How to Recharge Air Conditioner

There are three different ways of how to recharge air conditioner systems. The
methods for this air conditioning maintenance are,
 refrigerant charging from high pressure side,
 refrigerant charging from low pressure side,

and refrigerant charging using weight

Purpose, do’s and don’ts, and some advice:

Here are some extra tips for you before venturing into how to recharge air
conditioner.
 purpose of refrigerant charging is to add or remove, a specified amount of
refrigerant from an air conditioning system, such that you will get comfort air
from the air conditioner.
 contrary to popular belief, refrigerant do not require periodical charging. It
is not a consumable item within an air conditioning unit, unless,

there is a leak within the system,

you have just changed an air conditioner part, OR

you are assembling a brand new air conditioner unit

 refrigerant of 4xx series, e.g. R-404a are non azeotrope type refrigerants,
EXCEPT for R-410.

R-410 is a near azeotrope mixture.

So, what’s the big deal between azeotrope and non azeotrope refrigerant?

Azeotrope refrigerants consist of more than one blend of refrigerants, but it

acts like a single refrigerant.

Non azeotrope refrigerants on the other hand, DO NOT act like a single
refrigerant.

The implication is that, the blends will be lost from the system at different
proportions due to different boiling temperatures, whenever there is a
leakage in the non azeotrope refrigerant.

Hence, charging of non azeotrope refrigerant can only be carried out from
zero to full. Never top up this type of refrigerant in case of leakage.

Evacuate, and fill to adequate quantity.

Azeotrope, or near azeotrope blends will act as a single refrigerant, and

therefore, may be topped up in case of refrigerant leakage

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  do not overcharge as this will cause compressor damage,
 do not undercharge
 correct problems within the system, if subcooling or superheat is inadequate,
even if the pressure in the system has reached design state
 never use open flame to heat up refrigerant cylinders. Use warm water
instead
 recover the excess refrigerant into recovery cylinder, if the system is
overcharged

A little more before we go further into how to recharge air conditioner systems.

Ensuring adequate refrigerant charge:

Make sure that,
 the amount of refrigerant superheat is about 10 oF (5.5 oC), or as per
manufacturer’s recommendation, OR
 the amount of refrigerant subcooling is about 10 oF (5.5 oC), or as per
manufacturer’s recommendation, OR
 the sight glass after (or on) the filter dryer is clear after charging.

Presence of bubbles means that there is no adequate charging

It’s about time we look into details of "How to Recharge Air Conditioner".

How to recharge air conditioner style 1: From high side:

This method is best used with capillary tube fitted systems.

Other criteria that will require this technique are inadequate subcooling, and to top
up refrigerant.

First,

1. stop the compressor,

2. know the refrigerant in the system, and get the correct refrigerant to be
charged,
3. attach the refrigerant cylinder or canister to the centre manifold’s hose of the
pressure gauge set,
4. purge the line by throttling the plain gauge’s regulator, and the refrigerant
cylinder’s regulator.

Don’t forget to close the regulators after purging,

5. attach plain pressure gauge’s hose of the gauge set, to the liquid line service
valve of the air conditioning unit.

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 Make sure that the protective cap of the service valve is taken out

6. open the plain gauge’s regulator slightly,

7. throttle the refrigerant cylinder’s regulator,
8. close the cylinder’s regulator when the pressure in the high pressure side
reaches the design operating pressure,
9. operate the air conditioning unit,
10. check the subcooling, and make sure that the sight glass is clear,
11. stop the air conditioning unit if the subcooling is inadequate. Repeat steps (7)
to (10) until the charging is adequate

Courtesy for condenser picture: Bryant Air Conditioners

How to recharge air conditioner style 2: From low side:

This method is best used with thermostatic expansion valve fitted systems.

Other criteria that will require this technique are inadequate superheat, and to top
up refrigerant.

First,

1. stop the compressor,

2. know the refrigerant in the system, and get the correct refrigerant to be
charged,
3. attach the refrigerant cylinder or canister to the centre manifold’s hose of the
pressure gauge set,

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 4. purge the line by throttling the compound gauge’s regulator, and the
refrigerant cylinder’s regulator.

Don’t forget to close the regulators after purging,

5. attach compound pressure gauge’s hose of the gauge set, to the suction
service valve of the air conditioning unit.

Make sure that the protective cap of the service valve is taken out

6. open the compound gauge’s regulator slightly,

7. throttle the refrigerant cylinder’s regulator.

