There is nothing worse than losing your air conditioning during the peak of summer, and even more bizarre when you walk outside and see a solid block of ice covering your unit. What is causing this process to occur? It all comes down to three commons causes:
- Irregular Maintenance: Not maintaining your AC unit properly will save you money in the short term, but will only cost you a lot more once it fails. By having regular spring and fall maintenance and changing air filters after receiving each energy bill will avoid most issues.
- Keeping it Too Cool: As a rule of thumb it is important to know that your AC unit will only be able to cool down your house 20° from the outside heat index. The head index takes into account the temperature and humidity, so if it feels like 95° outside, your unit can only efficiently cool it to 75°. No matter how much you tinker with your AC thermostat to keep it cooler it will lead to it freezing up.
- Improper Use of Unit: Some homeowners believe that turning your AC unit off during the day while at work saves you money. It actually costs you more money and can lead to your AC freezing up or worse! AC units can generally only cool the air at 2° an hour. When you return home in the afternoon to start it up again it will spend most of its time trying to catch up using more energy. And those with multiple systems it is important to keep a constant temperature throughout. If you also have a second story with another unit, make sure you keep it on, otherwise the other unit will have to compensate and can lead to freezing.
By keeping all of these in mind you should avoid any unwanted AC repair costs and stay cool throughout the entire summer. In the event that it does freeze up it is important to call us right away. Always make sure that you turn on your fan and turn the thermostat off, then the unit can thaw out as you wait for our technicians. Otherwise our technician cannot work and will result in another call out after the unit thaws out!
