Have you noticed that your Goodman air conditioner is not cooling your home the way it once did, and you suspect that you need to give it a freon recharge? We carefully researched this question to bring you the best answer.
These are the steps you need to follow to refill your Goodman air conditioner with freon.
- Turn off your air conditioner.
- Empty the refrigerant tank of your air conditioner.
- Connect the gauges to the correct valves.
- Turn the Goodman air conditioner back on and wait for 15 minutes.
- Open the refrigerant canister.
- Slowly open the blue (low-pressure) valve.
- Monitor the gauge until it reaches the desired subcooling temperature.
- Close the refrigerant canister.
- Disconnect the gauge set.
At this point, we would like to stress the dangers involved in refilling your Goodman air conditioner yourself. We carefully compiled all the precautions that you should follow to ensure your safety during this procedure.
Additionally, the succeeding sections have the details of what goes into each of the steps that we provided above. Going through the details of each step would help ensure your safety when you perform this task yourself.
Read on!
Putting freon into a Goodman air conditioner
Read the following sections carefully. We listed the materials that you will need and the safety precautions.
There are important preparatory activities that you need to complete before you refill your Goodman air conditioner with freon. Make sure to complete these before you proceed.
Safety first
Wear safety goggles and thick neoprene gloves. Wear a mask and never inhale the refrigerant. Inhaling refrigerant can lead to immediate death.
If your skin got accidentally exposed to Freon, immediately rinse the exposed area with water and seek medical treatment right away.
Refrigerants R-717 and R-764 are extremely irritating to the eyes and lungs. R-717 is highly flammable. Always handle all types of refrigerants with extreme caution.
Preparing for the refill
The sections below prepare your air conditioner for the freon transfer. These are minor troubleshooting steps to make sure that it is not a problem with something else and is really the Freon level. A Freon refill is almost the last option when it comes to addressing the issue with your air conditioner blowing warm or room temperature air.
Is it a thermostat problem?
It is important to make sure that the problem with your Goodman air conditioner is really the Freon level. One of the signs that your air conditioner needs Freon is when it is blowing warm or room temperature air.
Check your thermostat and make sure that it is not the culprit. A broken thermostat can also cause your air conditioner to blow warm of room temperature air. In some cases, a broken thermostat can cause the temperature to fluctuate.
Ice on the refrigerant coils
Peek into the window of the indoor unit of your Goodman air conditioner and check if the pipes inside have a layer of ice or if they look frosty. Frost or ice on the pipes means that your air conditioner is leaking refrigerant.
Call a professional HVAC technician to repair the leak, or you will keep experiencing the same issue with the Freon levels dropping. It is not a good idea to add refrigerant while you have a leak on your air conditioner.
Check for water leaks
Inspect the area around your Goodman air conditioner. The presence of water points to a condensation problem. The coils were likely covered with ice, and the ice has melted and leaked.
Water can damage your Goodman air conditioner and add to your problems. Call a professional HVAC technician to verify the issue and fix it for you.
Perform or schedule a routine maintenance
Clean your Goodman air conditioner before refilling the Freon. The air filter, blower wheel, condenser coil, and evaporator coil should be cleaned before recharging your unit with refrigerant.
Replace the air filter if it cannot be cleaned thoroughly.
Refilling the refrigerant of a dirty unit can damage it.
We have two great articles below that guide you in cleaning your air conditioners.
How To Clean Evaporator Coils On Central Air Conditioner?
How To Clean Central Air Conditioner Vents And Ducts?
Find out the exact refrigerant type your air conditioner uses
Adding the wrong type of refrigerant into your unit can cause combustion or an explosion. This can lead to injury and damage to property.
Check the operating guide of your Goodman air conditioner. If you do not have the operating guide anymore, check the electrical control box or inside the unit’s cabinet for the information.
R-22 and R410A are the most common refrigerants in use today. Older models usually use the R-22 refrigerant. However, according to the EPA, the R-22 is being phased out because it is an ozone-depleting substance.
It has been illegal to import or produce R-22 in the US since 2020.
Get your air conditioner checked and fixed immediately if it has a leak and uses R-22. Because R-22 is being discontinued, supplies are low, and prices have skyrocketed. Expect the prices to go even higher as supplies of the R-22 continue to drop.
Ideal outside temperature
The outside temperature must be higher than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
Liquid Freon naturally moves towards the coldest area of an enclosed air conditioner unit. If the surrounding temperature is below 55 degrees, the coldest area in your system will likely be in the outdoor unit. The refrigerant will not properly behave in a situation like this.
Materials needed
The NLM (National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health) recommends the following personal protective equipment for handling Freon.
Leather or Neoprene gloves
Goggles
Protective clothing
Additionally, you will need the following:
Refrigerant
Manifold gauge set
Evacuator pump
Electronic leak tester.
If you need gauges, Orion Motor Tech's air conditioner manifold gauge set is available on Amazon. Check it out here.
Turn off your air conditioner.
Turn off your air conditioner from the thermostat and from the circuit breaker.
Empty the refrigerant tank
Drain the refrigerant tank by connecting the evacuator pump. Keep the evacuator pump running for 30 minutes to make sure that you’ve drained enough moisture and dirt.
Connect the refrigerant gauges to the valve.
There are three valve connectors on your unit. Connect the blue hose to the low-pressure valve on the left side. Connect the red hose to the high-pressure valve on the right.
Turn the Goodman air conditioner back on and wait for 15 minutes.
The 15-minute wait is to give your AC enough time to stabilize.
Open the refrigerant canister.
Connect the yellow hose to the refrigerant canister's valve. The other end should go to the middle valve on the gauges.
Open the refrigerant canister by turning the knob on the bottom several times.
Slowly open the blue (low-pressure) valve.
Open the blue valve for a few seconds, then close it. Open it again and close it once more.
It is ideal to slowly refill your unit with small amounts of the refrigerant at a time.
Monitor the gauge until it reaches the desired subcooling temperature.
Keep doing this until you reach the target subcooling temperature. The target subcooling temperature can be found on the plate of the outdoor unit.
Closely monitor the valves so that you would know when to shut the valve.
Close the refrigerant canister.
Close the valve once you reach the target subcooling temperature. Turn the knob on the refrigerant canister to completely stop the flow of the refrigerant.
Disconnect the gauge set.
Disconnect all the hoses and gauges from the air conditioner. Do a leak test using the electronic leak detector.
Electronic leak detectors are often different from each other. All you need to do is to run it close to the components of the refrigeration and let it scan for a leak.
The Elitech WJL-6000 HVAC leak detector and halogen gas tester is available on Amazon. Check it out by clicking this link.
How much Freon does a Goodman air conditioner hold?
Your Goodman air conditioner can usually hold two to four pounds of refrigerant per ton. However, the total capacity of air conditioners could change based on the length and diameter of the copper line set, the size of the evaporator coil, and the overall size of the air conditioner unit.
How much does Freon cost?
The older R-22 refrigerants can cost upwards of $600. A 25-pound canister of R410A can cost anywhere between $75 to $175.
If you decide to have a professional refill the Freon of your Goodman air conditioner for you, the cost of labor is around $50 to $70 per hour.
Conclusion
Refilling or recharging the Freon of your Goodman air conditioner is a very dangerous and complicated task. Several preparatory activities need to be completed before the Freon can be recharged.
Moreover, it is important to know the exact type of refrigerant that is used on your Goodman air conditioner because using the wrong refrigerant can damage the unit, cause injuries, and damage your property.
But above all, always make sure to use protective gear when handling refrigerants.
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