Suddenly you feel like you Air Conditioner is not doing what its supposed to. Upon further inspection, you find that there is a block of ice on the copper lines of the system. Is this normal, why is this happening? Well, there are several reasons for this.

1. Dirty Air Filter
2. System is low on Freon
3. Dirty Coils
4. Air Handler or Furnace (inside unit) not working.

The easiest someone can inspect for himself is the first one. Checking the Air Filters! When your Air Conditioner has Iced up, this is one of the most common reasons why this happen and can save you more than you think

Checking your Heater for the winter is just always a necessity. Especially if you have a gas furnace. These give off an exhaust and the deadly gas, known as, carbon monoxide. Having your heater checked for the winter will help avoid any foreseeable problems with operation.

An Air Handler does just that. It handles the Air in your house. It does this by using an electric motor that spins a blower wheel that creates suction from one end of the unit and pushes it out the other end. Most Air Handlers are considered Air Handlers because they have an evaporator coil inside.

Clearing a clogged Air Conditioner drain can be a little tricky. Sometimes it will involve calling either a plumber or you local HVAC technician. It will involve loosening or disconnecting the drainage line from the Air Handler or the coil. Once this is done, either water pressure or air pressure can be used to clear this drain. While putting the drain back together, you may need to seal the connections with glue or some kind of adhesive or clamp. To prevent this from happening, proper maintenance should be done to the Air Conditioner system.

A Condenser does just that. In an Air Conditioning application, it condenses freon gas from a gas or low pressure state to a liquid or high pressure state. To make sure that compressor doesn’t overheat though, the condenser has some metal tubing usually going in a continuous loop called a coil. The heat transfers from the compressor into these coils. Once that happens, a fan motor with a fan blade sucks cool or outside air through these coils to decimate the heat from the coils and inherently off the compressor. Allowing the compressor to run more efficiently, improving longevity and performance.

The industry standard for measuring these filters is called a MERV Rating. Which stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. This rating measures how effective an air filter is. It is used to measure how much particles gets past a filter. In other words, the lower the MERV rating, the more particles that gets past the filter. It measures particles on the range in diameters of 0.3 to 10 micrometres. The MERV rating ranges from 1-16. 16 being the highest that takes out up 95% of particles. In other words, 5% of particles gets past the filter. For clean rooms or places like hospitals that need much cleaner air, they use a different kind of filter. One that’s made more for commercial or industrial use. They use a HEPA filter.

Indoor comfort is what we all look for and try to achieve. Sometimes in a two story house you find that in the summer the upstairs is too cool and in the winter its too hot. Many times that’s because of improper HVAC zoning in your house.
Air Conditioners work with air circulation. The closer the air is able to return to your Air Conditioning unit, the faster and more efficient it will be to control your indoor temperature. That’s why many two story homes or larger houses have more than one Air Conditioning system. But because this process takes longer for a single Air Conditioning System, it creates areas of the house with temperature splits of up to 10 or even 15 degrees. For better and greater insight into what would be best for your home, consult with your local licensed HVAC Contractor.

For one thing it is one of the only things you as a consumer can do to prevent issues related to your Air Conditioning system that’s not related to a technical issue. The concept of Air Conditioning uses air that passes over metal coils that are made cold using the freon gas. Because of humidity and temperature differences, moisture will begin to accumulate on these coils. Any dust particles that gets past your air filter will in effect, stick to the coils and over time restrict proper air flow.
When this happens it results in your air conditioning system working more harder and longer to achieve its thermostat setting. Therefore, more energy costs to run the system.
Over time problems start to accumulate. With most coils, cleaning them requires extraction. Costs are anywhere between $700 up to even $1500. Whereas a filter at your local hardware store will run you $5-$20 per filter.
A dirty coil begins to shorten the life of your Air Conditioner greatly. And so as the single most expensive equipment in your home, changing your filters could make all the difference in the life of your unit.

1. Changing you air filter
2. Pouring vinegar and water (about a half cup of each mixed together) down the Condensate drain per filter change or every other month.
3. Washing the condenser ever other month of dirt, dust and debris.
4. Speading a little Ant bait around the Air Conditioner Condenser out side.

A Couple of days ago, we went to a customer and who had 150 feet length of line set (Hi and Lo pressure tubing). When we went to do the routine maintenance on the air conditioning systems. We found out the bigger of the two HVAC systems wasn’t working properly. Both Condensers had a full condenser replacement warranty should the compressor ever fail. After speaking with tech support from Rheem, they recommended just changing the unit for another new condenser. Seemed reasonable to us after trying to troubleshoot the problem of compressor not running properly and issues with the reversing valve. So we went back the next day and started recovering the Freon (410A refrigerant). And just for the sake of it, we stopped the recovery and just tried one more time. Especially since the unit was very heavy and needed at least 3 guys to lift it. Unit started right back up. Operation was normal. The Heating worked, the air conditioner worked; it was like magic. Sometimes I guess, when all technicallities fail, sometimes a little chance works best.