Photo By Troy Sniff at istock
It’s a normal summer day and you’re sitting around your home, relaxing with the air conditioner operating. Suddenly, you notice the temperature in the home starting to rise, and you wonder whether you might need to call in an air conditioning service to fix the problem. You head out to look at your HVAC unit, and you see the problem: your air conditioner has completely frozen over.
But wait a minute: how could the air conditioner freeze over on a sweltering summer day? You should know that the answer has nothing to do with the temperature, and in some cases, it has nothing to do with anything that you did. It’s often a problem with the air conditioning unit that requires a service expert to come in and fix the problem. Here are a few possible explanations to consider!
The Air Filter Needs Changing
This is the most simple explanation, and is one of the instances where it is the homeowner’s mistake that caused the air conditioner to freeze up. Because your air conditioner at your home is pulling air in, it’s also pulling in particles from the air that can prevent it from working at its maximum efficiency. When everything is working properly with your air conditioner, those particles get trapped by the filter and are prevented from stopping the filter from operating at peak efficiency.
But when the filter is allowed to get dirty, those particles can find their way into the unit and cause the air conditioner to work harder than necessary to keep the home cooled to the desired temperature. Over time, if the filter isn’t properly changed, you’re going to find yourself needing to schedule air conditioning service a lot sooner than you would have liked.
The good news is that this is an easy fix. All you have to do is replace the filter and your air conditioner should defrost and become usable again.
It’s Working Too Long
Your air conditioner isn’t meant to be on 24 hours a day. That’s one reason why government agencies often recommend that the temperature be raised during the day, so that you can give your air conditioning service a break. However, this isn’t always possible in this day and age, because many people choose to work from home, which means they’re no longer leaving the home during the day and giving the air conditioner a chance to recover without having to constantly operate.
If this is your reality, there are a few things that you can do. First, when it’s a really nice day in Chattanooga, TN, try getting outside to do your work so that you can turn off your HVAC and lessen the need for air conditioning service. When it’s a beautiful spring day, there’s nothing like getting outside and getting your work done while being surrounded by nature.
If you can’t do that, you can also try raising your indoor temperature to something that you can live with for a few hours a day. For example, if you prefer to keep your home at 66 degrees, you might try raising it to 68 at certain points in the day. Most people won’t notice a two-degree increase in temperature, and you’ll give your air conditioner the break it needs to lessen the need for air conditioning service.
Dirty Coils
When the coils get clogged with dirt, a frozen air conditioner is likely to follow soon after. Coils can get dirty over time because your air conditioner is constantly bringing in air, which causes the coils to not only cool the air, but also pull the water out of the air to make it drier and reduce the humidity, making for a much more pleasant experience inside your home.
But that’s when everything is working properly. When it isn’t, the humidity that your coils pull out of the air can end up landing on the coils themselves, because the excess dirt means that the water vapor that’s been removed from the air doesn’t have anywhere to go. When it lands on those cold coils, what tends to happen? You guessed it: it freezes over, requiring you to call for an air conditioning service in most situations.
The best way to prevent dirty coils is to change the filter regularly and do it more often if you have pets in the house, as pet dander can get trapped in the air filter and lead to dirt on the coils. It’s also a wise idea to call for an air conditioning service on a regular basis to look at your coils and make sure that there’s nothing that could be causing them to freeze over.
Broken Air Blower
Your air conditioner needs to be able to blow air through the unit, and it does so by blowing cold air through the home and blowing hot air outside and away from the unit. When the blower isn’t working properly, the entire system breaks down and prevents the unit from getting anything done. Not only is the air not getting where it needs to go, but because hot air isn’t blowing through the unit and keeping the coils operational, the unit freezes and becomes useless.
If you’ve got a broken air blower at your home, there’s no sense in waiting. You need to call for air conditioning service immediately, because your air conditioner is going to be completely useless until you get that fixed by a professional.
When it comes to your air conditioner, the last thing that you want to experience is a summer with a frozen AC, which is why you need to make sure to call Metro Plumbing, Heating and Air the next time that you find an issue with your air conditioner in Chattanooga, TN. We’ll be happy to provide proper air conditioning service that pinpoints the issue and fixes it properly, allowing you to get back to enjoying your home in comfort!
