Community Cooling
Air Conditioner Repair, Service, Maintenance
239-267-2117
Fort Myers, Florida
Why do air conditioners ice up?
Our well stocked trucks, and well trained air conditioning technicians are always on call when you need air conditioner service, repairs, or maintenance.
The two main causes of an air conditioner icing up are low levels of coolant, or insufficient air flow. There are several reasons why these causes can occur, but, basically it usually boils down to the Joule Thomson Effect …
The Joule-Thomson Effect is a principle in thermodynamics wherein if all else is kept at a constant, that a gas, as it expands, will have lower pressure, and resultant from that drop in pressure the temperature of that gas will also decrease. Conversely, as a gas is compressed, its temperature will rise.
Simply put, if air molecules are bouncing around rapidly, then you would feel this air as warm. If the air molecules are moving around slower or at a slower speed, then you would feel this air as colder. The heat generated by any gas is in direct coorellation to the energy of the molecules it is made up of.
This is the most basic concept to understanding how your air conditioner works. Your system works by allowing your evaporator coil to expand refrigerant inside of it, causing the coil to cool rapidly. As this rapidly cooled coil comes into contact with the air being circulated through your home, the refrigerant absorbs the heat from that air at the same time the air is being cooled by the air conditioner coils.
Insufficient air flow caused these air conditioner coils to ice up
So iced up even the pipes inside the air handler were frozen!
Typically air conditioners will “ice up” when there is a significant drop in pressure within the system, or when the air blowing across the coils is insufficient to exchange warmer air with the cool coils.
An air conditioner running this iced up has the potential to do serious harm to itself!
In this case the cause of the trouble was not low pressure, but rather, insufficient air flow due to an ac filter clogged with animal (cat)hair. Everyone should change their ac filter once a month … your air conditioner will cool more efficiently and cost less to maintain the level of comfort you prefer. Those who have multiple pets in their home should be doubly devoted to keeping their ac filter clean, as animal hair and fur have the potential to block off air flow completely … causing serious damage to their air conditioning equipment.
A/C filter clogged with dust and cat hair was the cause of this air conditioner “ice up”!
Whether an iced up air conditioner, or any other problem with your cooling and heating Community Cooling is here to help! We are available 24/7 to handle all your air conditioning concerns.
Our Motto is…“We won’t send you a wolf in sheep’s clothing …
Community Cooling takes great pride in showing up on time, accurately assessing your air conditioning problem, and providing the consumer with the full range of options available to him … and then letting the customer decide which option makes the most sense to him personally, and fits his family’s budget as well!
Our Motto is…“We won’t send you a wolf in sheep’s clothing …
just an honest professional”
We guarantee all our repairs and offer a Free Second Opinion
Community Cooling and Heating President/CEO
Air conditioning service and repair Ft Myers
Kurt Hartmann, Owner of Community Cooling and Heating
Call Today For Air Conditioner Service, Repair, Maintenance, and Installation
239-267-2117
Comments are closed.