In article , Bubba wrote:
On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 10:24:45 -0700 (PDT), SMcK wrote:

EDITED FOR SPACE

3. In the end I ended up calling in my neighbor again. This guy has
been doing heating, A/C, electric and plumbing in the neighborhood for
about 50 years. Nice guy and very helpful and I hate bugging him. He
determined it was low on freon, and charged it. He also checked for
leaks and cleaned out the grill(?) with a hose. I paid him a little
more than what he asked (still a bargain) and gave him a framed photo
of his house with the sunset behind it.

4. I don't know how old the unit is. It was there when we moved in in
'98. I'm going to guess it's about 15 years old.

What a shame to hear that the guy has been doing this for 50yrs and
cant find a simple refrigerant leak.
Refrigerant doesnt wear out or go bad. It leaks out. You have a leak.
It will continue to leak

How small a leak is one supposed to find? One that leaks out not quite
all the refrigerant in 15 years?

Just a few years ago, I was told (IIRC) that A/C techs are finding and
repairing leaks of 4 ounces of refrigerant per year, and that ones
around or less than 2 ounces per year are often too small to find and are
often tolerated.

- Don Klipstein )