Servicing schedules, cleaning routines, troubleshooting tips and common repair issues to keep your air conditioner running efficiently year round. Not sure what a term means? Check our AC Glossary and FAQ hub.
Fix airflow first, then have a technician verify your refrigerant charge with measurements. Those two services restore the most cooling efficiency, while condenser coil washing and blind refrigerant top-ups are oversold. I have spent more than five years installing, repairing,…
Replace your AC when it is past 10–15 years old and repairs keep adding up, but confirm the cause first, because a struggling air conditioner is not always a worn-out one. In five years of installing and servicing air conditioners…
R410A vs R32 refrigerant comes down to a trade-off: R32 has about one-third the global warming potential of R410A (675 versus 2,088) and usually delivers slightly better efficiency, but it is mildly flammable and cannot be added to a system…
Water from an air conditioner isn’t safe to drink as-is because it is collected from coils, pans, and drain lines that were never built to deliver drinking water. The water seems pure to the eyes, but it picks up whatever…
R22 refrigerant (also called R-22, HCFC-22, or Freon) is a colorless hydrochlorofluorocarbon gas, chemically chlorodifluoromethane, that cools air conditioners, heat pumps, and commercial refrigeration systems. It is still legal to use for servicing existing equipment, but only reclaimed, recycled, or…
Your AC most often leaks water because the condensate drain line is clogged, and where the water shows up tells you how urgent it is. A thin drip from the outdoor drain pipe is normal. Water inside your home, from…
If your HVAC contractor mentioned a new refrigerant this year, they were almost certainly talking about R32 or R454B. These are the two low-GWP refrigerants that have taken over new air conditioner and heat pump manufacturing in the United States…
An evaporative cooler cools a room well only when the air is hot and dry, while a portable air conditioner cools in any weather. The reason is the wet-bulb temperature, the lowest temperature evaporation can reach. In desert air, that…