AC Problem ??


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Old 07-10-09, 06:25 PM
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AC Problem ??

We have 2 central AC units in our house that were installed 2 years ago. One is in attached to the furnace in the basement (cools 1st and some of 2nd floors). The other is attached to the furnace in the attic (cools some of 2nd and 3rd floors).

Our house is an old victorian (112 years old) with finished attic.

Came home today to 90 degree temps and noticed in the attic that it was pretty warm. Didn't think much of it until I was in the basement and noticed the line from the compressor to the AC unit in the attic was really dripping. The line to the basement AC was fine. I noticed that the air coming from the vents in the attic wasn't really that cold.

The unit in the attic has probably been running all day long (maybe 14 hours or so).

Could the condenser just be frozen ? For now we turned it off to let it sit for a few hours (and maybe melt) ?

Thanks.
 
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Old 07-10-09, 06:31 PM
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it would be the evaporator that could be frozen. try shutting it off to melt and see. Then find out why it froze. Dirty filter maybe?
 
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Old 07-10-09, 06:39 PM
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Well, I just replaced the filter a few weeks ago (I hadn't replaced it in a LONG time). Could it just have ran too long ? I probably really didn't need it on this morning, but set it to about 71 or so to force it on (I like coming out of the shower into a cool room LOL).

I did go up and look at it (its behind a knee wall in the attic, laying horizontal as opposed to vertical like in the basement) and did notice some ice had already fallen off the line going into the condenser.
 
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Old 07-11-09, 01:15 AM
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Icing

If you had it off long enough to completely thaw you are probably all right with just replacing the filter. If not or if you ever see ice again the first thing to do is shut your heat cool off switch to off and turn the fan switch to on and if your fan is running you can thaw it out in 2 hours then turn the ac back on. Then with a new filter if you have any further freeze up you will know that you have either a dirty coil, some other air flow obstruction (bad fan motor, blocked return, blocked supply) or you may be low on refrigerant but always check airflow first it is the most likely cause of freeze up and you don't have to have gauges or know anything about the refrigerant circuit to fix it.
 
 

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