Your air conditioner is made to keep things cool, but never so cool that there is ice build-up in your home. That’s what your freezer is for, not your air conditioner. But maybe you’ve noticed that there is ice not in your home but in your AC system. This isn’t a good sign, unfortunately.

When ice starts to collect within your air conditioner it is because the system is starting to have some serious trouble. And that serious trouble is rapidly going to mess with your comfort. Fall may be approaching but we still have weeks of warm weather left, so let’s take a moment to figure out what’s wrong with your AC and how to fix it.

What Ice Buildup Means

Ice collecting within your air conditioner means something is stopping the heat transfer process from completing properly. There is not enough heat that is being absorbed by the refrigerant in your system causing it to cool the air directly around the evaporator coil so much that it creates ice.

There is more than one cause for this, which we explain below, but the ultimate takeaway is that your system won’t be able to cool your home properly even as it appears to be chilling the air to an excessive degree.

Ice buildup means you need to get an AC repair in Prescott Valley ASAP.

What Causes Your AC To Do This?

As we mentioned, there is more than one potential cause that leads to the build-up of ice in your air conditioner. Here are the top issues that create this problem:

• A dirty evaporator coil: When the evaporator coil within your air conditioner becomes too dirty it can hinder the transfer of heat from the air in your home into your refrigerant. The ultimate result is that the refrigerant does not warm up enough and instead cools the coil so much that it can start to freeze.
• Poor airflow: Your air conditioner needs a steady flow of hot air to do its job. Without that hot air, the system will have nothing to absorb heat from and cool off. If the airflow into your system is too weak it will cause the system to start collecting ice.
• Leaking refrigerant: Another possible cause for the problem is leaking refrigerant. The refrigerant within your air conditioner is pressurized specifically enough to cool all the air in your home. If the refrigerant leaks it cannot properly absorb heat and we’ll end up freezing the evaporator coil instead.

How to Handle the Problem

If your first thought is to grab something to scrape the ice off your air conditioner’s coils, we’d advise against it. Ice shouldn’t always be scraped out things–in this case, it needs to be thawed carefully to prevent further damage to the coil. Here are some basic steps to help get you through this issue:

• Reach out for expert repairs and schedule an appointment.
• Turn off your air conditioner until the technician arrives at your home (bonus: this will start the thawing of that ice!)
• When the technician arrives, describe the problem and let them get to work. They’ll finish thawing any remaining ice and find the core problem.
• Work with your technician after repairs are made to see if there is anything you can do to prevent this issue from popping up again anytime soon.

Kick back and relax, we’ll keep you cool. Schedule your AC repairs with Cool Touch Air Conditioning and Heating.