In round general numbers. How many lbs of freon will a typical home AC unit hold? Five ton unit. How much should freon cost per lb?
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i have a 5 ton 14 seer,so big condensor,i was in shock when it had to be bled down and if i remember right took about 22lbs of freon. if you can find a way to buy it freon will run about 200 per 30lbs last i knew. but the air guys are going to mark that up by about 3 times, i'd guess 25.00 a lb for a complete recharge. if they just give it a squirt your going to pay alot more.
what are they telling you? if you look at the plate on the condensor it will tell you how much it was shipped with. larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
They are telling me 9# at $32 a lb.
They did find a leak and repaired that. $500+ total.
Sounds like it wasn't to bad of a price.
Thanks,
9-10# for 5 T is typical, the 22# previously quoted seems very high - could be tech lost a charge thru an initial undetected leak and HO got billed.
Current Grainger price is $236 for 30#, over $500 for 50# (why buy the 50#???) for R22. R410A is higher, but you can buy that without a liscense but it is only for units designed for it (higher pressure).
Have heard of HVAC folks charging as much as $100/# for freon, 5X markup is typical.
Pretty soon 410 will be about the same price as R22 (total phase out by 2020 unless you stash some). If you cant stash R22, then 410A for a new A/C is the DIY way to go to avoid the markups.
Holy cr*p, I bought a 30 from a connection in the bidness a couple of years ago and it was $68. Cannot believe the # quoted by OP.
I have a 5 ton package unit sitting in the yard that I have been trying to sell for our church. Think I will go scavenge the r-22. It is a three phase unit and have not been able to sell it for the price of a decent window unit.
I have a slow leak that I guess I had better get fixed.
I just had my condensing unit outside repaired. My unit uses 410 freon. Check the manufacturer's website for how much freon is needed. However, that number will most likely be the pounds necessary to fill the compressor only, extra will be needed to fill the pipes. The local power company (with their repair contract) gave me $35 (or that range) per pound for 410 freon. I eventually got a local hvac company to do the repair and they charged about the same.
Just one thing, if your a/c uses 410 freon, you may not want to do the repair or refilling. 410 freon is kept under high pressure and the repair guy said the pressure is the reason why the larger pipe (supply?) is brazed, not soldered. Hope this helps.
5 ton unit is going to be around 5 to 7 pounds of refrigerant- newer models use less.
Plus the difference needed to charge the lineset if it is over 15' long.
Retail cost per pound of refrigerant is whatever the market will bear, unless you are certified to buy and install it.
R-22 phaseout for new equipment is 2010. Current supplies of recycled R-22 are 95% below projections and virgin R-22 production is severly capped- this means shortages.
If you think it is expensive now, just wait. Remember that 30# jugs of R-12 that once sold for $19 at K Mart eventually sold for $900 until drop-in replacements became available. Some hoarded it in the hopes of stashing "liquid gold" and now those jugs have a street value of $200 - $300 outside of the supply house.
Do a web search of "R22 phaseout" if you want to learn more.
Annual "topping off" of leaky R-22 systems is going to get really expensive. Repair of some leaks is almost impossible and not guaranteed, plus it is expensive.
Prices of R-410A refrigerant is coming down- it will be cheaper than R-22 soon.