Check AC Freon Level

How to check your AC-freon level in 5 easy
steps
- by Albrand Velthuizen, 12/05/20
Fifteen minutes is all it takes to discover if you have enough coolant in your system, even if
you’re not an f-gas certified service engineer.
Condition of your system

Subcooling and Superheating are two key terms in cooling techniques. All mediums
condensate or evaporate at a certain temperature and pressure.
For example, water at sea level condensates/evaporates at 100°C. To be sure that everything is
evaporated in a cooling circuit, set the temperature a little higher, such as 110°C. This
temperature difference of 10 Kelvin is called superheating.
The same goes for condensation. To make sure all the gases condensate, set the temperature a
fraction lower to 95°C.
As a rule of thumb, the temperature difference for superheating and subcooling must be
respectively around 10 Kelvin and 5 Kelvin.
If there is too much superheating and too little subcooling; then there is not enough freon in
the system. It also works the other way around. Too much subcooling and too little
superheating, then there is too much freon in the system.
Five easy steps

To calculate subcooling and superheating you need a:
• Digital thermometer
• Refrigerant slider
• Pen & paper.
Step 1) Determine the freon type
Check out the type plate on your installation which contains information such as the
installation number, number of circuits, global warming potential and refrigerant type.
Image 1: Type plate
The example type plate above shows that this system contains the refrigerant R407C.
Step 2) Check pressure
Almost every system Heinen & Hopman delivers is equipped with pressure gauges, indicating
the suction and discharge pressure, or low and high pressure.
If your system is not fitted with the gauges you can find the suction and discharge pressure in
the documentation.
Image 2: Pressure indicators
For this example, we take a suction and discharge pressure of 4.4 bar and 15 bar.
Step 3) Determine condensation/evaporation temperature
The refrigerant has different condensation and evaporation temperatures at different pressures.
A refrigerant slider is used to determine these temperatures.
If you don’t own one, you can download the Danfoss refrigerant slider in the Appstore and
Google Play. Or try the web version of the tool.
Set the right refrigerant (R407C in our case). The images below are taken from the web
version.
Image 3: evaporation temperature
To calculate the evaporation temperature, set the slide on ‘dew’ and type in the low pressure.
The second box shows the corresponding evaporation temperature.
Image 4: condensate temperature
To calculate the condensate temperature, set the slide on ‘bubble’ and type in the high
pressure. The second box shows the corresponding condensate temperature. Write down these
temperatures.
Step 4) Measure the temperature on your installation
Use a digital thermometer to measure the temperatures on the installation.
subcooling
superheating
Image 5: scheme installation
Start with superheating, which can be measured on the suction pipe just before the compressor
inlet. Subcooling is measured just before the expansion valve.
Temperature suction pipe before compressor 15°C

Temperature discharge pipe before expansion valve 30.5°C
Step 5) Calculate subcooling and superheating
Now we have all the data we need to calculate the subcooling and superheating.
Superheating = temp. suction pipe - evaporation temp.

Subcooling = condensation temp. - temp. discharge pipe
Following the data, we have found this gives us the following:
Superheating = 15 – 4.7 = 10.3K
Subcooling = 36.4 – 30.5 = 5.9K
Conclusion
Are the temperatures within the 10K and 5K range? Then your system is operating with the
right amount of coolant. If not, you probably need someone to check it out. You can of course
wait until the low-pressure alarm starts but by then you’re definitely too late.
The filling and emptying of an installation with freon may only be carried out by certified
personnel.
Please contact one of our engineers if your freon level is insufficient or you have any further
questions about superheating and subcooling.
Albrand Veldhuizen | Commissioning Engineer
Albrand has been working at Heinen & Hopman since 2006. He has worked himself up to the
position of Commissioning Engineer and nowadays he is stationed at one of the largest yacht
builders in Germany. During his many years working onboard numerous luxury yachts, he
has developed a great expertise in HVAC systems for superyachts.

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How to check your AC-freon level in 5 easy

Condition of your system

Five easy steps

Step 1) Determine the freon type

Step 2) Check pressure

Image 2: Pressure indicators

Image 3: evaporation temperature

Image 4: condensate temperature

Use a digital thermometer to measure the temperatures on the installation.

Image 5: scheme installation

Temperature suction pipe before compressor 15°C

Step 5) Calculate subcooling and superheating

Superheating = temp. suction pipe - evaporation temp.

Following the data, we have found this gives us the following:

Superheating = 15 – 4.7 = 10.3K

Subcooling = 36.4 – 30.5 = 5.9K

Albrand Veldhuizen | Commissioning Engineer

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