{"id":1049,"date":"2022-07-18T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/?p=1049"},"modified":"2022-07-15T17:17:41","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T21:17:41","slug":"ice-on-ac-heres-what-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/air-conditioning-service\/ice-on-ac-heres-what-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There Ice on Your AC? Here\u2019s What Is Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ice-on-an-ac\"We\u2019re glad that you recognize something isn\u2019t right with your home\u2019s air conditioning system if you\u2019ve noticed ice forming on it. A common misconception people have about ice on an AC is that it means the cooling system is working <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> well\u2014so well that it\u2019s creating ice. Or they may think the air conditioner uses ice to cool the air.<\/span><\/p>\n

An air conditioning system doesn\u2019t use ice to operate. It takes a large amount of energy to create ice (such as in your freezer), much more than would make it worthwhile as a home cooling option. An AC that\u2019s working well will also not generate ice. An AC isn\u2019t \u201ccreating\u201d cold but removing heat, and when the air conditioner is working as it should, it won\u2019t cause ice to form.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s actually going on? There are several reasons to see ice developing on the AC.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The air conditioner has lost refrigerant<\/b><\/h3>\n

We know it sounds contradictory to say that <\/span>less<\/span><\/i> refrigerant causes ice to form. But refrigerant isn\u2019t automatically a cold substance. It\u2019s a chemical that switches between liquid and gas form. As the refrigerant moves through the indoor evaporator coil, it absorbs heat from the air and warms up as the air cools. If there\u2019s less refrigerant in the coil, the remaining refrigerant won\u2019t be able to draw enough heat to raise its temperature above freezing\u2014and that means the coil surface will stay cold enough to turn condensate moisture into ice. Refrigerant leaks are serious issues, not just because of the ice, but because they will eventually cause a full system breakdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

The indoor coil is dirty<\/b><\/h3>\n

The evaporator coil inside the AC can become covered with dust and mildew if the system doesn\u2019t receive proper maintenance. This grime on the coil insulates it, making it harder to absorb heat and leaving the refrigerant too cold.<\/span><\/p>\n

The air filter is clogged<\/b><\/h3>\n

Dirty air filters can cause numerous problems for air conditioning systems, and ice growth is one of them. The problem with the clogged air filter is that it doesn\u2019t allow the blower to draw enough warm air through the return ducts and then across the evaporator coil. Once again, if the refrigerant in the coil can\u2019t absorb enough heat to warm up, it will start to freeze water on its surface.<\/span><\/p>\n

Broken blower fan<\/b><\/h3>\n

A clogged air filter will prevent the blower fan from pushing enough warm air from flowing across the evaporator coil\u2014so a broken blower fan will cause the same issue, leading to ice development.<\/span><\/p>\n

Solving the ice problem<\/b><\/h3>\n

First, don\u2019t attempt to scrape the ice off! This doesn\u2019t address the reason there\u2019s ice in the first place, and you also risk damaging the metal of the coils and creating refrigerant leaks. You can shut the AC off to allow the ice to defrost, but this can lead to water overwhelming the condensate drain and leaking from the system, and it still won\u2019t fix the underlying problem. Call our team for <\/span>air conditioning repair in Katy, TX<\/span><\/a> and we\u2019ll have the icing trouble fixed right.<\/span><\/p>\n

At AC Comfort, Your Comfort Is Our Business! <\/b>Request service with us today.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are several reasons you may see ice developing on the AC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[70],"tags":[116,88],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1049"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1054,"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions\/1054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accomfort.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}