How Can My AC Freeze When It’s Hot Outside?
Although it sounds illogical, it’s fairly common for an AC to freeze up just when you need it most—in the heat of mid-summer.
Your air conditioner cools your home by
How Can My AC Freeze When It’s Hot Outside?
Although it sounds illogical, it’s fairly common for an AC to freeze up just when you need it most—in the heat of mid-summer.
Your air conditioner cools your home by transferring heat. Normally, the refrigerant coil is constantly removing (absorbing) warm air from inside the home into the evaporator coil that’s filled with refrigerant. Then the coil releases its just-absorbed heat outdoors and cycles back indoors to absorb more heat. But when a coil freeze occurs, something is off somewhere!
Causes of Air Conditioner Freeze Up
Here’s what could be causing your air conditioner coil to freeze:
- Low airflow problem:If warm indoor air is not being blown over the evaporator coil, heat is not being absorbed. Normally, as it absorbs heat and gets warmer, the refrigerant molecules inside the coil contract. However, in this case, the refrigerant in the coil won’t warm up—because it has no heat to absorb. The coil will keep getting cooler (and keep expanding) on each cycle of the AC—and eventually freeze.
- Low refrigerant pressure: If there is a leak in the AC system, you have less refrigerant inside the coil, but the coil stays the same size, of course. So less refrigerant has more room to expand (to get colder). When it gets to low enough temperature, ice forms on the coil and you have a freeze.
- Mechanical malfunction: Problems like a fan slowing down, (perhaps because it’s broken or bent, and is striking another piece of equipment) or a blocked refrigerant coil (with a dent in it, perhaps) 