AC and heating questions, answered

No, and the answer isn’t negotiable. A refrigerant circuit is sealed; nothing uses it up. If it’s low, there’s a hole, and adding more sends the new gas out of the same hole at your expense. Knowingly venting refrigerant is illegal under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act.

We find it instead: nitrogen at pressure, an electronic detector, soap where it alarms. It’s commonly a Schrader core or a flare, and those are cheap. If it’s the evaporator coil, we’ll tell you what a coil costs against a system and let you weigh it.

Maybe. It’s just as likely to be airflow. A dirty filter or a dirty coil restricts air; less air means the refrigerant can’t boil off, the coil drops below 32° and the moisture on it freezes.

Low charge gets to the same block of ice a different way. The readings separate them, and you can’t take them until it’s thawed.

Check the condensate drain first. There’s usually a float switch on the drain line or in the pan, and when the drain blocks it stops the system on purpose to keep water out of your ceiling. Nothing is broken.

If the pan is holding water, that’s very likely it. The line still wants clearing properly, and the reason it blocked is worth knowing.

Possibly. A run capacitor is the most common failure on a home system, and the easiest to oversell. Ask for the number: it’s stamped with its rating and tolerance, usually ±6%. If it measures inside that, it’s fine.

A capacitor and relay that give the compressor a bigger shove at startup. It genuinely helps on a long line set or a weak supply, and it will usually get a tiring compressor through a summer. That second use is a walking stick, not a cure, and we’ll say which one it is.

It’s a coin toss. Sizing is a load calculation on your actual house. Oversizing feels safe and isn’t: an oversized system shuts off before it dehumidifies, and in Florida that means a clammy house at 74°.

Because most home equipment is designed around about 0.5 inch of static pressure, and many houses measure well above it. A new system behind ducts like that fails the same way the old one did.

Usually, yes. It is the same outdoor unit running in reverse. On the coldest nights it may lean on electric strip heat, which costs more to run.

A setting that runs the electric strips only. It is for when the heat pump has failed, not for every cold night.

For most Florida homes, Auto, so the coil can dry between cycles.

Often the system is too big or runs too short to dry the air, or the fan is stuck on On. We measure before we suggest equipment.

Yes. The charge is told on the phone before anyone drives out. It covers the readings, and you keep the report either way.

Always. Every line is priced and agreed before anything is fixed or replaced.

Fine. Send photos in the chat or request a visit. An estimate written from photos is confirmed on site.

A written service report with the readings as found and as left, every line priced, and anything you asked for that we advised against, printed at $0.00.

Monday to Saturday. If there is smoke, sparks or a burning smell, switch the system off at the thermostat and the breaker, and call rather than typing.

Yes, for air conditioning and heating.