House AC Unit Still Sealed?

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm not sure I understand "gasified" but I think you mean evacuated? Any way, I hope it was done properly and look forward to taking it apart and cashing in on someone's laziness.

Okay thanks again. But how would someone connect a new one to their house? I thought because it was a clean cut that it was part of the evacuation procedure and the freon is removed and then cut the pipe and you are left with a clean end to attach a new one to. I would just check my house but we don't have central air but window units. Where did the pipe go to when it was still attached? Into the house? It comes straight out and is about 6"-8" long.

Originally Posted by t00nces2

An AC works by compressing the freon gas into a liquid. As it does, There is a tremendous amount of heat that is added to the freon as a result of the compression. The liquified freon is cooled in the condenser coil and the cooled liquified freon is moved to the evaporator coil where the liquified freon is allowed to return to a gaseous state. When it does, it is sucking up energy that is required to cause the liquid to gassify. An AC contains far more freon in the form of a liquid than it does as a gas. When the sealed freon loop is breached, the liquid freon returns to its' gaseous state, because it is no longer held under sufficient pressure to maintain a liquid state.

It most likely was not done "properly".

Many people don't understand that an AC works by boiling [gasifying] a liquid. When the high presser liquid freon goes to the low presser side it boils. Then it is compresed so when it goes into the condenser [radiator] it condenses into a liquid. When any liquid boils it is at its boiling temperature. At the atmospheric presser of sea level boiling water is always 212F Freon [R12] is around -22F. Just like when you heat the water, freon takes heat to boil, the heat is from the air in the room you are trying to cool down. So a boiling liquid is what cools the air.