Air conditioning

Just as in cars air cons lose their gas for a reason so do not let anyone simply regas one without properly testing for - and fixing - any leaks.

As Darro says, air-con units that need regassing will have a fault that had caused it to lose its gas charge. Who advised you last year that regassing  is needed, has the unit been serviced over the last couple of years? 

Not sure who it was as I wasn’t there at the time but somebody recommended. 

Somebody has also said I should go to Tien 21 as they would be ok?

Steve, don't know if you can advise? I installed a Panasonic internal unit on a bedroom wall with an external Panasonic Inverter. It provides heat in the winter and cold in the summer. It's 7 years old now, still working fine and never been serviced by an engineer. I clean the internal unit filters twice a year.

My question really, does that type of unit have gas, and does an external wall mounted Inverter require servicing? 

Any advice from guys in the know much appreciated..

Steve

The system will not lose its gas unless it develops a fault such as mechanical joints leaking, corrosion, pipes vibrating and rubbed through, if it is working ok just carry out a basic non technical service yourself :

SWITCH OFF THE POWER SUPPLY FIRST

Clean the air filters on the indoor unit regularly

Clean the fins of the outside condensing unit and clear any debris or restrictions around it to maintain good airflow

Cleaning and sanitising of the indoor unit is also beneficial 

Flushing through of the condensate drain is also recommended 

Checking of the electrical connections 

Visible inspection of the pipework connections for signs of oil

Hi Steve

The indoor unit and external inverter (condenser) units are connected together via copper pipework, with the refrigerant in either gas or liquid form, flows through. The 2 units work in tandem, with refrigerant flowing between the two units, and collectively the whole system will have a measured refrigerant capacity - which is weighed in grams/kilograms. The whole system will/should be sealed, which means no gas should be allowed to escape.

If a customer is concerned that their unit is not heating or cooling as it should, the first thing that they should do is remove the air filters from the front fascia of the indoor unit and make sure that these are clear and clean. These filters should be regularly checked and cleaned, as hairs, dust and other airborne materials can soon clog up the filter, restricting the airflow across it, which is the air that is subsequently returned to the room either heated or cooled. No air getting through the filter will mean nothing for the air-con unit to heat/cool! In my experience as an air-con engineer (no longer though) the number of times I have attended to a unit and found blocked filters is unbelievable - and more often than not a quick clean will result in the unit performing well again.

However, if a unit is not performing, and the filters are clean & clear, this will require an engineer to attend to carry out more in-depth checks. The first thing they will do (after confirming filters are clear) is to do a pressure check on the refrigerant gas when the system is in operating mode and by obtaining the pressure reading they will be able to tell whether the system has a sufficient quantity of refrigerant within it. If the pressures are low, the likelihood is that the system has lost some gas, probably through a leak or loose pipework connection. 

If this is deemed to be the cause, the engineer should then reclaim what gas is still in the system, weigh it out, and compare the weight of the reclaimed gas as opposed to what the full charge should be for the system. The difference in weight will confirm how much refrigerant gas has been lost

This is the stage where, depending on the morals and efficiency of the engineer, various options may be give to the client:

1) The engineer will provide a cost to find the leak, repair it, refill the system with the correct volume of gas, and carry ort a full test and recommission.

2) The engineer may advise, if the system is particularly old, that a newer system may be the best option. The seemingly going rate for a smallish split system (which will be a new indoor and outdoor unit) appears to be around 500 to 600 euros - but don't quote me on that!

3) An unscrupulous/lazy engineer may suggest the the gas just needs topping up, and will happily & quickly do this for you, and the system will work fine - at first. However, the leak will still be there, the gas will soon escape, and you will be back to square one. As well as needing another callout - your gas leakage will have been contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer and contributing to the global warming effect - albeit on a miniscule scale but  morally wrong too!

With regards to servicing of the outdoor unit, there is not much that an unqualified person can do, apart from ensuring that the fins on the condenser coils are clear and unobstructed from leaves and other debris, and that any support brackets are secure and the unit steadily held in position

One other thing that can be checked is that the condensate hose, from where which the condensate water drains from to outside, needs to be clear, if this is blocked the condensate water will back up the pipe and eventually spill back into the indoor condensate tray and out onto the floor below- giving the impression that the unit has a water leak - often people are adamant of this but they need to bear in mind that no domestic a.c unit will contain water within it - the only water generated is condensation, which the drain should disperse from as described above - though sometimes an additional drain pump may be installed to facilitate this

From what you have said above Darro, the fact that you regularly clean the filters and have never had no problems just shows how a small task can benefit long-term !!

Thanks for your helpful and reassuring post Steve. Much appreciated. 

Steve 

Hi I can recommend a really good chap, his telephone number is 676 03 29 20 and his name is Alex 

Adge - have a read of my lengthy post above, there are some simple tasks that you can do yourself which may mean you don’t need an engineer to be called out