Should You Worry About a Frozen Air Conditioner?

What nightmares will you have this summer? Is it an air conditioner in Clovis that produces a weird noise or a frozen AC on a hot summer day? It’s counter-intuitive to think of your cooling system freezing up when it’s working all day to cool down your home to the desired temperature. But there is an explanation for this occurrence.

Inside your AC, the refrigerant expands causing the evaporator coil to cool rapidly. When the cooled coil comes into contact with your home’s air, the refrigerant will absorb the hot air. The refrigerant is then transported out of the house where it is compressed, successfully transferring the heat outside your house. This cycle repeats endlessly, thus effectively cooling down your home.

When something causes an alteration to this cycle, your air conditioner service might end up cooling the evaporator coil more than it should and causes the freezing of the unit. This is a common case in both residential and commercial HVAC systems.

What Causes The Air Conditioner to Freeze Up?

Low Refrigerant Pressure | Air Conditioner Service

The refrigerant chlorodifluoromethane, also known as R22, has different physical properties at various levels of pressure. Normally, R22 is passed through the lines at a temperature where condensation occurs outside of the line. If something disrupts this process and the pressure within the system changes, the change can cause the refrigerant to perform differently. If this is the case, when the warm air is passed over the evaporator, the moisture will freeze on the coils and ice will begin to form. Little ice formation may not affect the performance of the AC, but too much can affect the airflow.

The ice will then act as an insulator and will prevent your Clovis air conditioning from fully functioning, and the refrigerant will evaporate faster as a result. When this happens, the air conditioner can’t freeze the line and you’ll end up with no cooled air at all!

Insufficient Airflow in the Evaporator Coil

The main job of the AC is to drop the temperature in your home by extracting the heat from it. If the AC fails to effectively extract the heat and is unable to blow it over to the evaporator coil, then the heat exchange doesn’t happen. If this continues, the temperature will drop and might lead to a frozen AC.

Blower Fan is Damaged

Because cold air is dense and doesn’t move through well, the blower fan pushes the cooled air out of the unit and into your living space at the same time sucking warm air out. When the blower fan breaks or malfunctions, it significantly changes the airflow within the AC resulting in too much condensation building up on the coils, while water droplets will not evaporate or drain properly. This problem can severely damage your cooling unit.

Talk to an Expert in Air Conditioning Service

When your AC doesn’t cool air like it’s supposed to or when you see ice forming within or around the unit, talk to a professional technician. Marthedal Solar, Air & Heating has been in service for more than four decades and has provided solutions to all kinds of HVAC problems. Call us today for a professional advice!

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