How To Fill Your AC With Gas, Check Out How It Is Done

Do you ever wonder how you can fill your AC with gas? this article contains how to do it and everything you need to know about air conditioning including types and even the safety precautions to take before filling your gas.

The gas used inside your air conditioner is known as a refrigerant, and it is this gas that runs the air conditioning system by taking the hot air out of the room and replacing it with cold air in the room. 

There are several types of refrigerants, and you will get to know them as we progress through this article. 

In this article, we will be looking at how you can fill the gas inside your air conditioning system. 

Before we look at how you can fill your AC with gas, we should first look at the type of gas that you can load into your air conditioner.

As I stated earlier, there are different gasses used in air conditioners.

You should also be aware that not all air conditions will work with a common refrigerant, as each has been tuned to work with a specific refrigerant. 

Below are some of the most common refrigerants available today. 

Types Of Air Condition Gas

These gasses are known as refrigerants, and you can usually find them inside your air conditioner systems. Let us take a look at them below.

R410A

This refrigerant is also known as Puron, the brand name, and you can find it in all modern air conditioners. It is a hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant, and it does not affect ozone layer depletion. 

However, that does not mean that it is safe from harming the environment. The R420 refrigerant has been the new standard for use in residential air conditioners in the United States of America since 2015.

R22

This refrigerant is Freon, which is its brand name, and it is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC). 

It is as safe as the R410A, and it also contributes to the depletion of the ozone layer. This type of refrigerant has been continued for use in residential air conditioners because it is not friendly to the environment.

The use of this refrigerant has some harmful effects on the environment. 

Safety Precautions To Take Before Filling Your Gas

Before you begin to fill your air conditioner with refrigerant, there are some safety precautions that you must follow.

Keep in mind that refrigerant gasses are harmful, and they can cause frostbite. 

Due to that, one must also be careful and take all the safety precautions seriously before they begin to fill the refrigerant gas into the air conditioner. Below are the safety precautions you must observe.

Wear Gloves

You should always wear gloves to fill the refrigerant gas into the air conditioner. 

Here are some of the recommended gloves you can wear when handling the task.

 Patagonia Capilene Midweight Gloves, Moshi Digits Touchscreen Gloves, Kate Spade Quilted Leather Gloves.

You can also choose to wear a SAFEURA Cut Resistant glove which comes with hand protection purposes.

You can also wear the Honeywell-2132651/M-Pk2 Black Pu Coated Polyester Knitted glove.

All these gloves offer maximum protection for your hands and protect your hands as you refill the refrigerant gas into your air conditioner. Always get a good hand glove to wear before you start the task.

Wear Eyeglasses

Since the refrigerant is a gas, it can quickly get into your eye if you do not keep your eyes protected against them. 

So before you start filling the AC with gas, you should make sure to wear eyeglasses to protect your eyes from the gas. 

Here are some recommended eyeglasses that you can wear.

The Honeywell A800 Safety Glasses are sure to protect your eyes from refrigerant gas as you work.

 And the3M 3M-1611 Eye Protection Glasses with Clear Lens, Transparent is also another ideal glass that you can wear to protect your eyes from the refrigerant.

Equipment For Filling Refrigerant Gas Into The Air Conditioner

So now that we have seen the kind of protective clothing one must wear before filling the air conditioner gas, we will look at the equipment they will need to carry out the work smoothly. Here is the equipment below. 

1. A vacuum pump that has 1-4 horsepower
2. AC manifold gauge set
3. Refrigerant
4. And you will require some patience as well, but we will talk more about that later in this article, so keep on reading.

Filling The Air Conditioner With The Gas, Here Is The Procedure

Filling the air conditioner can be done if you have the correct tools and safety gear in place. 

The first thing to do will be to locate the suction point on the air conditioner. This will be the low side. 

You will also need to locate the discharge line on the high side. You can find all these behind the window AC and in the split AC. We do not forget the outside air conditioner unit. 

