Air conditioner not blowing

Hello All,

We have our thermostat set to 72 but noticed the current temp is 75. It says that it's cooling and the air conditioner condenser outside is running, but nothing is blowing through the vents.

I checked the filter and . . there isn't one



There is ice around the coil and I believe the evaporator coil is frozen.



I am only getting a solid red which that supposed means the control has 24VAC power. I checked Red/Green at the thermostat and am getting 24V as well.




The AC evaporator coil is a PT4842-C175


The water trap has gunk, but I don't see any overflowing water anywhere.


Can someone please advise what my next steps should be?

 

No filter, dirty evaporator coil. Frosted coil and then no air flow. Check the return air in the house, might be a filter behind it.

 

The air return filter was dirty; last replaced on 3/1/2017. I just replaced it.


What are my next steps? I should obviously buy a filter for the furnace but how do I get cool air again?

 

You need to listen at the air handler and see if the blower is actually running.
If it is... the coil is frozen over. Turn the A/C off and just allow the blower to run for several hours. That should unthaw the coil. You should see a lot of water draining during the process.

The coil will freeze up from one of two reasons..... not enough airflow or low on refrigerant.

 

How do I run the blower only?

 

Should be a "fan on" switch on the stat.

 

Got it.

Before flipping it back on, I looked underneath the blower and noticed that it's started to pool up water since the unit has been off.

Right side


Left Side


Dripping off bottom of fan


After I turned the fan only on, I noticed the fan spraying water.

Water spraying out of fan


I will run it like this for the next few hours.

How do I prevent this from happening again? Does the coil need to be cleaned?

 

Your drain line must be clogged, try cleaning it out.

 

So the frozen coil is melting like crazy!

It is dripping into the furnace blower part of the unit and I'm afraid it's going to cause an electrical hazard. Is there anything I can do here?

Water in Furnace Part1


Water in Furnace Part2


Also, the water trap is full. I can't tell if it's draining or not.





So to summarize, do I do anything to prevent an issue with water dripping into the heating furnace part and can I do anything to get water moving out via the trap? I assume that is why water is leaking elsewhere

 

Here is the drain line. How do I unclog this? Jab a coat hanger in the top?

 

Water should not be at the top of that fitting. If it is.... then the line is clogged.

Since the coil is iced up... there will be extra water that will miss the drain pain.
If there is too much water leaking.... shut the blower off and allow the ice to thaw slowly.

 

Ok. Coat hanger worked. However, the unit that is supposed to pump the water out seems like it isn't working.

See attached video. https://www.dropbox.com/s/wssfqe4rl2tj05a/Video%20Jul%2004%2C%205%2018%2028%20PM.mov?dl=0

 

It only pumps when it's full. In the video I see the water draining back to the unit in the clear line. That means the unit had recently pumped.

If it's not working... the water will overflow from the top.

 

How do I prevent the from freezing like this in the future? What is this happens again?

 

When the system is back to normal..... feel the air flow coming out of the registers. If it's not strong...... you need to diagnose that problem.

If it feels pretty strong you should call in a tech and have the refrigerant charge checked.

 

So is a frozen coil a symptom of low refrigerant?

 

Yes it is..........................

 

The HVAC guy is here and telling me that I am low on freon because of a probable leak. Does this make sense? He wants to push me to fix the leak. I wasn't ready for that. I was expecting to just fill the freon.

 

These are sealed systems. The only reason that you should ever need to add more refrigerant (apart from having to open the system to replace a part, e.g. evaporator, pressure switch, etc.) is because there is a leak. Whenever the system is low on refrigerant, it should be checked for leaks and repaired before more refrigerant is added. Otherwise, the refrigerant will leak out again. Also, don't let a technician talk you into adding a sealant to the system. That's a lazy man's way of trying to fix the problem with a minimum of work. The sealant may or may not temporarily stop the leak, but it likely will cause damage down the road (plugging up some of the passages or the TXV valve).

 

The unit is a 2004 but the house was built in 2006. He says I need to either replace the coils (R22 unit) or replace the whole system.

Are these my real options?

 

R22 is very expensive and gets more expensive every year because production of it is being phased out. Chances are only one of the coils (condenser or evaporator) is leaking. However the technician would have to determine where the leak is and if it's repairable or not (usually, condenser and evaporator coils are replaced, not repaired), however leaks in the lineset or fittings are repairable.

It's a tough decision, whether to replace the leaking component (assuming it's either the condenser or evaporator), or just getting a completely new system. Obviously, a new system is more expensive, but it will come with a warranty and new systems use R401A which is much cheaper than R22. If you repair the system, there's always the chance that something else (the other coil) will go bad sometime in the future. How much longer the repaired system will run is the big unknown.