Air Conditioning Re-gas & Leak repair

Air Conditioning
Installation

Air Conditioning
Replacement

Air Conditioning
Service

Air Conditioning
Repairs

Air Conditioning re-gas and leak repair

As Brisbane’s leading air conditioning service, repair and maintenance experts, we provide complete aircon servicing for residential and commercial clients. We’re here to make your life easier by giving your home and business endless comfort with our world-class air conditioning solutions.

Air conditioning re gas forms a part of this service and this is probably the most common repair that we are asked to undertake. Either it’s a installation that has been done by someone that is not qualified and has done such a bad job the gases leaked out within the first year , or the unit has developed a problem due to mechanical or vibration damage.

We also get a lot of calls with unlicensed installers that do weekend cashies. You can usually find these people advertising on Facebook or Gumtree doing cashies on the weekend, but once you give him a call to let them know something is wrong with your unit, they do not want to hear anything about it and will not return any of your calls. This is because they don’t carry the gases that they require to be able to fix the leak in re gas your unit and offer no warranty or back up service.

A lot of people think they’re saving money by getting these technicians some may even work for bigger companies and doing the work on the weekends, but they will end up paying more eventually due to having gas leak issues with improper installations.

Who can re-gas my Air Conditioner

Working with refrigerants?

A Refrigerant Handling Licence must be held by any person who carries out work in relation to refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) equipment. Carrying out work in relation to RAC equipment means to do anything with a fluorocarbon refrigerant, or a component of RAC equipment, that carries the risk of refrigerant being emitted, including: decanting the refrigerant or manufacturing, installing, commissioning, servicing or maintaining RAC equipment or decommissioning RAC equipment.

Handling fluorocarbon refrigerant without a Refrigerant Handling Licence is an offence. National regulations are in place which affect people who acquire, possess, dispose of or handle ozone depleting substances or synthetic greenhouse gases.

Who needs a refrigerant handling licence?

Any person who handles refrigerant or works on RAC equipment must hold a refrigerant handling licence. Handling a refrigerant means doing anything with the refrigerant, or a component of RAC equipment, that carries the risk of its emission, including:

decanting the refrigerant; or
manufacturing, installing, commissioning, servicing or maintaining RAC equipment, irrespective if whether or not refrigerant is present; or
decommissioning or disposing of RAC equipment where refrigerant is present.

What types of refrigerants do the licences cover?

The refrigerant handling licence and refrigerant trading authorisation cover all fluorocarbon refrigerants: chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons. Examples of these include R12, R22, R134A, R410A and R404A.

Why do I need a Refrigerant Handling Licence to handle refrigerant?

Fluorocarbon refrigerants are harmful to the environment if emitted to the atmosphere. Under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Regulations 1995, persons handling refrigerant must hold a current Refrigerant Handling Licence. This licence is issued by ARC on behalf of the Australian government and can be obtained by completing the online licence application form on this website.

Penalties under the Act and the Regulations

To read about current penalties under the Ozone legislation view ARC Fact Sheet 11

What is an Air Conditioning re-gas

An air conditioner re gas is where the unit has developed a leak and the refrigerant has escaped.

If you get a technician from Snap Air Conditioning, we will not just re gas the unit, we will first need to find where the unit has developed the leak .

Usually this is located where the flared connections are. We have seen many different reasons and causes of leaks for instance, they have been children jumping on the external pipes playing around the unit, we’ve had units that have moved after a couple of years due to heavy rains and this has caused undue stress on the flared joints which developed a crack .

So before a unit can be re gassed we will not need to find the source of the leak repair and test it to make sure that once the unit is re gassed it will not lose the gas in need repair again

In Australia, only companies that have an Arctick License can operate with refrigerant. An Arctick licensed operator must follow strict and mandatory procedures regarding the sale, usage, and disposal of refrigerants. –

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my Air Conditioner be damaged if it runs out of gas

No it will not be damaged as units these days have precautionary electronics to stop the air conditioner running if there is no gas or pressure present

Does my Air Conditioner need to be re gassed every couple years.

No you should never have to get your air conditioner re gassed the only reason you would need a re gas is if the installation was not perfect and there is a very small leak that was missed by the technician or the leak has materialized due to vibration

Think you Air Conditioning
needs to be re-gassed?

Here are the most common ways to tell if your air conditioner needs a re-gas.

It’s well worth Snap Air Conditioning organise the scheduled maintenance to conducted on your air conditioner system. We will pick up if it is running low on gas or is about to and fix the problem right there and then. What we usually see every year is at the beginning of summer people are completely unprepared, they switch on their air conditioning and realise it’s out of gas, usually on the first hot day of summer. You will find it very hard to get a technician out there quickly for a re gas in this period due to the volumes of calls every company gets.

Air conditioning gas recharge & leak repair costs

Air Conditioning re-gas costs will differ between make and model. This will depend on how old the unit is, what gas it’s running and how much of the gas is needed to inject into the system.

here is a list of the three most common refrigerants for split system air conditioners though R22 refrigerant has been phased out

R32:

In preparation for the phase-out of HCFCs, most of Australia Air Conditioners are now using this more environmentally friendly refrigerant.
R32 has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 650, which is significantly less than the more commonly used R410A which is 1,9

R410A Puron:

R-410A replaced R-22 in 2010 as the refrigerant for use in residential and commercial air conditioners, this was a lot more environmentally friendly that the R-22 gas

R22 Freon:

Production or import of R-22 along with other hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) be phased out, R-22 cannot be used in the manufacture of new air conditioning or similar units from 1 January 2010.^[7] In other parts of the world, the phase-out date varies from country to country. Since 1 January 2020, the production and importation of R-22 has been banned