Icy A/C line

[Lon Henderson]

No need for the ice maker to work when you can just chip it off of the refrigerant line.

The 22 year old tenant said that over the last few weeks, he had been getting less and less cool air so he kept turning down the thermostat (currently set at 63 degrees)
I couldn't see the evaporator but there wasn't a whiff of air from the registers. My guess is the evaporator is one big block of ice at this point.

We are having the hottest heat wave since records have been kept and the smoke from the forest fires makes every day hazy.

[Steven Saville]

More than likely, the system is low on refrigerant. But could be low airflow across the evaporator due to dirty filter, or dirty evaporator coil. Is the blower motor even operating? It amazes me that folks think setting the thermostat lower will cool things off quicker -- IT WON'T!. You should have an HVAC technician service the unit. If an old unit and a very slow leak, you may be able to simply add refrigerant and be OK for a few years. This is one reason annual or even bi-annual service is so important.

[Bob Harper]

The last thing to consider would be the charge. The filter is always first. Next, the coil and condenser and airflow all need to be assessed collectively. A technician can determine most of this with proper use of instruments. The toughest one can be inspecting the coil. Often filters don't fit properly or weren't used for extended periods resulting in blow-by and clogging the coil. This must be cleaned as it can affect not on the the cooling ability of the unit but heating performance and combustion analysis. Only once these things have been ruled out should the charge be assessed but this is seldom done. The result is overcharging (as in overcharging the system and the client).

As for the home inspector, the system needs qualified HVAC inspection and service.

[Lon Henderson]

Agee.....and I did recommend calling a HVAC tech. I told the tenant to turn off the a/c. It wasn't doing any good at this point and just costing money to run.

The tenant whined big time, so I told him that once the ice had totally melted, he could run the a/c for the hottest hours of the day, but turn it back off so that it didn't ice up completely until a HVAC tech fixed the problem.

[Rod Butler]

. . . . I couldn't see the evaporator but there wasn't a whiff of air from the registers. My guess is the evaporator is one big block of ice at this point.
.

Bingo, I'll go with the ice block theory. And I agree that the filter is likely dirty.

Tell him to turn the unit off, turn the heat on (I love the look on people's face at this time) and in 20 minutes - after he has replaced the filter - turn the cooling back on. Then rest comfortably.
:D

[kevinvantassel]

No need for the ice maker to work when you can just chip it off of the refrigerant line.

The 22 year old tenant said that over the last few weeks, he had been getting less and less cool air so he kept turning down the thermostat (currently set at 63 degrees)
I couldn't see the evaporator but there wasn't a whiff of air from the registers. My guess is the evaporator is one big block of ice at this point.

We are having the hottest heat wave since records have been kept and the smoke from the forest fires makes every day hazy.

:mad: First thing I check is to listen for the blower motor(is it working?)
If is not your A/C is unusable period. Don't advise home owner to let melt and turn back on won't do any good, but if it is working then check your filters/registers and for a dirty coil. If they all check ok you most likely have a leak and are low on refrigerant.