WHY IS MY AC FREEZING UP?

FROZEN AC SYSTEMMany of our customers have questions about their AC system freezing up. AllPro Heating & AC is showing here a little insight into how the frozen AC system looks and why it is freezing up, and what you can do to help AllPro Heating & AC to correct this problem. Call AllPro Heating & AC for expert repairs. We have the experience and expertise to diagnose and make repairs to your system that is freezing up.

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Question: Why is my air conditioning system freezing up?

Answer #1: There are many reasons and causes that cause your air conditioning system to freeze up. The most prevalent reason is that it is low on Freon. When the AC system looses some of it’s freon charge, the system will freeze up. This usually occurs on cool nights, rainy days, or other similar conditions.

Prevention: We recommend having your seasonal air conditioning system checkup at the beginning of the Spring cooling season. This will include checking your freon charge and other pre-Summer prevention measures.

FROZEN AC COILQuestion #2: What is another reason for an air conditioning system is that the inside system is not pushing the proper amount of air through the vents.

Prevention: What you can do as the home owner is see if the inside unit is blowing air all of the time that it should, or is it stopping during the cooling cycle. Feeling a vent or listening to the system will help the air conditioning technician diagnose this problem. You can also change your air filter and see if this helps.

Question #3: Is there another reason for intermittant freezing of my system?

Answer: Yes, several. If your inside equipment is rusty, restricted, leaking freon, or not flowing air properly, that will cause freezing up. This could require replacing the inside equipment.

 

frozen ac coilsQuestion #4: What can I, as the home owner, do to help diagnose the problem and make the repairs easier?

Answer: If your home is not cooling well, or not keeping up with the temperature on hot days, you can look at the outside air conditioning condenser and the copper lines that are attached to it. You may see ice on these lines that is very visible. It may be on the copper lines, or under the insulation on your copper lines. You may also see it inside the outside AC unit.

Response: If you see or suspect ice and/or freezing up – TURN OFF the AC system immediately. It will not thaw out while it is running. It will likely take 8-10 hours to thaw out. Just seeing the ice melt off outside is not the answer to the problem. It has to thaw out and melt inside also, This is what takes so long. It must be turned off for 8-10 hours.

 

FROZEN AC CONDENSER

 

What happens if it’s not thawed out?: It will just freeze up again. It will also prevent the AC technician from getting an accurate diagnoses of the problems. It will also prevent the AC technician from getting an accurate reading on the freon levels in the system. The fastest way to defrost the AC system is as follows:

 

  1. Turn the thermostat from COOL TO THE OFF POSITION.
  2. Turn the FAN control from AUTO to ON. Make the blower run and helps defrost the system. Still takes 8-10 hours.
  3. CALL YOUR AC TECHNICIAN AND SCHEDULE A VISIT TO GET YOU BACK UP AND RUNNING AGAIN.
  4. Try not to turn AC system on until it has been checked out by qualified AC technician.

AC EQUIPMENT