Air conditioning question

[HetHert]

Has anyone had an air-conditioning problem where there was too much freon causing the unit not to work properly?

[WitchOfEndor]

I've not had that problem but please be careful, if freon is taken into your lungs, it can be dangerous.

[Shanti]

Exactly how is it not working?

[Mordaen]

Too much freon? I guess it would be possible to overcharge the unit, but I don't think that would stop it from working.

Oh and as Freon displaces oxygen, breathing it is a real easy way to kill yourself, so don't do it.

Wish I had air conditioning right now...

[Findarto]

Happens to me, once every few months.
The maintenance people have to come out and fix it...

Have you tried setting it to fan, and letting it sit and melt?

[HetHert]

We're having an issue with the air-conditioner not cooling our new place down. During the day while the thermostat is set to 78 the gauge will tell us that the place is 82-84 during the hottest part of the afternoon. Then it takes until 11:00pm at night for it to cool back down to under 80.

Well we told the landlord and he brought out an air-conditioning repair guy who said that the freon was over-charged and it was causing the air-conditioner not to work properly. The thing is, is that its once again the hottest part of the afternoon and once again the thermostat is set to 78 and the temp gauge is telling us its 83-84. The thermostat is in the hottest rooms in the house. The kitchen and dining which is not seperated at all. We bought a digital thermometer and started taking readings from the different rooms. We are finding that the living room gets to 78.8, the bedroom 81.1 and the kitchen 84.1(and climbing).

It was suggested to us that the unit might be too small but we were told by the airconditioner guy that its 1 ton to every 1000 sq ft. We have 2 ton unit and we are well under 2000 sq ft so the unit should have no issue with cooling this place down. As it is even with the freon syphoned off this place is not cooling down and the unit is running ALL the time. Our energy bill was phenomenally high, and granted this is one of the hottest months it doesn't make any sense.

I guess I'm also thinking that there may be an air duct issue because there is such a discrepancy between rooms.

We've installed that thermopaper on some of the east facing windows thinking that would help with the morning sun that floods in but its not the morning sun that really gets us...its the sun high over head that heats this place up.

I'm just frustrated with this whole thing and its hot! I have chinchillas that have to have it cooler than this and my husband and I are having problems sleeping. *SIGH*

I love our place but I'm upset about this cooling issue. And I know it really amounts to me needing to tell our landlord that this mornings bleeding off of some freon was NOT the fix we all hoped for. :awilly:

BTW guys...Thanks for all your responses. I'm so fed up that any help, experience, or suggestions for cooling off this place and keeping the expense of it all down would be really appreciated!

[Shanti]

It sounds like the thing is just to small.
Here is info on air conditioners:

BTU and EER
Most air conditioners have their capacity rated in British thermal units (BTU). Generally speaking, a BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound (0.45 kg) of water 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.56 degrees Celsius). Specifically, 1 BTU equals 1,055 joules. In heating and cooling terms, 1 "ton" equals 12,000 BTU.

A typical window air conditioner might be rated at 10,000 BTU. For comparison, a typical 2,000-square-foot (185.8 m2) house might have a 5-ton (60,000-BTU) air conditioning system, implying that you might need perhaps 30 BTU per square foot. (Keep in mind that these are rough estimates. To size an air conditioner for your specific needs, contact an HVAC contractor.)
LINK (http://www.howstuffworks.com/ac.htm)

[Rick]

Has anyone had an air-conditioning problem where there was too much freon causing the unit not to work properly?
Yep... I work in a home appliance store... if your unit is overcharged, the compressor can't compress the refrigerant (um, unless you have a really old unit, you probably don't have freon in it, it's probably R-122 or R-134), too much pressure inside the system...

Sounds to me like you might have insulation issues. Also, did the technician clean the unit, & check the filter?