Why does compressor freeze

Most of our work takes place outside of your living areas, either in the attic, basement or outside your home. In light of the Coronavirus outbreak, we are being ever more careful to keep our employees and our customers safe.

Before even entering your home, our technicians will take every precaution from maintaining handwashing protocols to wearing gloves. Plus, our standard cleanliness protocols are also in full effect; booties, drop cloths, etc.

We can easily maintain a distance from your family while performing maintenance or repair services. We are here to help. Our number one priority is to keep our customers and employees safe and healthy.

We have implemented new screening procedures to assure that our employees stay healthy and no one with even the slightest indication of illness or if they have come into contact with someone that is sick will continue to work. When the refrigerant is low, the coils will be too cold, causing them to freeze. You can hire air conditioning service and repair to check your refrigerant levels and replace them, if necessary. Be aware that if your refrigerant levels cause the unit to freeze up, your coils can become damaged, which can then damage the compressor.

A damaged compressor can be so expensive to repair or replace that you might find yourself looking for a new air conditioner. Heating and cooling systems are complex, and require a professional touch. Then, they can decide how to fix it. Hire professionals in heating and air conditioning in Lawrenceville, GA , the instant your AC unit freezes up, and a technician will repair the unit promptly.

Back To Blog. First, let's consider the consequences of a frozen air conditioner. That's the main reason a frozen air conditioner is bad news. It simply won't work properly! If you let the problem persist, it can also damage your entire system. Ice, as you probably know, expands. And when it collects on your HVAC components, it can expand enough to break them. If you don't catch the problem soon enough, you won't just be hot and uncomfortable - you could be looking at an expensive repair.

If your outdoor unit is frozen and you can't remember the last time you changed your air filter, you might have identified your problem. The dirtier an air filter gets, the more it can restrict airflow through your system. If you change or clean your filter per the manufacturer's instructions, you'll be fine. But if you neglect your filter for several months years? How does this lead to a frozen AC? Well, a typical central air conditioning system consists of an indoor unit, which contains the evaporator coil, and an outdoor unit, which is where the compressor lives.

A refrigerant line runs between the two parts, cycling refrigerant around the system to remove heat from your home. When a dirty air filter restricts airflow, there's not enough air passing through the system to transfer heat from your home to the refrigerant.

As a result, the refrigerant stays colder than it should. So cold, in fact, that the moisture on the coil turns to ice. Typically, your evaporator coil and your outdoor unit will be frozen over. The outdoor part is just what you see first. If a dirty filter is the source of your troubles, all you have to do is change it.

Just be aware that the ice on your evaporator coil will melt, so you'll need to collect or absorb the water before it causes any damage to your home. But when it fills up with dust, like any filter, it becomes a clog instead of a pathway. If your air filter is clogged, it slows down airflow to a crawl and no amount of blower efficiency can keep your coils from freezing. Running without an air filter, a low-quality filter, or not changing your filter has another risk.

AC refrigerant coils are often damp from moist air condensing on the cold surface. When dusty air blows past damp coils, it builds up into a thick blanket. That dust acts as an insulator, trapping the cold inside the coils themselves creating an excessive amount of freezing cold.

This combines with more moisture which builds up on the dust and can create the ice-box effect. The level of refrigerant inside your coils matters a great deal because of how your AC manages pressure. Ever wonder why that big unit outside is called a compressor? It is compressing refrigerant after releasing the heat it collects. The compressor then, well, compresses it back into a liquid and pumps it toward the blower fan inside the house again.

The flashing process creates enough cold in that moment to condense moisture onto the coils which instantly freezes it. The more the flashing occurs early, the more ice builds up until it fills the AC and creeps up the copper pipes.