Do-it-yourself freon air conditioning: instructions. How often to refuel?

Air conditioners are now installed almost everywhere. Many are owners of home units, but when they do not cool the room, there is a need for its repair. In order to save, you can do it yourself - to charge the refrigerant, following the instructions in the article.

What does the air conditioner refuel with?

At the mention of freon, a parallel is immediately drawn with the refrigerant of the refrigerator, but a certain type of air is used for household air cooling, different from that used in freezers. So, the most commonly used freon brands:

• R-22 - he proved himself to be the most reliable carrier; it is characterized by high cooling efficiency, in contrast to similar refrigerants of the R-8 brand and others. When using them, the production of cold by the apparatus can significantly decrease, and the energy consumption can increase.
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• R-134 a - A newer type of freon is safer for nature, since it does not affect its ozone layer. It is now used extremely rarely due to its high cost.

Step-by-step instructions for refueling the air conditioner

Before refueling, you need to check the integrity of the cooling line, view all its tubes. If everything is in order, you can begin the preparatory work for refueling:

1. Crimping system. If outwardly no deviations are detected, then nitrogen gas must be pumped into the system. This is doable with gear and pressure gauge. When the volume of the air conditioner is completely full, nitrogen will cease to flow into the system. With complete sealing, the pressure in the unit will be constant, if it drops, then the freon leakage occurs due to damage to the tubes, which should be sealed. Otherwise, if everything is tight in the system, then we can proceed to evacuation;
2. Vacuum pump connection. When choosing this device, you need to check that it has a pressure gauge and a check valve on it. The first will be responsible for pressure, and the second will prevent oil from entering freon. The pump is connected to the air conditioner via a manifold. Before running it on the manifold, you need to unscrew the gas valve. When the minimum value is set on the pressure gauge, it will be necessary to turn on the pump and close the valve on the manifold.

Split system refueling progress:

1. Equipment Preparation. For refueling you need digital devices - scales and thermometer, a set of keys and a manometric manifold. It is better to use a four-position collector to avoid reconnection and air formation in the tube;
2. Prepare Freon Cylinder. You need to weigh it, and then open the valve on it and close it immediately to bleed air from the hose;
3. Prepare the air conditioner. On it you need to set the temperature to 18 degrees and turn on the device to cool the room;
4. Pressure gauge connection. On the device, you need to find the largest tube coming from the external unit, unscrew the cap from it and connect the manometer to the vacated place, and its other end is already connected to the cylinder with Freon
5. Refueling process. The pressure should increase, and when it is 5-8 bar, you need to close the valve on the cylinder and pressure gauge. Replace the cap.

To find out how much gas was required to refuel the climate technology, you need to place the balloon again on the balance and compare the weight with the previous reading.

How often do I need to refuel an air conditioner?

It can be leaked from the cooling system for several reasons, but mostly the refrigerant is lost during transportation through copper pipes located between the units of the device. Because of this, it is necessary to periodically refuel the carrier - even older models of air conditioners require this once every 2 or 3 years.

In case the tubes are damaged, freon leaves the equipment very quickly. Their damage occurs during transportation of equipment, improper installation or strong pressure tubes to each other. Despite the fact that the air conditioner does not vibrate during operation, its rear wall can still affect the contact of these tubes. If the loss of freon is caused by damage to the tubes, then refueling without repair will not help.

You can see and feel the loss of freon by several obvious signs:

• Frost will appear on the outside of the unit.
• When the air conditioner is turned on, the room where it is installed cools very slowly.
• The operation of the apparatus is accompanied by the smell of gas (see also - how to get rid of bad smell).

Refill window type air conditioner (video)

In a visual material, the master of repairing household appliances tells how you can eliminate the leak of freon and refuel it.

In the case under consideration, freon leakage occurred due to grinding of its tubes. Repair begins by disconnecting the tubes. On one of them, made of copper, there is a fitting through which Freon will subsequently refuel. Through this pipe, the refrigerant was still pumped at the factory. To fill it at home, you need to solder the shredder valve into this branch.

The mass of the necessary freon is not indicated anywhere, so the refueling will be carried out by pressure. When the capillary tube was straightened, it broke. To tightly connect both ends, you need a small piece of copper pipe with a diameter of 6 mm. It is also designed for installation on air conditioning.

The prepared pipe section is mounted first on one end of the copper tube, then on the other and using pliers clamp the intermediate tube, thereby ensuring its reliable installation, and then seal it a place.

To refuel the device, perform the following steps:

1. Turn on the vacuum pump;
2. Open the valve on the manifold using its two-position view;
3. The radiators of the device are washed to clean;
4. They place a home-made rubber gasket on one pipe so that in the future the pipes do not come into contact with each other;
5. They put the air conditioner in a warm room and are filled with freon.

You can see a visual refueling lesson in the following video:

You can refuel the air conditioner yourself by purchasing pre-freon, as well as rent the necessary tools. In order to prevent mistakes, it is worthwhile to consistently carry out all the preparatory steps, as well as the immediate refueling actions.