What To Do If Your Air Conditioning Freezes Up!

With this uncharacteristically warm weather here in Chicago, air conditioning is the mind of us all. Can you believe that it got up 86 degrees this week? It does not matter where you live (from Oak Lawn to Buck Town to Crestwood to South Loop), when air conditioning problems strike, you need to fix them right away. Around The Town definitely does not want you sitting in your home sweating it all out!

This is one of the reasons that we recommend that homeowner’s get their air conditioning tuned up once a year. Many of the air conditioning problems that homeowners have during the hottest time in the summer could be avoided with proper air conditioning maintenance.

One problem that we see is that your air conditioner freezes up. Now, when this happens, your whole central air unit is not frozen. It is actually just the condensor unit’s evaporator coil. The evaporator coil is actually the part of your air conditioner unit that transfers heat from the inside of your home to the outside of your home. There are two main reasons for this coil to freeze up. The evaporator coil can freeze up due to restricted air flow (have you cleaned up the debris around your air conditioner unit?) or you are running low on refrigerant. If your evaporator coil is not working properly, that is when it overcools (aka freezes) itself. When your evaporator coil freezes, you get condensation and eventually ice will form!

What should you do if your air conditioner freezes? First, turn your air conditioner and furnace off. Usually there is a switch you can flip. Next, make sure there isn’t anything restricting air flow. Make sure you have a clean filter and that your registers are not blocked. Lastly, give your favorite HVAC contractor a call. If your air conditioner is freezing, you need to have a professional BuckTown HVAC Contractor come out and see if you have any leaks or damage. The Chicago HVAC Contractor can figure out the exact cause of your air conditioner freezing and fix the problem for you. If you don’t figure out the cause of your freezing, your air conditioning will likely freeze again.

The worst thing that can happen in the summer is having your air conditioning freeze. Hopefully, you won’t have an air conditioning freezing issue this summer. However, if you do, please give Around The Town a call, so we can keep you cool the rest of the summer!