Undercharged Refrigerant Systems

WARNING

Turn off electric power before service or installation.

Extreme care must be used, if it becomes necessary to work on equipment with power applied.

Failure to do so could result in serious injury or death.

WARNING

Sealed Refrigeration System contains refrigerant and oil under high pressure.

Proper safety procedures must be followed, and proper protective clothing must be worn when working with refrigerants.

Failure to follow these procedures could result in serious injury or death.

	Undercharged Refrigerant Systems	A check of the amperage drawn by the compressor
	An undercharged system will result in poor performance	motor should show a lower reading. (Check the Unit
	(low pressures, etc.) in both the heating and cooling	Specification.) After the unit has run 10 to 15 minutes,
	cycle.	check the gauge pressures. Gauges connected to system
	Whenever you service a unit with an undercharge of	with an undercharge will have low head pressures and
	Whenever you service a unit with an undercharge of	substantially low suction pressures.
	refrigerant, always suspect a leak. The leak must be	substantially low suction pressures.
	refrigerant, always suspect a leak. The leak must be
	repaired before charging the unit.
	repaired before charging the unit.
	To check for an undercharged system, turn the unit on,
	allow the compressor to run long enough to establish
	working pressures in the system (15 to 20 minutes).
	During the cooling cycle you can listen carefully at the exit
	of the metering device into the evaporator; an intermittent
	hissing and gurgling sound indicates a low refrigerant
	charge. Intermittent frosting and thawing of the evaporator
	is another indication of a low charge, however, frosting
	and thawing can also be caused by insufficient air over
	the evaporator.
	Checks for an undercharged system can be made at
	Checks for an undercharged system can be made at
	the compressor. If the compressor seems quieter than
	normal, it is an indication of a low refrigerant charge.

Overcharged Refrigerant Systems	of the evaporator will not be encountered because the
Compressor amps will be near normal or higher.	refrigerant will boil later if at all. Gauges connected to
Compressor amps will be near normal or higher.	system will usually have higher head pressure (depending
Noncondensables can also cause these symptoms. To	upon amount of over charge). Suction pressure should be
confirm, remove some of the charge, if conditions improve,	slightly higher.
system may be overcharged. If conditions don’t improve,
Noncondensables are indicated.
Whenever an overcharged system is indicated, always
make sure that the problem is not caused by air flow
problems. Improper air flow over the evaporator coil may
indicate some of the same symptoms as an over charged
system.
An overcharge can cause the compressor to fail, since it
would be “slugged” with liquid refrigerant.
The charge for any system is critical. When the compressor
is noisy, suspect an overcharge, when you are sure that
the air quantity over the evaporator coil is correct. Icing

Overcharged Refrigerant Systems