Air Conditioning Repair Needed When Your AC Is Covered In Ice
Posted on: 8 May 2023
It's a shocking sight to see your air conditioner covered in ice, but it's not all that uncommon. It may not seem logical that ice forms on your AC when it's hot outside. However, ice can form on the condenser, refrigerant coils, refrigerant lines, and the air handler. This is a sign of an AC malfunction, so you'll need to call an air conditioning repair service for help.
A common cause of ice on your air conditioner is when refrigerant is low. Refrigerant has to be handled by a licensed HVAC technician, so there isn't much you can do yourself except turn the AC to fan mode so the ice can start melting. Here's how an AC technician may fix this problem.
Measure The Refrigerant Pressure
An air conditioning repair technician has a gauge they can use to determine if the refrigerant in your AC is low. If the level is low, the technician knows the cause of the ice is the refrigerant. If the refrigerant is at the proper level, the technician has to look around for another cause of ice formation. This may be a clogged filter or a dirty evaporator coil.
Restore The Refrigerant Level
Simply melting the ice won't be a permanent fix. If the refrigerant stays low, the ice could come back. However, refrigerant doesn't get low unless it's leaking out. That means the air conditioning repair person has to find the leak and fix it before putting the refrigerant back in the system.
A leak could be in either coil or the lines. It could be indoors or outside. The leak might simply be a connection that's vibrated loose, or it could be due to a hole. In any case, the leak has to be repaired unless the refrigerant lines will be replaced.
Switch To The New Refrigerant If Necessary
If you have an old air conditioner, the refrigerant might be outdated. If so, the air conditioning repair technician has several things to discuss with you. They could try to find recycled old refrigerant to fill the lines with or they could switch your equipment to the new refrigerant that's being used now.
An issue with older equipment is the new refrigerant won't work very well with the old refrigerant lines. Your technician might recommend converting your AC to accept the new refrigerant. The cost of the conversion to new refrigerant is expensive, so you'll need to decide if you want to invest in new refrigerant lines or if you want to buy a new AC that comes with new lines.
If your AC is newer, it probably has the newer refrigerant already. In that case, all the repair technician needs to do is tighten a connection or seal a hole to stop the leak. When the leak is fixed, the refrigerant can be filled, and your air conditioner should be ready to start chilling you down.
Contact an air conditioning repair contractor to learn more.
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