Fixing Freon Leak or Replace?

14 years ago

My home is approximately 1300 square feet single story and was built on a slab in 1984. It is located in NC and is a 1/4 mile from the ICW and is very humid in the summer. The winters are generally very temperate here except this year which was colder than normal. The unit is located on the north side of the house which has the least amount of saltwater exposure. The attic air handler is an original GE and the outside unit was replaced in 1998. It is a Janitrol. Last year the compressor went bad and was replaced in June. Six months later I had my installer check the unit when it was not cooling right. He had to put 3 pounds of R-22 in it. He did not want to go in the attic to trouble shoot the unit because of the heat up there. I now notice it is running more and more to keep up. I am assuming it is low on R-22 again since the leak did not repair itself.

Is it worth it to try and find the leak? It operates fine when it has the correct amount of R-22. Is this unit worth fixing or should I bite the bullet and replace this old 7 seer unit? The trunk ducting is metal appears to be galvanized and has the insulation inside. I am concerned that the insulation could break down over the years. I have been told that to install one of the more efficient systems we would really need to replace the duct work. I was also told that we could benefit from replacing the old pink insulation vats with the blown in type. We plan on keeping this home and would like to have an efficient system that we can count on long term. Thanks in advance for your responses.

Pleas let me know what your thoughts are. We would like to do something before we move into the summer cooling season.

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Comments (5)

tigerdunes
14 years ago
needheatpumphelp

just adding refrigerant without locating and repairing leak is unprofessional and a waste of time and money as you are finding. You have a mismatched system including a 12 yr old low end condenser. if money is not a big issue, go ahead and replace and take advantage of fed govt tax credit.

these are my minimum specs for a new HP system. both outside and inside units should be replaced to have a properly matched system.

15 SEER, 12.5+ EER, 9 HSPF
best matching VS air handler
full BTUs in both cooling and heating for your rated size
R-410a refrigerant(same as Puron)
scroll compressor preferred
electronic demand defrost preferred
thermostat with "dehumidify on demand" feature
staged backup heat strips
new and correctly sized refrigerant lineset

you want a thorough inspection of your ductwork system. size, overall condition, supply and return lines, insulation qualities, leak test, etc.

any hot/cold spot issues in your home should be addressed.

I would only use authorized dealers for the various brands that provide quotes. see mfg websites.

Trane and sister company American Standard have a very good reputation of their coils holding up better and longer in coastal/salt water type environment.

My personal favs for these brands are Trane's XL15i or XR15 and AmStd's Heritage 15 Heat Pumps.

IMO
needheatpumphelp
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks tigerdunes,
I just met with a hvac guy at lunch and we determined that there was a leak in the air handler and he is goung to come back tommorrow and dye test the unit to determine where and how many leaks there are. He brought up an interesting point. He said that because of access issues with the 24 inch centers of the roof trusses he could only get a 13 Seer unit or possibly a 15 Seer Trane up there without modification to the roof truses which he claims the inspectors frown upon. If I can feel confident in the repairs I would prefer not to spend the money for a new system but if I do I will instal a new high efficent unit with matching air handler and new line set. I will also replace the ducting due to its age and condition. My only concern on the trane is what I read about the heat side BTU's not being as high as the cooling side. I spoke to him about it and he said that is typical of all systems to some degree because it is harder to heat than it is to cool. He also claims that they have to wait up to 2 weeks for the parts for Trane whereas their other line (Goodman) they can have parts next day. He also said that with Goodman that the parts were interchangable and not so with Trane. What are your thoughts.
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First of all if you have an air handler thats 13 years old you may want to consider a replacement. Just not with that guy, thats all. A leak repair in a coil in an air handler can be a royal pain in the butt. The actual repair of the hole or crack can take less then 5 minutes but you can easily spend half a day taking the thing apart to the point where you can access where the leak is. So now you get a bill for all this labor etc. which will probably give you "poopy pants" and somewhere in the not to distant future another problem arises. Maybe the blower motor quits, or the drain pan has rusted out and water is leaking all over, if its an air handler in the attic you probably made a hell of a mess to your sheetrock ceiling and if its over a furnace who knows what damage it can do in there to cost you more bucks. And heres another scenario. That old unit was rusting out and the blower bracket lets go. You hear one hell of a racket coming out of your duct work, (oops, more poopy pants) and you find out the whole blower assembly has to be replaced. But the unit is so old getting the right parts are almost impossible. So its 95 degrees out and no relief in sight for days. The service tech appears to be sympathetic to your dilemma but inside he's saying "serves you right you cheap SOB, I wanted to replace that POS when you first started having problems" So you try to make a deal, you ask him if he would be interested in a can of freon as part of the deal for a new unit. You say you paid over 300 dollars for it and only used a few pounds. The guy says sure, I'll know off 50 bucks to take it off your hands and I'm doing you a favor, you're not supposed to have the stuff anyway! One of the interesting side bars of the heating and air conditioning trade is that you collect sooooo much money from some people whose original intention was to save themself a few bucks by doing it half as---!
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By fail, I meant stop cooling. The tech said the system stopped cooling because it froze. It had to be shut down for a day before they could add freon. You folks have made it a lot clearer for me why just a few pounds loss could be so significant. I still don't grasp how it works physically, but it's not necessary. I now know it will fail if the freon drops below some high level and when freon is added it's to a level below capacity. Sensitivity to 2-3 lbs loss makes sense knowing this. I was told 3 years ago the leak couldn't be soldered because of its location. The guys now are saying at 12 years whatever it requires isn't worth it, just get a new unit. They seem honest and knowledgeable. I'm in south Florida, so it's used a lot. I'm inclined to do it and avoid the hassle of more service and sales appointments. At least, that's the way I'm feeling tonight. I want to thank all of you for your help.
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tigerdunes
14 years ago
needheatpumphelp

I would not spend any serious money on an old system. I hope you are using a different HVAC dealer than the one who provided a "gas n go"!

As far as heating BTUs, the three models I recommended all have full heating BTUs for the nominal sizes available.

IMO
Good Luck!
needheatpumphelp
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks Tigerdoons. It definitely was not gas and go. Could you please explain how you would deal with the access issues.
tigerdunes
14 years ago
needheatpumphelp

it would be wrong to offer a solution to your access issue without an onsite assessment. usually the large size air handlers are used for improved efficiencies.

what physical size is your existing air handler? what size in tonnage is your outside unit?

you need to lean on your dealer for best advice.

see link to AmStd/Trane air handlers with their sizes.

perhaps you misunderstood the HVAC term reference known as "gas n go".

IMO

Here is a link that might be useful: American Standard Air Handler Specs

Fixing Freon Leak or Replace?

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Fixing Freon Leak or Replace?

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