What You Need to Know About the AC Freezing Up | Tips from Your Fort Worth, TX Air Conditioning Service Provider

What You Need to Know About the AC Freezing Up | Tips from Your Fort Worth, TX Air Conditioning Service Provider

Photo By Macklin Holloway at Shutterstock

An air conditioner works through a sophisticated control of temperature, airflow, and the air pressure in the rooms of your home. When any of these functions fall out of balance, it can lead to the refrigerant over-locking and freezing itself. The AC will now be blowing warm air or no air at all. You should call in a reputable air conditioning service professional in the Fort Worth, TX area before things get out of hands.

As to why this might happen and what can be done to prevent it, let’s look at the issue in-depth below.

How Your AC Produces Cold Air

The key component in your AC is the coil packed with extremely cold refrigerant. To work, the refrigerant actually requires warm air to run across it. This keeps the coils from freezing and the refrigerant working to provide cool air.

The indoor coil works to remove heat from the inside, the refrigerant then carries it to the outdoor coil, which propels it outside your air conditioner, which then means that you get cool air. This is the reason why you notice that the air your outside unit is blowing out is considerably warmer than even the temperatures outside; the system is working to transfer the extra heat outside of your rooms. This is only made possible by manipulating air pressure using the refrigerant circuit.

Therefore, if the coils cease to receive that warm air blowing across them or if the pressure inside the coils seems to be out of balance, they can go cold and freeze up quite rapidly. Your inside unit will turn into a frozen-up icebox due to either pressure, airflow, or both. Let’s look at it in greater detail below.

Problems That Affect the Way Your Air Conditioning Works

Moisture Makes it Worse

When your room has high levels of humidity in the air, the freezing problem will tend to get worse. As the ice begins to cover up the coils and insulate them, the warm air is blocked from reaching the coils, which means that it can’t them warm anymore. The greater the moisture in the air, the more severe the ice build-up inside will be. The ice buildup will eventually go on to entirely cover your AC from the inside, creeping into the copper piping and finding its way all the way to the outdoor compressor. You’ll need a reputable air conditioning service professional to fix the issue for you.

Lack of Airflow

One of the primary reasons for your AC freezing up can be the lack of airflow. There could be a number of reasons behind such an occurrence ranging from malfunctions in air intake to issues with the blower motor. Whatever it may be, if anything blocks the warm air from reaching the coils while the compressor continues to run, the AC will begin to freeze up. Call in a reputable air conditioning service professional before things get out of hands. Below are some of the reasons for blocked airflow.

Collapsed Duct

Often, collapsed ducts can be the reason why the air can’t reach through to the coils. The air moves through the ducts throughout the house, and if anything was to block them, it would naturally block the flow of air to the coils. Even if everything else was running perfectly, a blocked or collapsed air duct would deprive your air conditioning system of the airflow it requires. As a result, the coils start to freeze up. You should call in a reputable air conditioning service professional to fix the duct system for you so that the airflow can be restored to your air conditioning system.

Bad Blower Motor

At other times, the culprit behind less than optimal airflow could also be the blower motor that has developed a flaw. This motor matters a great deal for the normal functioning of your AC. It could develop issues in the motor’s run capacitor, or it could be the spinning motor itself that may be acting up. For whatever reason, once the airflow is hindered, the coil is likely to freeze up. You may hear rattling sounds from the air conditioner if your blower motor is acting up or about to fail. Call in a reputable air conditioning services professional before it can get worse.

Low Voltage to the Fan

It could also be the low voltage that may cause a lack of airflow to the blowers and lead to the coil freezing up. Your AC requires sufficient amounts of voltage to keep its power-intensive components working optimally. If your blower motor or your fans are under-powered while the rest of the system continues to run, the only likely outcome is going to be the freezing up of the system. Call in a reputable air conditioning services professional to fix these issues for you and ensure that the fans work at optimum capacity.

Clogged Air Filter

Air filters are too often neglected by most homeowners. The air filters are placed between the AC and the dusty home vent, filtering the air to keep your compressor coils and the air clean. However, when ignored for too long, they become clogged up with dust, and the airflow naturally gets disrupted. We know by now what happens then; the coils are deprived of the warm air they require and start to freeze up. You should acquire the services of a reputable air conditioning service professional for the regular maintenance and upkeep of your heating and air conditioning system to avoid such a fate.

Call One Hour Air Conditioning and Heating

Get yourself an appointment with an air conditioning service professional in Fort Worth, TX, every now and then to make sure that your air conditioner is working at its best. One Hour Air Conditioning and Heating provides the best air conditioning services in the Fort Worth, TX, area. Our extensive experience in this line of work and our top-notch 24/7 emergency services are testimony to that.  Acquire our impeccable services for everything related to heating and air conditioning.