So you’re dealing with a day so hot that you may as well be boiling in the oven. There would be nothing better than to crank up the air conditioning unit and let the cool breeze spread throughout your house. Nothing can stop you except, yikes, your unit has ice all over it. That means it’s pretty much not going to be useful until you get an AC repair. Repair experts note that the best way to prevent this from even happening is by knowing what makes the unit freeze over like that. Here are some possible reasons that your HVAC is busted with frost.
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Table of Contents
You Have Refrigerant Problems.
The refrigerant is one of the essential components you need to keep your air conditioning running efficiently, and it affects its performance in many ways. If you are running low on it, it lessens the cooling capability of your unit and makes moisture accumulate faster. Because of leaks, it will cool up your coils quickly and end up causing an eventual build-up of frost or ice.
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Your Air Filters Are Clogged Or Dirty.
If your air filters are not regularly cleaned or replaced on time, they will end up getting too dirty and having too much grime and debris that causes the airflow to be deficient in your system. When that happens, the cool air doesn’t correctly go out, and hot air is not sucked in the right way. Because of that, all of the cold air builds up in the unit and causes icing over to occur. This process becomes even quicker if you are in a high-humidity area and there is poor ventilation in the home.
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You Have Busted Components.
Whether it’s your coils, blower fans, or motors, when these components start to sputter, it will make your system overcompensate and work harder. Not only does this make the cool air not able to spread out as well indoors, but it also affects the inner temperature of the unit, making it freeze over. These crucial components are in charge of directing where the air goes and how much is taken in and out, particularly both the hot and cold air circulating.
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You Overused It During Low Temp Days.
When it’s cold outside and you’ve still got the AC cranked on, chances are it’ll freeze over. It’s usually recommended that if the temperature dips below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, you should keep the aircon off. The coils naturally condensate, but with the cool temperature outside contributing, that will make the coils get colder and faster, hence the formation of ice over them.
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Your Thermostat Is Broken.
Your unit could be responding to a bad thermostat that is showing temperatures to be hotter than they actually are. If that’s happening, then it will be producing more cool air than necessary and could have similar effects as the above where you operate it during a low-temp day.
When your unit is frozen, not only will this make it ineffective for use, but it also damages it over time. It’s best to keep your AC well-maintained and to avoid bad usage habits so that you don’t have to go through the hassle of getting a repair or replacement.