) then you definately might desire to run a jumper twine straght from the battery and then shoot in some dye and use the gentle to be sure the place this is popping out. as quickly as you patch the hollow use the jumper twine basically long adequate to can charge the equipment adequate for the compressor to return on, via itself, as a results of fact the little bottles of freon on the keep doesnt have adequate rigidity to can charge the equipment with out the compressor working. Then fill to approximately 25 PSI.

Answer 6

First thing you need to do is not have that same tech back as he obviously isn't very experienced at diagnosing central air systems. I doubt your system has a thermostatic expansion valve but rather has a capillary tube or metering piston, although TXVs do exist. If you in an area that is served by Angies List (www.angieslist.com) find a quality a/c shop at there website.

Answer 7

Sounds fishy to me. How can he tell it was 4 pounds over?? I assume he is talking about weight??? and not pressure???

I would call someone else.