AC Repair Company And Frozen Evaporator Coils | Fort Worth, TX
An AC unit consists of many different components that work toward a single objective, ensuring that you have a comfortable home. This achieves this by cooling your home and improving its air quality. Unfortunately, notwithstanding how meticulously maintain or take care of your AC unit, it will at one point require servicing or repairs because a component has failed because of continued use. Although air conditioners have a pretty long service life, at one point, they need to be replaced because they cease to be efficient or break down.
All this is expected and normal. Whenever one of the air conditioning system components fails, you should enlist the help of an AC repair company in Fort Worth, TX, for assistance. Due to the complexity of the air conditioning units, you are advised never to try fixing or repairing the unit yourself. Unless you are professionally trained in AC repair and have enough experience. DIY coaching or YouTube videos doesn’t count as training.
Frozen evaporator coils are among the leading or common problems that your air conditioning unit might experience. This arises whenever ice forms over the outer parts of the coil. Unfortunately, some homeowners don’t notice or diagnose this issue until too late. The damage has already been done whenever the AC repair company’s technician arrives for help.
Therefore, it is advised that you retain an AC repair technician in Fort Worth, TX, for routine maintenance and inspections of the AC unit to uncover such issues and take measures to fix them. This article addresses the problem in detail. By the end, you’ll have a great idea of the causes of the issue and how it can be rectified.
Three Ways Of Spotting Frozen Evaporator Coils
Unless you disassemble your air conditioning unit, there is a high probability that you will not be able to notice that the evaporator coils are frozen. To diagnose this issue, you’ll have to pay attention to your air conditioning system to see if it shows any odd behaviors. You should immediately call an AC repair company whenever you notice the problems above. Whenever the evaporator coils are frozen, several behaviors will arise. Though not all of these issues are easy to discern, below are the most common signs:
An Overworked Compressor
This is tied to the continued running of the AC despite not cooling your home. As the air conditioner turns less efficient, the air conditioning system is forced to work longer and harder to compensate for the reduced efficiency. Consequently, this affects many different parts and interiors of the air conditioning unit.
Particularly, your system’s compressor gets overworked. A compressor is one of your AC system’s expensive but delicate components. It can easily get damaged. The compressor acts as the “heart” or a small engine within the air conditioning unit at the fundamental level. Whenever you realize that your compressor is overheating and running constantly, the problem might be frozen evaporator coils.
Hence, you should act quickly because if you don’t, you will be forced to replace the compressor too. Unfortunately, a compressor isn’t one of those cheap components. It could cost you a fortune to replace the unit. It also may take your trusted AC repair company in Fort Worth, TX, a while to finish replacing the compressor. This means that you will not be able to use the air conditioning unit in the meantime.
If your compressor unit is overworked, it becomes highly susceptible to flooding. This arises when refrigerants flow into the compressor while still in a liquid state. The compressor cannot handle the refrigerant in a liquid state. Hence, the compressor will sustain severe damage to its internal pistons and valves. Whenever this occurs, your AC repair company will most likely recommend that you replace the AC compressor. Repairing a compressor is a tricky and expensive undertaking. Even when the AC repair company may be capable of repairing the unit, it might not be worth the effort.
Reduced Cooling Efficiency
The first issue that arises whenever the evaporator coils are frozen is that the cooling efficiency of your system might reduce. Unfortunately, it might take you some time to notice this issue. In the beginning, you might not notice the reduced cooling efficiency of the AC unless you’ve got some gadget that could measure your HVAC unit’s performance.
You must reach out to an AC repair company in Fort Worth, TX, to have the unit addressed. The professional from the air conditioning repair company will have the gadgets or tools to test the air conditioner’s overall efficiency and compare what the unit should be able to do. If the AC repair company professional notices a reduced cooling efficiency, they will thoroughly inspect the issue.
As the evaporator coils freeze over, a layer of ice that forms on top makes it difficult for refrigerants in the coil to make the air in your indoor space cool. After time passes, you should detect that the air conditioner isn’t working at the same efficiency as before. For instance, it may take longer for the air conditioner to cool your indoor space. At worst, the air conditioning unit might never cool the indoor air to your desired temperatures. You could feel as if the air coming from the air conditioner is warmer than cold.
How reduced the air conditioner’s efficiency is dependent on the thickness of the ice layer surrounding the evaporator coils. However, you should note that this does not mean that the air conditioner isn’t working or running. But because the air conditioning system will detect that the indoor temperatures aren’t dropping, the air conditioning unit continues working overtime to reach the thermostat reading. After the day ends or several hours, you will notice that the temperatures aren’t cooling down to your desired levels. Unfortunately, the energy utility bills will be skyrocketing.
Indoor Water Leaks
The other obvious sign that you could be staring at a frozen evaporator coil is the sight of indoor water leakage. The layers of ice sitting on your AC’s frozen evaporator coils will melt at one time. Whenever this arises, the melting ice becomes water vapor and leaks from the AC unit. Typically, the melted water drips off the coil into a drain pan. Unfortunately, the drain pan can only accommodate less volume of water because a normally functioning air conditioner doesn’t leak that much water.