You can find the suction line above the discharge line. The suction line is cool to the touch, while the discharge line is warm. The suction line is used when recharging the refrigerant gas into the air conditioner. 

Now, please follow the procedure below to recharge the refrigerant gas in your air conditioner.

1. Unscrew the bolt of the suction line and loosen the screws inside it with a Torx hex key. The screw behaves like a valve and does not allow the refrigerant to flow inside or outside until closed. So you will have to unscrew this before you can fill the refrigerant gas into the air conditioner. You must unscrew it first before you can proceed.
2. Once you’ve completed that step, remove the bolt located on the left side, then connect the blue hose of the air conditioner manifold gauge to the port. Following this, attach the yellow hose of the vacuum pump and proceed to remove all the air from the system. This step is crucial because leaving any moisture inside could damage the compressor.
3. Ensure that the air conditioner valve’s manifold gauge is securely closed. Once confirmed, connect the yellow hose to the refrigerant tank. Before opening the knob on the refrigerant tank, slightly loosen the yellow hose at the manifold end. This step helps release any air trapped inside the pipes.
4. Next, open the low side of the manifold knob for about 4 seconds and then promptly close it. Afterward, turn on the air conditioner and wait until the compressor has engaged.
5. Once the compressor has started operating, open the low side valve of the manifold again for about 4 seconds and then close it for 2 seconds. Take note of where the pressure settles on the gauge after each cycle. Continue opening and closing the valve until the pressure drops to a range between 60 and 70 psi.

You also take note that refrigerant gas is filled into the air conditioner in small amounts at a time. 

When you release all the refrigerant gas at once into the air conditioner, it will damage the compressor. 

Do the following after the pressure inside the valve has reached between 60 and 70 PSI.

1. Close the manifold valve
2. You should close the knob of the refrigerant tank
3. Now, unscrew the blue hose from the suction line
4. Subsequently, detach the yellow hose from the refrigerant tank by unscrewing it.

And now you are done recharging the air conditioner with refrigerant gas. 

Upgrading Your HVAC Unit

Before you think about updating your HVAC, you should first check the exterior component and see what it says. 

If it lists R22, then it means that your AC is an outdated one that needs to be upgraded ASAP. This is because the R22 refrigerant is known to be harmful to the environment, contributing to ozone layer depletion. 

Although the EPA does not require that you upgrade your air conditioner immediately, you may not be able to repair the unit if a refrigerant leak occurs since the R22 refrigerant is hard to find for residential use. 

Also, the R22 refrigerant and the R410A refrigerant are not interchangeable, and this means that you cannot use one in place of the other. 

So if you see that your air conditioner is running on an R22 refrigerant, then it is undoubtedly time to upgrade your air conditioner system to a more modern one. 

It would help if you did this and did not wait for the old unit to break down before. You will be amazed at the increased inefficiency and reliability that you will get from a current air conditioner unit compared to what you were getting from the R22 team you were previously using. 

This will be worth your investment in the end as you will end up with a more efficient and reliable air conditioner unit that is more friendly to the environment and does not contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer connected with the global warming world. 

At this point, you should contact your nearest HVAC company to assist you in choosing a new air conditioner unit for your home. 

If you do not know any HVAC company to call, you can check out our other articles, focusing on the best HVAC companies you can find in the United States of America.

Conclusion

So this article shows you how you can recharge the refrigerant gas in your air conditioner unit correctly.

You should also make sure to check to see if your air conditioner system is current or old and take the needed steps to replace it with a new one if it is old. 

A modern air conditioner system will afford you more efficiency and reliability, reducing the number of times you will need to call the technicians over to check up on it.

Also, make sure to run regular checkups in your air conditioner system to make sure that it is running smoothly without any problems at all.

This will help you avoid spending vast sums of money on repairs beyond your control. You might also want to check out some AC tips during winter.