So.. My Unit is froze?!

You all have seen it and some of you have been at its mercy.  Its typical Chattanooga Summer weather.  Its 95 degrees outside with 165165231 percent humidity, but you’re in your home, nice and comfortable; all is well.  Next thing you notice, you’re getting a little warm.  A little more time passes by and you’re warmer.  You go check the thermostat.  It says its 80 in the house but the it is set on 70.  It’s about to get real.  You feel the vents.  They are blowing out room-temp air.  This isn’t right.  They’re supposed to be blowing COLD!  OMG!

You take a look outside and you notice something odd.  Your unit outside is a solid sheet of ice.  This is the problem, obviously, but how in the heck did this happen?  Let me explain..

There are a few causes of this. 

Let’s touch on the main 2:
Low refrigerant or Freon:  If this is the issue, what is happening is the remaining refrigerant is freezing the what would be condensation water into ice.  The continuous freezing will eventually build up potentially turning your evaporator coils into an ice block.  This condensation should flow freely out of the drain, but if the coils are too cold the water will turn in ice.

Dirty Coils:  If you are that person that does not change their filters or does not preform regular maintenance, chances are you will experience a premature failure of some sort.  Often these failures come in the way of frozen coils.  If air flow is restricted across the coils because of a build-up of debris, the coil cannot use the air that would otherwise flow across it to keep itself thawed.

If this happens to you do some simple things.
·         Turn the system off at the thermostat
·         Do not attempt to thaw the system yourself
·         Call me!  706-820-6041
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Granted there are other reasons a coil may freeze up, these are the main two.  To beat the dead horse, this is the biggest appliance in your home.  It consumes energy very quickly.  Cleaning and maintaining these things will likely prevent these types of failures.  For a small amount of money up front, you can save yourself some large amounts of money down the road.