Heat Pump Air Handler Frozen

The joule thomson effect how your air conditioner freezes up.

Heat pump air handler frozen.

When faced with a frozen heat pump. As warm air hits the coil condensation builds up. So what s the deal. Your outside air conditioning refrigerant line is covered in ice which seems crazy in arizona heat.

The most important factor when dealing with a frozen pump is to act fast. Every so often the unit will go into defrost mode to remove that frost. Many times a clogged air filter is the reason behind frozen cooling coils. Change your air filter.

Of course in the summer the situation is reversed. It will also need to be replaced by a technician. Standby for a small high school physics lesson. Troubleshooting a frozen air conditioning coil.

Chances are your indoor unit s evaporator coil is frozen solid and cold liquid refrigerant is flowing to the outside unit through the refrigerant line which is why it s covered in ice. Immediately turn off your heat pump. Heat pump frozen in winter. As the name suggests the reversing valve allows the heat pump to work as both a heater and an air conditioner by reversing the direction of the refrigerant.

The joule thomson effect is a principle in thermodynamics which states that if everything else is kept constant. If the heat pump turns on when you want cool air but not for heat this is likely the cause. In this scenario the air coils inside the interior air handler get very cold. Diagnose your thermostat for any obvious problems.

This includes the indoor unit outdoor unit and interconnecting line set. We don t need to go too in depth so bear with me but understanding this principle is the key to figuring out why your air conditioner is freezing up. Heat pump or air conditioner iced up in summer. Well your heat pump works to cool your home by absorbing heat with a cold refrigerant that runs through your evaporator coil.

If it continues to attempt to operate it can seriously damage itself. Sometimes the evaporator coil will freeze if the a c is running when it s cool outside. Your heat pump and air handler will not function very well when outside temperatures are below 60 degrees. If the coil gets too cold the condensation freezes causing your heat pump to freeze up in the summer.

The system extracts heat from the inside of the house and moves it outside. Fixing an outdoor frozen heat pump can be as easy as setting the defrost cycle to run a little more frequently which did the trick for us. In the winter heat pump icing up is often perfectly normal. What to do in the event of a frozen heat pump.

It is possible to ice up the indoor coil however if the air conditioner is running in very cold. During the cold winter months your heat pump s outside unit will sometimes be covered with a coating of frost on the sides or even light ice. Try to avoid using your air conditioner at night when the temperatures drop.