Standby for a small high school physics lesson.
Heat pump air handler frozen.
The system extracts heat from the inside of the house and moves it outside.
It will also need to be replaced by a technician.
Every so often the unit will go into defrost mode to remove that frost.
Diagnose your thermostat for any obvious problems.
Of course in the summer the situation is reversed.
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.
It is possible to ice up the indoor coil however if the air conditioner is running in very cold.
If it continues to attempt to operate it can seriously damage itself.
Your outside air conditioning refrigerant line is covered in ice which seems crazy in arizona heat.
Change your air filter.
In the winter heat pump icing up is often perfectly normal.
As warm air hits the coil condensation builds up.
Well your heat pump works to cool your home by absorbing heat with a cold refrigerant that runs through your evaporator coil.
If the heat pump turns on when you want cool air but not for heat this is likely the cause.
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.
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.
When faced with a frozen heat pump.
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.
Your heat pump and air handler will not function very well when outside temperatures are below 60 degrees.
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.
The most important factor when dealing with a frozen pump is to act fast.
In this scenario the air coils inside the interior air handler get very cold.
The joule thomson effect how your air conditioner freezes up.
Try to avoid using your air conditioner at night when the temperatures drop.
What to do in the event of a frozen heat pump.
Many times a clogged air filter is the reason behind frozen cooling coils.
Troubleshooting a frozen air conditioning coil.
Heat pump not heating.
Heat pump frozen in winter.
The joule thomson effect is a principle in thermodynamics which states that if everything else is kept constant.
If you have a frozen air conditioning coil there are a few steps you should take to troubleshoot the problem before calling an hvac repair company.
This includes the indoor unit outdoor unit and interconnecting line set.
Immediately turn off your heat pump.
Sometimes the evaporator coil will freeze if the a c is running when it s cool outside.
Heat pump or air conditioner iced up in summer.
