Why does my AC freeze and what can I do about it?

It doesn’t seem possible. With summertime temperatures holding steady in the mid 90s, your air conditioning unit spawns a block of ice seemingly out of nowhere that brings your AC to its knees and sends the temperature inside your home soaring.

Well as strange as it sounds, this is a fairly common problem. You see an air-conditioning unit works by compressing and then evaporating a gas (commonly known as Freon) to make it very, very cold. Air is passed, or blown, over coils containing that gas in order to cool the air and distribute it throughout your house.

When there isn’t enough airflow across the coils or if there is a gas leak somewhere in the unit, bad things happen. That is, the lines and coils begin to freeze. Once that process begins, the ice actually acts as an insulator and causes more ice to form until your unit turns into a giant popsicle. 

So what do you do when this happens?

The first thing you should do is to immediately turn off your compressor by switching your thermostat over to FAN. As long as the compressor is running, not even summer heat can melt that ice. Plus if you continue to run the compressor while it’s frozen, you’ll ruin it.

As the ice starts to melt, make sure you have proper drainage. There’s probably a collection bin and run-off valve under your unit, but if not, be ready to soak up the water.

Finally, call in a professional. There are lots of things that can restrict airflow – from dirty coils to poorly designed ductwork. A pro can check them all and get at the root of the problem. Or if it’s a gas leak, he can find the fault, fix it and fill it back up.

Of course the best defense against a frozen AC is regular maintenance and inspection. To schedule a tune-up of your system, give ARS a call today.