Derek Cole explains that HVAC systems shouldn't need refrigerant added every year. If yours does, you have a leak. Repeatedly topping it off is like giving blood transfusions instead of stopping the bleeding.
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It is not normal for your unit to take refrigerant every single year. The unit is not using up a refrigerant, it uses a refrigerant. I like to kind of reference this as your body. If your body starts spewing blood out of your arm, okay, we shouldn't be spewing blood. I shouldn't need more blood unless I'm losing blood, right? So I shouldn't need more refrigerant unless I'm losing refrigerant. So you need to see what the cause is. We go to quite a bit of customers who get one or two pounds, they say they get it every single year. But the problem is you shouldn't be leaking that refrigerant out. So obviously there is a leak somewhere that needs to be controlled, needs to be handled. It is just like your body. It is a closed system. Just like you shouldn't be spewing blood, all of a sudden, your unit shouldn't be leaking refrigerant. So, no, that is not normal. And adding one or two pounds every year, you're not helping anything. You're just adding cost to it. And obviously, if it's running low in refrigerant, kind of like your body running low on blood, you're going to have a problem, right? So if you don't have enough blood, you have a problem. If your system doesn't have enough refrigerant, you will also have problems. So get the leak fixed, see what the cause is. Instead of putting band aids on it, which is adding more refrigerant, actually go to the cause and stop it.
