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Steve Kraus Steve Kraus is offline
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Default Seeing occasional bubble in A/C sight glass

One day I was cleaning my yard and I noticed when I went to check on
my outdoor A/C unit, I saw an occasional bubble float by in the A/C
sight glass, like once every 3 seconds. After checking every couple
of days, I did not notice it anymore. Does this mean I have a leak, or
is the freon just expanding and contracting with the weather? The day
I saw the bubble it was warmer ( about 50 degrees) than it had been.
The unit has been off since the end of summer.


Non expert opinion:

Might be low. The only way to know would be to have someone hook on gauges
and read the high and low side pressures. Since that will cost money you
could also take temperature readings of the air both immediately before and
immediately after the evaporator coil (the cooling coil in the house)
without contacting anything to get just the air temps and report back here.
Someone who will not be me might then give you a better opinion based on
the temperature drop across the coil on whether a service call is required.

If it's low and presuming it was once correct there has to be a leak but it
could be very tiny and you could go on for years. However, efficiency will
drop all the while.