Air Conditioner Refrigerant Line Sweating

Check that the condensation is being removed.

Air conditioner refrigerant line sweating.

Improper or no insulation of ducts. The condensation drip from the condenser is carried from the inside to the outside. But when the pressure changes for some reason the refrigerant may start to act abnormally. There should be a constant drip when the air conditioner is running.

Installing more fans and vents can prove a very effective solution. Sweating presents itself in an air distribution system as moisture that forms on the faces of lay in diffusers and t bar grids adjacent to those diffusers where this moisture collects and drips into the areas below. Sweating plumbing in these areas usually means that there isn t enough airflow to move humidity and hot air out. So that s why the refrigerant line has ice on it.

Normally this is a very simple problem that can be fixed in less than 30 minutes. The simple physics behind sweating is. The line is a pvc pipe that runs from the condenser inside your house to the outside next to the compressor. Missing or damaged refrigerant line insulation insulation on the refrigerant lines particularly on the larger suction line will cause condensation and drips from the lines in humid areas.

Low refrigerant means low pressure and low pressure means low temperatures that will eventually freeze something called an evaporator coil. Okay the heating and air conditioning unit is inside the house with the outside blower condenser i guess it is. If you are unfamiliar with air conditioning repair call a professional skilled in handling high voltage equipment and high pressure refrigerant. My air conditioning unit started acting up and was no longer blowing cold air it was barely blowing at all.

When the evaporator coil freezes cold liquid refrigerant flows through the refrigerant line causing the surrounding moisture in the air to freeze. Air conditioner condensation problems it is important for air conditioning preventive maintenance to be performed on your system to avoid problems. In such a case the refrigerant may cause the air outside the line to condense and then freeze. Use a refrigerant gauge set to check the pressures on the high and low side of the condenser.

Contact a professional if you aren t sure what sort of ventilation to add but it typically depends on cubic feet of air in the room as well as its location. Condensation water leaking near the air handling unit can be avoided with proper air conditioning repair and preventive maintenance. Either way it is a symptom of a larger problem. While sweating may be a simple annoyance it may also be potentially dangerous.

In our photo at above left where refrigerant line insulation is incomplete the drip stains on the attic floor may well indicate a point at which leak. A sweaty compressor can be the sign of an overcharged system meaning it has too much refrigerant.