If your AC seems to be running but you feel hot and sweaty in your home, a number of things could be to blame. One of those is ice coating the evaporator coils. Ice can sometimes form on the coils because the coils are wet with condensation. When ice covers the coils, the air in your home won't cool down even if the AC is running. However, it's also possible that your AC will automatically shut down when the coils ice over. Here's a look at the air conditioning repairs you might need to have done to correct this problem.
Thaw And Clean The Coils
The first step is to thaw out the ice because the AC repair technician won't be able to do much until the ice is gone. When the ice melts, it will drop in the condensation pan, but if it melts fast, the pan could overflow, so you may need to put down towels or remove the water another way so the ice doesn't make a mess on the floor.
When the air conditioning repair technician arrives, they will check the coils to see if they're covered in dust. Dirty coils keep the refrigerant from cooling properly, and this leads to ice formation that then develops out of control. If the evaporator coils are dirty, the technician can scrub them or use cleaners that remove the dust and dirt so the refrigerant can work properly again.
Repair A Refrigerant Leak
A leak that allows refrigerant to escape the copper lines in the evaporator coils can also cause the coils to ice over. The copper refrigerant lines run in a loop from the condenser coils to the evaporator coils, and a leak anywhere in the lines can lead to issues with your AC, including ice formation.
Finding a refrigerant leak could be difficult if the hole is very tiny, but the AC technician has ways to find the holes so repairs can be done. They might look for bubbles or listen for hissing sounds. Once found, the leak has to be repaired. That could involve removing the refrigerant, soldering in new copper tubing to replace the damaged section, and then refilling the refrigerant.
A hole in a copper evaporator coil might also be repaired with sealant, and if all else fails, the air conditioning repair technician can replace the entire coil set, and that might be an expensive repair. Once the coils are repaired or replaced, they are filled with refrigerant again and your AC should be ready to keep you cool.
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