Frozen and Airless

I have said it before, and I will say it again,from my point of view when it comes to home remodeling or home repairs, I feel there is no substitute for the professional handyman or other service technicians. However I also think that a homeowner can learn to do simple repairs and trouble shooting in their own home, as long as they know their limits and call a professional when the job is over their heads. sometimes things are simple if you know the basic things to look for.Here is an example of a call I received;

We recently bought a three-bedroom ranch with central air-conditioning. We have used the unit just a week, and it was working just fine. But the unit stopped working on one of the hottest days we have had. It was cooling just fine at the beginning of the day, but even though the air was still blowing cold, less and less air was coming out of the vents. I did notice a lot of frost on the sheet metal above the furnace, and on the air-conditioning lines going in to the sheet metal.
We turned off the unit and have called an air-conditioning company.
Is this a big problem?





The restricted airflow through the coil is causing the frosting you see. The coil is similar to a car radiator and is located in the air supply duct of the furnace. The connection to the air-conditioning unit located outside chills the coil. The coil cools the supply air to the central air system. Since this is the same duct system that supplies heat, the coil has air passing through it all of the time. Dust and dirt can clog the coil, restricting airflow. When the airflow is restricted during the cooling cycle, the coil will start to freeze; the more it freezes, the more airflow is restricted. Soon no air passes through the system.

Here are some things you can do when the coil freezes:

v Change the furnace filter.
v Turn the thermostat setting to the fan-only position until the airflow returns to normal.
v Check the condensate line to make sure there is a good flow of water.

Routine maintenance and changing the furnace filter often, will help this from happening again.