Because of this, you will notice water leaking from the AC unit into your living or indoor space. One of the main signs of having a leaky unit or frozen evaporator coil is the sight of pools/puddles of water beneath the air conditioning system. You could also notice water stains on your walls near the air conditioning unit. This is a problem not only for the air conditioning system but also for your home’s walls. Water damage could be problematic, expensive, and highly difficult to repair.
Contacting your AC repair company is the surest way to promptly and effectively fix the issue. They will repair the evaporator so that you don’t have to have sleepless nights fearing that there might be extensive water damage. While at it, the AC repair company offers routine inspections and maintenance services to ensure that the issues are caught before they exacerbate.
Reasons Why The Evaporator Coils Are Frozen
There are several causes of freezing your evaporator coils. A technician from an AC repair company in Fort Worth, TX, will ably diagnose the issue and uncover its root cause. By knowing how this came to be in the first instance, you can better grasp how you can prevent the problem from arising in the future. Below are some of the main reasons an evaporator coil might freeze.
Refrigerant Leaks
All the air conditioning units use refrigerant oil for cooling the air. It is a chemical that runs within the coils to change the temperature and pressure of all the air circulating in your home. Whenever the refrigerant starts leaking off from the air conditioning unit, it interferes with the air conditioner’s efficiency, absorbing more heat than required. This makes the refrigerant lines and the evaporator coils freeze over.
Refrigerant leaks are another AC issue that might make the evaporator coils freeze, and you should have a professional AC repair company resolve it immediately. Refrigerant leaks are also not eco-friendly. The refrigerant is toxic and might harm anyone that lives with you. Hence, never try to DIY fix refrigerant leaks.
Instead, call an AC repair company to have a professional do the job. They understand the risks and wear protective clothing to ensure that they are safe on the job. Besides patching the leaks, the technician will also properly refill the refrigerant to ensure your AC unit is efficiently functioning. If the leak is severe, the professional might even replace the leaking part.
Insufficient Maintenance
Most AC repair company professionals recommend that you should have your air conditioning unit regularly serviced and maintained by your reputable AC repair company. This should happen at least once every year. The servicing includes in-depth inspections of the various components and their thorough cleaning to remove excessive dust and dirt accumulated inside the unit. By not having regular air conditioning unit maintenance and servicing, the unit becomes dirty and messy quickly.
It means that its evaporator coil won’t be able to perform at its highest efficiency and capacity. It additionally means that ice layers will easily form over the sides of the coils. If you’ve noticed that your unit’s evaporator coils are constantly frozen, seek help from a reputable AC repair company in Fort Worth, TX. You also might have to increase the number of service sessions to semi-annually or quarterly.
Clogged Air Filters
Air filters remove unwanted particles and contaminants from the air. Hence, you ought to replace your AC air filters regularly. If you regularly use the air conditioner daily, you should consider replacing the air filters each month to ensure you are in the clear. Replacing the filters improves the indoor air quality while preventing the evaporator coils from getting frozen.
To effectively distribute the cool air all over your home, the air conditioning unit requires sufficient airflow. If its filters have a blockage, the air will not properly flow into and out of the HVAC system. Hence, the evaporator coils get too cold. Upon getting too cold, the evaporator coils become susceptible to freezing.
For this reason, whenever dealing with the issue of frozen evaporator coils, there is a high chance that the AC repair company in Fort Worth, TX, will recommend you replace the air filters or even clean them if you use removable ones. This is a good time to replace the air filters since the AC repair company will disassemble the entire unit to thaw the AC’s evaporator coils properly. You’ll get to kill the two birds using one stone.
Repairing The Frozen Evaporator Coils
If the AC repair company’s technician identifies the issue with the air conditioner to be the frozen coil, then the following steps are pretty straightforward. The professional turns off the HVAC system completely to ensure no power runs. Then, they take apart the entire AC unit to access the evaporator coils. Upon reaching them, the professional will use various techniques to thaw the ice. Your air conditioning unit will run smoothly upon successfully thawing the frozen water.
Here, the issue is locating or finding out the real cause of the frozen coils. Identifying the real cause of this issue is critical so that you can take the necessary measures to avert this problem from arising again. Otherwise, the problem will recur and might even damage the air conditioning unit. For instance, if a clogged air filter causes the problem, you should either clean it or replace it.
Your Go-To Air Conditioning Repair Company
The evaporator coils play a critical role in your home’s cooling. Therefore, you should take measures to ensure they are optimally functioning at peak efficiency. Unfortunately, they are prone to one issue, ice layers forming on their sides. Since you can only notice the issue when you open up the system, detecting this issue becomes close to impossible. Fortunately, there are some signs that you could watch out for. Don’t hesitate to contact our experienced technicians at One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Fort Worth for AC unit maintenance and service.