What is required to recharge refrigerant in a built in ICE CAP Air conditioner that cannot be moved?

Question

My apartment has a built in air conditioner unit. The brand is ICE CAP and it doesn't look like there is any way to remove it as its built into the cabinet frame that has an external exhaust outside. Lately the AC cooling is not cool enough and I'm thinking it just needs a refrigerant recharge. I hear a lot of horror stories when hiring an HVAC company to do recharges as they charge you extra for unrelated services.

Below is the picture of the unit. I was able to manage to get the casing off and see a piping that looks like I can unscrew. I'd imagine it is where I would recharge freon, but not exactly sure as I have never done this before. I have a zoom in view of it also.

• Judging from the pics, can I recharge Freon without removing the entire unit?
• Is the valve there for recharging Freon?

Answer 1

Air conditioners do not magically lose refrigerant.

If refrigerant is missing, the air-conditioner leaks; if the leak is not fixed, it will continue to leak. Fixing the leak is a related service that you absolutely require before you even think of adding refrigerant or having anyone else do so. Since you quite obviously are not equipped to find and fix the leak, you need someone who is both trained, equipped, and in the USA (at least), properly licensed.

It is HIGHLY unlikely that the air conditioner cannot be removed. The HVAC tech you are afraid to hire probably will know how, or be able to figure it out. That might let you replace your old, leaking, likely inefficient and requiting expensive old refrigerants A/C with a new, efficient, non-leaky and using far less expensive refrigerants unit, if you chose to.