The pressure within the system shall be less than the condensing pressure of
the refrigerant

8. operate the air conditioning unit,

9. close the cylinder’s regulator when the pressure in the low pressure side
reaches the design operating pressure,
10. the charge should be adequate once the design pressure on the low side is
reached, but it is good to check the superheat, and make sure that the sight
glass is clear

Courtesy for condenser picture: Bryant Air Conditioners

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How to recharge air conditioner style 3: Using weight:
This method is used to charge refrigerant to an evacuated, or newly assembled, and
moisture removed air conditioning unit.

The steps,

1. stop the compressor,

2. know the refrigerant to be handled by the system, and get the correct
refrigerant to be charged,
3. attach the refrigerant cylinder or canister to the centre manifold’s hose of the
pressure gauge set,
4. purge the line by throttling the compound gauge’s regulator, and the
refrigerant cylinder’s regulator.

Don’t forget to close the regulators after purging,

5. attach compound pressure gauge’s hose of the gauge set, to the suction
service valve of the air conditioning unit.

Make sure that the protective cap of the service valve is taken out

6. put the cylinder on weighing scale,

OR

get adequate number of refrigerant canisters to charge the system

7. open the compound gauge’s regulator slightly,

8. throttle the refrigerant cylinder’s regulator,
9. operate the air conditioning unit,
10. close the cylinder’s regulator when the correct amount of refrigerant is added
to the system
11. check the superheat, operating pressure, and make sure that the sight glass
is clear

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 Air Conditioning Troubleshooting

Are you an equipment owner with a question about air conditioning troubleshooting?

Our air conditioning problem page has some guidance that might help you get your
air conditioner running.

If you're working on a Trane unit, our page about troubleshooting Trane air
conditioning controls has some tips about Trane's microprocessor controls that you
might find useful.

Are you a technician doing some air conditioning troubleshooting on a totally dead
unit?

Is it a nice hot summer day?

Are your shoe soles already gummy from a previous service call on somebody's unit
on a tar-paper roof?

Did you just finish a service call 20 minutes ago where you were sweating buckets
wriggling around in somebody's steam-kettle attic?

If you're done with your diet soda; grab your tools, crank up the can-do attitude,
and let's go troubleshoot this air conditioner.

This unit's acting dead, so check the breaker, check the disconnect and fuses, and
check to make sure you have correct power supplied to the unit.

If the breaker is tripped and/or a fuse is blown, check the unit for grounds or shorts.
Disconnect the leads from the air conditioning compressor terminals and check for
grounded, shorted, or open windings.
Check the evaporator and condenser fan motors for grounded or shorted windings.
Check the control and power circuits for shorts or grounds.

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If your air conditioning troubleshooting call is for a unit that has good supply voltage
but is otherwise dead:

If your supply power checks out ok, make sure the thermostat is turned on, that
there is control power to it, and verify that it actually works.

If there's control power to the thermostat and it works, make sure the wires to the
evap fan relay and condensing unit aren't broken at the thermostat, or somewhere
between the thermostat and the units.

Air conditioning troubleshooting when the evaporator fan won't run.

Check for power at the evap fan relay.

If it gets power but the contacts don't close, it has failed.
If it gets power and the contacts close, but the fan doesn't run,
Check for voltage on the load side of the relay, check the leads to the fan, test the
fan windings and the capacitor, and check to see if something is stuck in the blower
and stopping it from turning.

Air conditioning troubleshooting when the air conditioning condenser won't run.

Verify the cooling control signal from the thermostat.

Check for refrigerant pressure.

If the refrigerant has leaked, the low pressure safety will open and the unit will not
run.

Check the safeties.

If the oil safety switch has tripped, check the oil level.
It will also trip if the contactor closes but the compressor doesn't run for some
reason,
So check for open compressor windings, verify that the compressor terminal
connections and contactor connections are tight, and verify that there is actually
good voltage at the compressor when the contactor pulls in.

If the high pressure safety is open, check your pressures.

If head pressure has dropped below the cut in point of the safety, and it is an
automatic reset type, the safety has failed.
If the safety is a manual reset type, push the button and see if it will reset.

Check the voltage monitor if there is one.

If your voltage is within range of the setting, the safety contacts should be closed.
If they're not, the monitor has failed.

If there is a delay timer, check accross the control terminals.

If the delay timer contacts never close, it has failed.

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If the safety contacts are closed, you should have control power at your contactor.
If there is no control power at the contactor coil, check for a broken wire somewhere.

