- 1). Turn off your air conditioning unit. Disconnect your AC unit's power cord (if applicable) or turn off the circuit breaker/fuse in your home that controls the AC unit (if applicable).
- 2). Open the service compartment on your air conditioning unit. Among all of the things inside this compartment you will see two pressure valves -- one labeled "High" and one labeled "Low." Look inside the manual that came with your refrigerant gauge to see which of the two hoses connected to the gauge is the "High" hose and which is the "Low" hose. Connect the "High" hose to the "High" pressure valve and the "Low" hose to the "Low" pressure valve.
- 3). Turn your air conditioning unit back on. As it begins to run, the refrigerant gauge will display pressure readings from the "High" hose and the "Low" hose on its screen. Consult the original service manual that came with your air conditioning unit to see what these readings should be under ideal circumstances. You need this manual in order to perform this check -- if you don't have it, contact your manufacturer and get a replacement. If the numbers on the refrigerant gauge are lower than the numbers in your manual, call a licensed contractor to add refrigerant to your air conditioner system.
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