Temperatures are slowly warming up here in Milford, DE and while you’re likely not using your air conditioner every way, chances are you’re using it increasingly often these past few weeks. That makes this an excellent time to troubleshoot your system for any problems that could cause a breakdown later in the summer. That way, you can get them repaired before your air conditioner needs to be used every day, preventing a lot or consternation and heartache in the process. Among the things you should watch out for is the formation of ice on your air conditioner’s coils. It may not sound like much, but it’s actually a very big problem.
How It Forms
Air conditioners depend on refrigerant to cool the air. It enters the evaporator coils in a liquid form in a set amount, where it reverts to gaseous form. As it does so, it pulls heat from the surrounding air, cooling it and allow it to be blow into your home with a fan. When the refrigerant leaks, however, that balance is thrown off. The cooling process is rendered imperfect and ice forms on the coils instead of cooling the air.
Why It’s a Problem
Obviously, lost cooling potential like that adversely affects your air conditioner, since it will need to work harder to keep your home cool. Furthermore, the ice forms an insulating barrier between the remaining refrigerant and the air it needs to cool. It forms a cascading cycle that ends only when the air conditioner suffers a serious breakdown. Never attempt to scrap the ice off. It will only reform and beside, the source of the problem lies elsewhere. Instead, contact a service technician to seal the leak and recharge refrigerant levels to their prescribed amounts.
Call Atlantic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Inc. to handle any problems with your air conditioning system