Hi. So i have a 12000 btu chinese ac that is 1.5 years now. Every year it gets weaker it feels. The lines outside are super cold and frozen almost(summer) and super hot in the winter. But the radiator on the inside piece is only half cold. The right side of the radiator is cold and even almost frozen on some parts and the left side is room temp with no cold touch. Ive always taken care and cleaned it and even checked for the gas so im sure nothing is wrong in those matters. I just wanna know why the inside part has a half cold radiator only. What could be the reason. Ive searched on the net with no answers. Thanks.
Ac blowing not cold/hot enough
- Thread starter Bitbin
- Start date
jpwhit
Solar Enthusiast
You have a refrigerant leak and the unit is low on refrigerant. The lines being cold in the summer is the dead give away. The little bit of refrigerant you have in the system is vaporizing in the line and absorbing heat. There isn't enough refrigerant in the system to stay in liquid form all the way to the inside coil (evaporator) to absorb heat there like it should.
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Its hot in the winter but not hot enough it feels compared to my other LG heat pump. But if its a leak how come it hasent finished the refrigrant in 1.5 years? The high preassure pipe outside is super cold now in the summer. If it has too little refrigrant will it still be this cold?
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If it is like you say then thats the best case scenario as it is the easiest thing to fix. Im just afraid something else is wrong. And can i just top it up with refrigrant or do i have to empty the whole thing and put in as much as it says on the label.(1.3 kg is says)
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Because when you reach a certain lower pressure, the leak stops leaking or becomes so much smaller that additional leaking takes a lot longer to be noticeable.
This can happen with a rubber gasketed connection. O-rings are flexible and can be "pushed around" at higher pressures then "snap back" into place (or close to) and reduce the volume of the leak as the pressure falls due to loss of refrigerant.
The label on my 12k btu mini split says 1.3 kg of refrigrant. Isnt that too much for a small system? Gree, tcl and lg all have their between around 700-800g in their 12k systems.
Can i just add until the preassure is around 117-120 psi on the gauge like alot of people say or do i risk overcharging and ruining my ac like this? I have all the tools needed incl a vacuum pump as ive installed a couple of systems but never done anything refrigrant related. Please help. Thanks
Can i just add until the preassure is around 117-120 psi on the gauge like alot of people say or do i risk overcharging and ruining my ac like this? I have all the tools needed incl a vacuum pump as ive installed a couple of systems but never done anything refrigrant related. Please help. Thanks
Attachments
Lineset connections. O-rings there.
jpwhit
Solar Enthusiast
Adding refrigerant until a certain pressure is a very unreliable way to charge a minisplit. It almost always results in overcharging. The right way to do it is to recover the refrigerant using a recovery pump. Then weight in the correct amount taking into account the line set length after evacuating the system. Please don't release refrigerant into the air.
More than likely, you'll also need the refrigerant out of the system to fix the leak. Most leaks are at a flare connection. Don't try to fix a leaking flare connection by tightening more. Re-flare the pipe, use Nylog on both sides of the flare, and torque to spec using a good quality torque wrench made for flare fittings. More leaks are caused by over tightening flare fittings that under tightening them.
More than likely, you'll also need the refrigerant out of the system to fix the leak. Most leaks are at a flare connection. Don't try to fix a leaking flare connection by tightening more. Re-flare the pipe, use Nylog on both sides of the flare, and torque to spec using a good quality torque wrench made for flare fittings. More leaks are caused by over tightening flare fittings that under tightening them.
Thanks
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