average cost of adding freon to ac unit

Describe your project and send it out to our top rated service providers.          No membership or credit card requiredGet StartedNo thanks, I'm not quite ready. Often, an air conditioner can begin to work slowly or improperly due to being out of coolant and needing a Freon refill. Unfortunately, recharging your AC with Freon gas is not something which can be done by the ordinary do-it-yourselfer. Not only do many local and state governments require permits and special licensing to work with refrigerant, but the machinery to do it is exceptionally expensive. Also, complicating matters, Freon gas is dangerous when it enters the atmosphere so recovery of the old gas is important. For these reasons, it is necessary to have a professional recharge the air conditioner, but professionals mean spending money. So what is the average amount to expect to spend on refilling your refrigerant? The cost is luckily not extreme, nor should your Freon need to be replaced on a regular basis.
For between $100 and $150, you can get a refill which should last for many years. 1999 honda civic ac compressor replacementUsually when a professional refills the Freon, he will also check to make sure the system is functioning properly. ac / dc power supplies encapsulated modulesHowever, if the Freon needs to be refilled again in less than three years, you may have a leak within the hoses or valves which will need to be sealed. 4 ton ac unit goodmanTo get the best price on a Freon refill, check for sales during the cooler months when demand is not as high. There are some factors to consider that can either raise or lower the cost of a normal recharge. Companies charge by the pound for a Freon replacement, so the size of your unit and the level of your current refrigerant can skew this average up or down.
For a small home, a large AC unit is unnecessary, and the smaller the unit, the less Freon it will need. But, on the other hand, with a large house comes a large air conditioning unit, and this will cost more to refill when it inevitably runs low. If your technician suspects a Freon leak, your costs will also have to go up; since refrigerant is a regulated substance than can be harmful to the atmosphere, the EPA demands that a leak check be performed and any repairs made before the Freon can be refilled. Refrigerant recharges can also sometimes vary just based on location and time of year, but these factors shouldn’t too dramatically affect the average cost. With a good round estimate of a Freon refill in your mind, you should be confident what to look for the next time your central air needs refrigerant. RV Air Conditioner Parts: When to Replace Fan BladesPeople in the Sarasota, Florida area need their air conditioners working almost year round to escape the overly humid heat.
People in the Sarasota, Florida area need their air conditioners working almost year round to escape the overly humid heat. That’s why many of them have so many questions about Freon, the lifeblood of an air conditioner’s cooling system.Here are the most common questions we hear about Freon and our answers to them. Here are telltale signs that your air conditioner is low on Freon:Of course, the only way to know for sure whether your AC needs more refrigerant is to test it. But you likely don’t have specialty air conditioning gauges just lying around your house. A trusted air conditioning company like Cool Today will make sure your system has the right level of Freon during a routine AC tune-up.Needing to add Freon to your air conditioner should be rare. Freon isn’t like gas in a car; Freon is not consumed when you use your air conditioner.So, if you need to add refrigerant to your air conditioner, it’s leaking the Freon somewhere. And if it’s leaking, then you need aprofessional air conditioner contractor to check for leaks and fix those before adding more Freon.Most maintenance plans offered by air conditioner contractors include an annual check-up that includes checking your system for leaks.
This depends on a variety of factors:On average, Freon costs $60-$85 a pound. Freon costs so much because it contains ozone-depleting substances and is therefore being phased out by the EPA. That means there’s less supply of it to go around while it’s still in high demand, raising the prices.If you have any other questions about the Freon in your air conditioner, ask one of our experts for help.If your system needs Freon or you want a Freon leak check, schedule an appointment time online.Cool Today provides award-winning air conditioning service to Sarasota, Florida and the surrounding cities and counties. 149 posts, read 636,077 times 8,309 posts, read 27,858,767 times 54 posts, read 199,127 times 605 posts, read 3,791,517 times 17,825 posts, read 24,764,727 times Originally Posted by Pitt Chick There are still older models in service that use the old, bad-for-the-ozone-layer stuff. You must be a licensed tradesman to purchase or transport it and any discharge can land the guy in big trouble.
Newer, some would say better refrigerants are now used, but they still tend to get lumped under the "freon" name. 3,537 posts, read 10,227,433 times Originally Posted by hhe1982 we had ours recharged and it was 20bucks a pound . so you can figure it from there. shouldn't need anymore than 6 pounds i wouldn't imagine. you have a leak Originally Posted by tamcim72Those are mfg names though. It would be like calling all tissue paper Kleenex.Q: My air conditioning contractor just charged me $100 per pound for R-22 refrigerant. This is a lot more than I paid four years ago. Is this a fair price these days?A: Prices for R-22 refrigerant, commonly known as "Freon," have definitely risen over the past few years.Here's why: About 25 years ago, the EPA ordered the phasing out of R-22 as part of the international treaty on protecting the ozone layer called the "Montreal Protocol," because of the refrigerant's ozone-depleting substances.As part of the agreement, production ended in 2010 for new air conditioning units "charged" with R-22 and production of the refrigerant itself was reduced by 75 percent.
By 2015, there will be a 90 percent reduction in the production of R-22. By 2020, it will no longer be produced. Because production is limited, costs to charge existing units that are leaking R-22 refrigerant have gone up and are only expected to rise.I've spoken with a number of highly rated heating and cooling contractors on Angie's List and, depending on how much of a supply they have and how much they paid when they purchased it, these companies are charging three and four times the cost they were just a few years ago. Companies have quoted prices ranging from $35 to $175 per pound.That comes with a caveat, though. For example, one Long Island-area company representative I spoke with said he charges $35 per pound, but that does not include the cost of a service charge. Most companies seem to charge about $115 for the labor portion. So, if your contractor charged you $100 to replenish one pound and that included the labor, then it sounds like you got a pretty good deal.All that said, I think you need to look at the bigger issue here.
You said you paid to have R-22 added to your A/C four years ago. Really, R-22 should never need to be replaced. If your system needs R-22, that means you have a leak. Rather than continuing to pay these increased costs to replenish the leaking R-22, I recommend you find a qualified heating and cooling company to repair the leak.A reputable HVAC technician can also advise you if it makes sense to continue investing in your existing A/C, or if you're better off replacing it. Heating and cooling companies can recycle R-22 from existing units, which can then been reused to service units beyond 2020. But, as these costs continue to rise, you might find you're better off replacing your old R-22 unit with one that uses the more environmentally friendly R-410A. Unfortunately, R-22 charged units are not compatible with R-410 refrigerant, so you'll have to replace the entire system.The good news is that, if you do invest in a new unit, it will be more environmentally friendly and more energy efficient.