Steps To Take When Your Air Conditioner Freezes

How Do I Keep My Air Conditioner From Freezing Up

The idea that your air conditioner can freeze over on the hottest days of summer is flat-out ridiculous to some homeowners. When the temperature climbs, how is it possible that your air conditioner, even an outside AC unit can freeze over in the summer? Well, believe it or not, it’s not only possible but actually fairly common for older air conditioner units to ice up and freeze over, particularly during the summer months when they are heavily used.

 

When your unit freezes over, you’ll usually notice pretty quickly that it starts getting immensely hot inside your home, so you’ll need to know what to do if you run into this problem since frozen ACs do not typically fix themselves. Here are a few steps you can follow that both get your system thawed out and can even prevent you from having to deal with it freezing again in the future.

 

1. Turn Off Your A/C

A frozen air conditioning unit isn’t going to be able to produce a lot of cold air, so the first thing you’ll want to do is shut it off. This will allow your equipment to thaw out, including letting any frost or ice that has accumulated on your coils melt. If you want to speed up the process, you can run the fan on your HVAC system to keep air circulating and flowing over your coils. However, make sure that your system isn’t set to the “cool” setting or else you’ll only exacerbate the problem. If you’re really scrambling for time or you’ve built up a considerable amount of ice on your coils, you can also take a hair dryer and use it to warm the coils to help it thaw faster, but this is pretty intensive work and not something many people usually want to do if their home is already filling up with warm air.

 

2. Change Your Air Filter

Believe it or not, one of the most common causes of an air conditioner freezing over is a dirty air filter. While it may not seem like much, a simple, inexpensive replacement filter can actually go a long way towards preventing your system from freezing over again, particularly if you haven’t changed it in quite some time. A clogged filter suffocates your air handler and leaves your whole heating and cooling system working too hard, so really you should be changing your air filter every six months or so, if not sooner. While you’re waiting for your air conditioner to thaw, pull out a new filter or head to your local hardware store and pick one up to replace your old one and you should notice the problem becomes a lot less frequent.

 

3. Clear And Open Air Vents in the Home

It’s a common myth among homeowners that if you block the air vents in one room you’ll increase cooling and airflow to the other rooms in your system. In reality, closing a vent actually just causes increased pressure in your air ducts and could lead to all sorts of issues, including your air conditioner freezing over completely. Your HVAC system needs to have the airflow it was designed for to function properly, which is often sized to your home with all vents cleared and opened properly. Just like a dirty air filter can cause it to work harder than necessary and eventually freeze, air vents that are closed or blocked can obstruct airflow and cause freezing and inefficient operation. Make sure to open all air vents in your home and clear away any obstructions like large pieces of furniture that might be causing the airflow to back up in your ducts, freezing your system over.

 

4. Have A HVAC Tech Inspect Your Unit

If you follow these instructions and your air conditioner still continues to freeze over regularly, then you may be experiencing one of a variety of other problems that could have this consequence. Believe it or not, there are many problems that can cause your air conditioner to freeze, and identifying which one is at fault can be difficult unless you have the knowledge and experience of a central New Jersey air conditioning expert. Once your air conditioner is thawed, you can turn it back on and set it to cool, but keep an eye on it for the first few hours and see if frost is continuing to form on your coils.

 

If your air conditioner continues to freeze, it’s time to call in a Guaranteed Service professional. Save time by booking online; contact us online by sending us a message or use the coupon code SAVE30 to get an even better discount on our great services!