My A/C Coils Froze Up! What Should I do now?

Question

Hello, My Husband and I are young first time home owners. We own a condo. For the first time our Coils Froze up! Completely! It was only blowing air. So we turned off the A/C overnight. It defrost some. I noticed the air filter was very dirty, so I changed it. We usually have our A/C running ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT. This was the first time it did this. PLUS yesterday was our FIRST Colder Day. What should I do now? I put the FAN ON ONLY... is this correct???

It is the Coil inside the Unit. Like the whole inside of the A/C after the Filter.

The problem I am having now is that there is water everywhere! The A/C is located on top of the water heater and its getting wet :( Not good..

Answer 1

Your low on freon or you system is so dirty it can't breath properly, and depending on how old you a/c system is , the inside of your a/c coil is clogged which also clogged up your drain line . Warning get the water prob fixed rite away . It may couse a mold prob and $1,000s of dollars in unseen damage. You would be amazed on how much havoc a dirty filter will couse . change it or clean it every 60 days

Answer 2

You never say if it is the outdoor coil or the indoor coil,,, I am assuming that it is the outdoor coil on a heat pump... if this is the case it could be a few things,,, 1. The outdoor coil is very dirty and no air can go thru the coil and it is freezing up, ( clean the coil by using a hose and flush out the coil ) 2. The system is low on freon,,( this requires a service tech ) If the system is totally free of frost, and you start the unit and it starts to frost op in bans around the unit right away, then this is a good sign of being low on charge, 3. The out door has a defrost board (circuit board ) and a defrost thermostat that is attached to one of the refrigerant coils on the outdoor unit . The board will try to go into defrost every 60, 90, or 120 minuets, ( depends on the area you live and how the service tech set it up at installation ) it will go into defrost if the defrost thermostat is closed and calling for a defrost.. If either of these is bad, you will need a service tech. Most heat pump boards today have a speed up terminals on them,, what they do is allow the service tech to speed up the defrost time from 60, 90 or 120 minuets to 6, 9, or 12 seconds when he shorts these two terminals out. If you try this you should first remove the defrost stat wires from the board and jumper the two terminals that the stat was connected to. this simulates the stat being closed and calling for a defrost. when it goes into defrost you will hear a loud hissing sound as a reversing valve switches the refrigerant flow and the outdoor will stop. As soon as this start to happen remove whatever you are shorting the defrost test pins with.when you remove the jumper on the defrost stat terminals it will terminate defrost and go back to its normal operation mode. If it won't go into defrost when the defrost stat terminals are jumpered and the test pins shorted, then it is the board that is bad. it it isn't a freon problem then the defrost stat is bad.. Hope I gave you a few things you can look at,,, all else fails call a service tech,,, Oh and by the way,, a clogged filter in the indoor unit will not cause a heat pump to freeze up on the outside unit in the heat mode,, it will the indoor coil in the air conditioning mode only,, Good luck with your new home,, A heat pumps average life is around 7 to 10 years.

If it was the indoor coil then a clogged filter will cause the problem that you are having,, plus lower temps outside will cause the pressures to be lower then normal and freeze the coil ( if you are going to run the A/C below 65 degrees outside temp, then you need to have a tech install a low ambiant kit on your unit ) also low on charge will cause this,, closing vents or blocked vents will cause this.. the water going everywhere is from the coil melting,, the water can not drip to the drain pan off the coil,, it runs down the ice and drips past the drain pan and just goes all over,, you just have to do the best that you can to try to clean up with rags as it melts... since you say the filter was pretty dirty i am going to assume that this was the problem,, if you hold the filter up to the light and it is hard to see thru then it was the problem,, also a little useful information for you,, stay away from the pleated filters,, they are way to restricting to the air flow in residential units,, use the spun fiberglass filters and change them every 30 days,, they cost about 70 cents each. if you have a pleated filter try this and you will see what i mean,, start your fan and put your hand over a vent with the filter in place,, place your hand where the air is the strongest,, have your hubby or wife as the case may be pull the filter out, you will feel about a 25% increase in air flow,, this is when they are clean,, gets worse as they get dirty .

Answer 3

Wait for it to defrost completely, blow all the air out of the condenser coils (the outside ones), clean any filters. Try running it again. If it runs OK keep it maintained if not you will probably require more gas in it call the maintenance engineer. Frosting up is an indicator of low gas, strange as it may seem.

Answer 4

I would buy a new A/C unit..been thru that crap to many times..since your a 1st time home owner ya! get a new on so you won't have to worry about it..If it's real old the freon is very expensive if it is relatively new then it probably take R124 or 45..that's alittle cheaper..a repairman will charge you a service call price, parts price, coolant price buy the time yur done you got 100+ dollars invested..A/C are inexpensive in todays market..So I would buy a new one..now if there is a leak in your lines then you'll pay dearly for that..So that is my opinion Good Luck

Answer 5

the coil freezing up could have been from the dirty filter or it could mean that it is low on freon. Have it checked by a repairman

Answer 6

the most important comment you made was it was cold outside...
Ive had ac units for over 35 years, and every time its colder outside the coils tend to freeze up...and yes other times this may mean you might have a leak I think in this case NO.....Ive had one unit now since 1982 and every time its cold out I know it freezes the coil... Ive never had to have itworkedon EVER! and at night it cools me down to 64 degrees if i desire still! so my bet is the outside temp did it

Answer 7

Can be several things, will assume you have a split unit. Make sure inside and outside coils are clean. Make sure inside fan is also running.If these are all OK then chances are you are low on freon. Oh, also make sure your filter is clean.Heavy brush or other restrictions to air flow of the outside unit will also give you problems.

Answer 8

It's low on freon gas. Call a pro. Move to Michigan, it's only 30 degrees here this morning, furnace is on. (lucky dog!)

Answer 9

It sounds like the condenser is out, this isn't an expensive object. Call a repair man.