So your air conditioner hasn’t been cooling the way it used to lately and you walk down to your unit to see ice on the line, what could have happened and what do you do next? People are thinking ice on the outside when its hot?!? Not possible, but it is and it happens more often than you think.
There’s a few reasons this forms, one being you are low on refrigerant. When you are low on refrigerant your line freezes up. If you have insufficient air flow it will cause the temperature of the air coil to drop below freezing. Mix that with the humidity that runs across it and your get ice to form and build up on it making it work harder or not at all. Things that restrict air flow are dirty filters, dust and debris built up on the compressors, and damaged blower motors. One last thing that can cause ice to form on the lines is the outside temperature. When the outside temp reaches below 60, it is harder for the air conditioner to work and can cause it to freeze up.
What do you do if the ice forms on the line? First you shut the unit off to melt the ice. If you need refrigerant and we come out with the line still frozen, we turn your heat on to melt it. Yes, even if its 90 degrees out, we cant recharge the system if it is frozen. Next you would try and see why it froze. Do you have a leak? Is your filter dirty? Is it took cold outside at night? Is the compressor dirty? These are all things to think about. Your next move is to call a certified HVAC tech to come diagnose what the issue is and fix it. This is not an issue you should try and fix yourself. Call Bartlett Heating and Air today to have one of our NATE certified techs come out and inspect or fix your air conditioner.
