While I know colder weather is coming, the upstairs air conditioner has just gone out...the line that is wrapped in insulation going from the house to the unit is covered in ice...anyone know what this means? Anyone know of an affordable person to call tomorrow to fix it? My husband works night shift and would really love to get some sleep tomorrow, but if it's 80+ degrees upstairs....he probably won't sleep well.
We have been very pleased with the service provided by http://www.mikesheatingandairconditioning.com/ Mike is prompt and professional. He has already extended the life of our unit a few years longer than we anticipated it would last.
Ice on the line means one of 2 things. A restriction, or low on freon. The restriction can be airflow (most likely) or freon (very rare). Turn it off overnight to let it melt, then check your filters. You wont see any ice after the first few hours and wanna cut it on, but trust me, its there...leave it off. Post back if your filters arent bad, and I'll talk you through cleaning the coils.
I changed all the filters last night even though they didn't look to bad. I cut it off all night, and it did start up this morning blowing cold air. I'm at work now, but hopefully it will continue to work today...
I would recommend to leave it off for a day or so, and turn the fan on the thermostat to the ON position. If there is ice on the outside freon line-set then there is probably ice on your indoor evaporator coil inside the air handling unit. That needs to completely un-thaw as stated before, if it just partially un-thaws, it will just ice over again. Leaving the fan in the on position recirculates air inside your house and also helps to melt the ice on the indoor evaporator coil. If it continues to do this, and your filters were fine, then you have a restricted coil, or you have a freon leak or low freon level. It is possible to clean the indoor coil yourself, but probably not recommended. If your freon is low, it is probably necessary then to call a heating and air company.
Really good way to kill your evap motor, and possibly start a fire. The ice closes off all the air blowing across the coils. Kinda like the motor is trying to breathe through a straw that is pinched shut. Good, anytime you have it colder outside than inside, the unit will exhibit "flakey" problems such as this. Especially if you turn it off during the day.
Prime example of someone who doesn't work in the heating and air conditioning field trying to inform someone of something they know nothing about. Do you think the ice magically appeared one instant and she turned the system off? No, the ice had accumulated over a period of time and the blower has been blowing against it for some time now, with NO ill effects. Is it possible that the motor could give out? Yes, it is possible over a long period time. Is it probable? NO it is not while just used to un-thaw and the system staying off. The earlier post was meant to help whomever she called to come out and fix the problem. A heating and air conditioning company cannot un-thaw the coil magically, so if they need to troubleshoot it, it would need to be un-thawed. The fan, turned in the on position with the system in the off position will help expedite the un-thawing process. There are gaps around the evaporator coil on the return side of the air handler that will allow air to enter and be pulled through the air handler and blown out. This process is not used as a permanent fix, it is just to help un-thaw the coil quicker, so she doesn't have to go without the unit for several days in order for the service company to troubleshoot it.
Boy is my boss gonna be ticked when he finds out that my 27 years experience arent real You shot yourself in the foot by admitting that it was possible. When you've looked @ as many A/C's as I have over the years, you see it once in a while. Just trying to keep someone from burning their house down, and avoid an expensive service call if possible. Should the average homeowner cut it on and go to work, nope. Where you get the several days without it is beyond me, I said let it thaw overnight.
Theoretically it's possible for you to die while typing a reply to this thread, but are you betting on it and telling yourself it is? I never said to leave the fan on for days... in order to provide the service company with what they need, it would be helpful to do this before they come. Maybe I should correct myself in saying it shouldn't be done for more than a couple hours, but correct me if I'm wrong, that system has been frozen and probably running for more than that already, and guess what, her house is still standing! Are you saying that a frozen evaporator coil will thaw out overnight? Maybe if it was in the attic and a 90-100 degree day/night. Otherwise you should know it is hard to troubleshoot a system that has a frozen evaporator coil. PS: After 27 years of experience, I'm guessing that's why YOUR not the boss : )
Again, I was trying to avoid her calling anyone @ all. I think this is where you are getting the several days from, it was your quote. There you go shooting yourself in the OTHER foot. You are admitting it might be a problem if left on for over a few hours, thereby proving my point for me. Yes, that is exactly what I am saying that. Once again, I was attempting to solve the problem without the need, or expense for a service call. Actually I was the boss for a number of years. I got tired of the headache, stress, etc. I decided I wanted someone else to write me a check, instead of me always doing the writing for my employees. Now, my boss comes around about once a year or so just to say "hi".
You can argue as much as you want, but I don't know how many times you have been outside today, an iced evap coil isn't going to melt over night. I don't care how many years of experience you have. Either way, you have made my last few hours at work go by rather quickly, thanks for the laugh! All in fun and games.
This morning, before I turned it on, I looked at the lines that had been iced over. There was no ice visible, and the line did not feel icy cold. I haven't been home yet to see what's happening, but I am hoping for cool enough weather not to need any AC over the weekend. Thank you everyone for your responses.
Nah, I dont consider it an arguement, that would mean that one of us was wrong. Just a difference off opinion. I just chime in occasionally on here to educate. Hopefully next time you will heed my warnings and it'll save the next fan motor you work on. Been outside all day long, but she stated her house was 80 inside, so it prolly melted pretty quickly. Since you are a better HVAC man than I, that would mean you prolly make more $$$ than me. So I'll let you buy the rounds @ the next 4042 meeting @ the Cleveland draft house
I'm actually not an HVAC man... I just like to read. I'm sure your knowledge is far superior than mine, however, when I chimed in on this thread, I didn't expect someone to try to help the OP fix the problem herself. As most people don't normally recommend this as there is high voltage involved with most things that could be wrong with her unit (fan capacitor, fan relay, contactor, shorted low voltage wires, etc...). I don't like to see people who have no idea what they are working on, try to fix things. Especially an evaporator coil (cleaning). Since you are in the business you should know how hard it is for a strapped homeowner to come by $550.00 to change out a warrantied evap coil, that is considering it's still under warranty! I value your information as much as I do anyone elses, and you are correct, it is just a difference in opinion.
Most guys would probably just say "yeah, I'll come fix it for X amount", but I am not like that. God has blessed, or cursed me, however you wanna look @ it with mechanical apptitude beyond that of your average "Joe Plumber" ;p I have helped TONS of people on here, for free most of the time. If I'm broke, I usually just ask for the cost of the parts. I could easily walk a 10 year old through cleaning a evaporator coil just by describing the way the parts look, and what not to touch. Search my handle, I slowly walk people safely through troubleshooting stuff. Fixing things, especially if it is a problem no-one can figure out, is just what I enjoy doing.
It's called refrigerant, not freon boys. Freon was just a brand name for Duponts R22. Looked like the argument had subsided so I thought I'd give ya'll a new topic! lol
PS, also could be that the blower is not coming on in a timely matter (ie: fan relay or capacitor.) It doesn't take long for a coil to freeze up; just a few mins with the condeser running with no blower and it's ice city.
Actually that was the name for all dupont's refrigerants, not just R-22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freon Plus read the last line ....."Any of these gases that are used as refrigerants are designated by an "R-" number and colloquially known as "Freon", whether they are made by DuPont or another supplier." And some people would say Whammo Flying disk, but I just call them Frisbees. Possible I guess, but relays and capacitors very rarely get "slow", they either work or they dont. Have seen relays that cycled, but u can here them clicking from a mile away.
