Can a dirty air filter kill your AC?

Question

Yeah, our system shut down a few days ago and my best bet was that we had just been keeping it on too much, but my roommate said that it was likely due to the air filter.

Answer 1

Yes, it can cause a low load condition to occur and you will have liquid floodback to your compressor, compressors are a vapor pump not a liquid pump, it will break!

good question!

Answer 2

The blocked air filter will reduce the airflow across the evaporator. The evaporator will not remove the heat from the home, and begin to ice over. The blower fan will not get enough air across it to keep itself cool, and it may burn out.

Most systems built within the past 15 years have safety features to lock out elements of the system that are not functioning properly. If the refrigerant flow is too high or too low, the compressor should not run. If a motor gets too hot, it will open a safety switch and cut out. Some times these safety features fail, or sometimes they reset themselves over and over, and eventually the machine stops working altogether.

I have seen where a blocked air filter has killed machines, so it is possible. It is a problem that can lead to other failures. A dollar filter is capable of crippling a $5000 A/C unit.

Did a technician tell you that your dirty filter killed your machine, or is this a bar bet?

Answer 3

This is an extremely common situation in A/C.
The short answer is yes it can cause the machine to break down. It is not necessary to go into detail as to what happens.
If you can keep the filter clean the A/C will do it's best for you, if it gets blocked the A/C will cost you money either through repairs or higher running costs, I know which I prefer.

Answer 4

Yes and a new one can to. Because I got a high dollar one to last longer and it cut the air flow to much and not let the air to circulate correctly and froze my system up.

Answer 5

yes by not allowing air to flow, it will create a high pressure on the compressor causing it to overheat and burn.