{"id":465,"date":"2020-07-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/?p=465"},"modified":"2020-07-24T12:42:21","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T16:42:21","slug":"shouldnt-see-ice-on-air-conditioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/air-conditioning-service\/shouldnt-see-ice-on-air-conditioner\/","title":{"rendered":"No, You Shouldn\u2019t See Ice on Your Air Conditioner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/frozen-pipe-icicles-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"ice-on-pipe\" class=\"wp-image-466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/frozen-pipe-icicles-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/frozen-pipe-icicles-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/frozen-pipe-icicles.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This a common occurrence for homeowners who have air conditioning: seeing ice forming along the length of your indoor coil and thinking, \u201cWell, that\u2019s not a problem. Why wouldn\u2019t there be ice on something that sends out cold air?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Except \u2026 that\u2019s not how air conditioners work. We understand why people might feel confused, but not only should ice <em>not<\/em> form on the indoor evaporator coil (or anywhere on the AC), but it\u2019s a sign something is wrong with the AC and it will soon lose cooling power\u2014if not fail completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Ice Forms in the First Place<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To start with: an air conditioner doesn\u2019t use ice to cool\nair. What it does is remove heat from the air using refrigerant. When refrigerant\npasses through the evaporator coil, it\u2019s extremely cold. It evaporates in the\ncoil as warm air is drawn over it, and the evaporation draws heat out of the\nair to cool it. The refrigerant warms up as it absorbs the heat, and then heads\nto the outside unit where that heat will eventually be released. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if something goes wrong and the evaporator coil cannot absorb enough heat to warm the refrigerant, the coil will be too cold and moisture from the air will turn to ice on it. Because ice further blocks heat absorption, it will continue to develop on the coil until the coil can no longer absorb any heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Source of the Iced-Over Coil<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What can cause the evaporator coil to lose heat absorption\nand cause ice to form? There are several possibilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><em>The evaporator coil is covered with dirt,\ngrime, or mildew.<\/em> A dirty indoor coil will not be able to absorb heat as\nefficiently, and this can lead to the refrigerant not warming up enough. <\/li><li><em>The blower fan is not sending enough warm air\nacross the coil.<\/em> Without enough heat to draw on, the refrigerant will\nremain too cold. This drop in airflow over the coils is often due to a clogged\nair filter\u2014and it\u2019s one of the many reasons you must change the air filter every\none to three months. The problem could also be a malfunctioning blower. <\/li><li><em>The air conditioner has lost refrigerant to\nleaks.<\/em> This is often hard for people to grasp. Why would <em>less<\/em> refrigerant\ncause ice to appear? The reason is that the less refrigerant in the coil, the\nless heat is absorbed, and the remaining refrigerant will stay too cold. Refrigerant\nleaks will eventually lead to catastrophic damage to the AC, so please have\nthis looked at.<\/li><li><em>The air conditioner is too old and is\nstarting to fail.<\/em> If the unit is more than 15 years old, it may simply be a\ncase that it\u2019s no longer able to effectively draw heat from the air. The best\nmove is to install a new system.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>No matter if you need a new AC installation or an <a href=\"\/service-areas\/west-chester-pa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">air conditioning repair in West Chester, PA<\/a>, you can put your trust in our team. We\u2019re family-run and locally operated, and our technicians are experienced and NATE-certified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Michall Daimion Heating &amp; Air Conditioning, Inc. is the Main Line\u2019s Premier Service Provider since 1976. <a href=\"\/contact\/schedule-service\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Call for 24-hour air conditioning service.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To start with: an air conditioner doesn\u2019t use ice to cool air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[90,91],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-conditioning-service","tag-air-conditioning-system-repair","tag-west-chester"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468,"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daimion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}