If you have control power at the contactor coil but the contactor doesn't pull in, the
contactor has failed.

See our air conditioning contactor page for contactor troubleshooting tips.

If you're on an air conditioning troubleshooting call where the contactor pulls in but
the compressor doesn't run, check for open compressor windings, verify that the
compressor terminal connections and contactor connections are tight, and verify that
there is actually good voltage at the compressor when the contactor pulls in.

If it's a single phase compressor, check the start relay and the capacitors.
The best way to test the start relay and capacitors is to replace them with new parts.

If the condenser fan doesn't run, check the relay, motor windings and capacitor, and
fan blade, the same way as with the evaporator fan.

Be thorough as you trace down wiring and look for failed components, and always
follow safety precautions during your air conditioning troubleshooting jobs.

By the time you reach this point of air conditioning troubleshooting, you will have
found the failed component and repaired or replaced it, and the unit will be ready to
run.

Good Job!

For a few more tips on condensing unit troubleshooting, and some unusual
condensing unit problems I've run into, see our Troubleshoot Air Conditioning
Condensing Unit page.

Air conditioning troubleshooting on a unit that runs but doesn't seem to be cooling
efficiently.

Check the evaporator and condenser fans.

Verify the motors are the correct horsepower, that they rotate in the proper direction
and at the correct rpm.
Verify that the fan and blower blades are clean, that they're the correct size and
pitch, and that they are turning in the right direction.

Verify that the evaporator and condenser coils are clean and air flow is not blocked.

Verify that the air filter is clean.

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Verify that the condenser is getting normal temperature outside air, and that another
unit isn't blowing hot air into it.

Verify that the evaporator supply and return ducting is not leaking; losing cold air or
picking up warm outside air.

At this point in this air conditioning troubleshooting job, attatch your gauges and
check your pressures and temperatures.

Before we get started though, in case you're interested, on our Air Conditioning
Manifold Gauges page I discuss a couple of my favorite brands of manifold sets.

With the unit off and pressures equalized, verify that the system contains the correct
refrigerant.
You can do this by taking the temperature of the evaporator coil. It should match the
pressure/temperature indication on your low side gauge or pressure/temperature
chart.

Run the unit and check operating pressures.

When the space has cooled down and is about 5 degrees above design temperature,
look for the following pressures and temperatures.

Suction pressure should be in the range of 35 to 40 degrees below return air.

Discharge pressure should be in the range of 20 to 35 degrees above ambient air.

Superheat should be 20 to 30 degrees at the compressor.

Subcooling should be 10 to 15 degrees at the outlet of the receiver or condenser.

Air temperature rise through the condenser should be 20 to 30 degrees.

Air temperature drop through the evaporator should be 15 to 20 degrees.

If all of your operating characteristics fall within these ranges, the unit is running
good.

If you're interested in more air conditioning troubleshooting tips, you might want to
take a look at our System Evaluation and Chiller Evaluation manuals.

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They have troubleshooting diagrams, and more detailed information about how to
evaluate direct expansion and chilled water type air conditioning and refrigeration
system operating characteristics.

At this stage of air conditioning troubleshooting, if there is still a concern about the
unit not cooling properly, you will need to do a capacity check.

Measure the air flow in CFM through the evaporator.

Measure the wet bulb temperatures of the air entering and leaving the evaporator.

Using a psychrometric chart or an enthalpy conversion table, convert the wet bulb
temperatures to enthalpy values, and calculate the difference between the two
values.

Multiply the difference in enthalpy values times 4.5, which is a constant used in this
calculation, and then multiply that product times the CFM.

This will tell you how many btu of heat the evaporator is absorbing from the air
flowing through it.

Yes, air conditioning troubleshooting often involves some mathematics.

If the difference between design capacity and running capacity is minor, it can be
adjusted by adjusting evaporator blower speed.

If the unit is running at or near design capacity but still not handling the load of the
space being cooled, the unit is simply too small.

I hope this page has provided some useful tips about air conditioning troubleshooting,
and please, feel free to contact us with any specific HVAC questions you might have,
including questions about air conditioning on Guam, or refrigeration on Guam.

Are you learning the HVAC Trade "on the job"?

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develop your potential to become the finest HVAC Technician you
possibly can; we highly recommend that you contact Penn Foster Career
School and request the free, no-obligation information brochure about
their complete, accredited HVAC Technician course.
It won't take even 5 minutes, and might change your whole future.
You'll find a brief review of the course on our HVAC Training page.

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