Question:
OK…..we live in AZ and it has been about 112-114 for the past week so the a/c has been running a lot to keep the house at 80. On Friday, I was sitting on the couch watching a movie with the kids and it was a comfortable 80 degrees in the house. By the time the movie was over it was up to 86 degrees. My husband looked at the a/c and said it was frozen so we waited for it to defrost and started the a/c again last night and it got down to 85 degrees and now this morning it’s back up to 87 and the coils are frozen again. Any ideas/advice/suggestions to prevent this from happening?
Additional Details:
2 days ago
Some of the time it lightly blows cold air (but not enough to cool it down any in the house) and others times no air at all.

Reply:
One of two reasons why this is probably happening.
First, the airflow across the indoor coil is low. Due to either the filter or coil being blocked, cleaning these will fix that problem. Or the indoor fan or motor is not working properly.
Secondly, you may have a freon leak in the machine. If so then there is nothing you can do to fix it, you will need specialist help.
As suggested above, in some machines, mainly the window type, if they are run continuously over extended periods of time (I mean hours and hours) without cycling off then you may get ice forming on the indoor coil. This is also an indication that the machine is undersized and overworked.
Hope this helps.

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Question:
My grandma has an AC in Palm Desert, CA where it gets ridiculously hot during the summer.
She went out there and it wasn’t working so she called someone and they put some freon (I’m not sure how to spell it) and then it worked. The guy told her she would need to replace it. I want to go out there but its too hot to stay without an AC. What are the chances of the AC working.

Reply:
Without reading the report the repair A/C technician supplied it would be difficult to ascertain whether it would have a chance of working, albeit temporarily. Sometimes the gas leaks are minor and repairable but over the years the A/C unit can become more unreliable and it is advisable to replace machines that are starting to show signs of wear and tear.
There are some great bargains out there for new A/C units, A/C has changed from a luxury to a necessity these days, especially in places like Palm Desert

Question:
Lately my central air hasn’t been working very well. It is constantly running and we have to keep the thermostat turned down to 55 or below to ensure the house stays cool. (My parents live near me and they keep their thermostat around 65). Needless to say, it is always running. Well, today it stopped altogether. When I turn the air on, I can hear the outside unit kick on, but absolutely no air comes through the vents. Any ideas on what it might be and if it is something I can fix myself. My dad said it sounds like the duct is disconnected or something. Any help is appreciated, as I really want to resolve this issue, possibly without the help of expensive contractors. I also really hate to sweat. Thanks.

Reply:
Either your indoor fan motor has burnt out or the relay serving the fan motor is faulty. Either of these requires an A/C technician.
If your ductwork has blown off the indoor unit ( which can happen ) then you need to check in your ceiling space fro this possibility. If you have a zoned system, one of the damper motors could be stuck in the closed position.
My guess is that the fan motor has burnt out as this is usually the problem from what you describe here.
Good luck finding a competent A/C mechanic this time of year ( mid summer ).
Note: if you are having to set your t/stat at 55 and 65 respectively you have machines that are either too small (capacity wise) for your home or there could be a refrigerant leak which causes the machine to be ineffective. They are probably running flat out trying to reach set point, causing your electricity bill to be needlessly high….just a thought.

Question:

I ive in a appartment and over the winter the maintance men put in a new central heat and air system…. a few weeks ago when i turned the air on the apartment filled with a haze that smelled like achemical. they later came out and said the A/C wasn’t hooked up and that they had fixed the problem. Now the air works but tis not cool, and I was wondering if all of the coolant could have leaked out ??? Thanks to anyone who can help!

Reply:

That is a most likely scenario, if the freon leaked at a fast rate it pushed some system oil out with it causing a haze not dissimilar to what you described.
Since the machine does not cool now then it is highly likely that it has dropped it’s gas charge.
Call the maintenance men and tell them your story, they should find the leak repair it and re charge the system.

Reply:

Don’t even go there.
The consequences of attempting this are not worth it.
If you knew what the fines were for doing this I do not think you would contemplate trying this, never mind the danger.
Final note, you haven’t a hope in hell of getting it right anyway.
Sorry to sound fierce but I want to stress that you are asking the wrong question, you should be asking, who can I hire who is qualified to carry out this type of repair.

Question:

We have been having terrible problems with our central air conditioning unit. Our house is about 8 years old and we have a zone system (separate heating and cooling thermostats for upstairs and downstairs). For the past 2 years the unit is not cooling the house properly (heating works fine). We had the dampers replaced 2 years ago and I know the dampers are fine. We have had several repair technicians look at the unit. They always recharge the unit with more Freon (3 times in 1 summer) after claiming to fix a leak. This past weekend again a repair person claimed that we had an internal leak in the unit. He said that he had plugged the leak and then he charged the unit with Freon. Not only did this not work (our house continued to get hotter from 73F to 85F while AC was running all day) the pipe coming from the unit outside our house was all frozen over with ice (all the way to where the insulation started).
Any suggestions or help will be appreciated. Thank you.

Reply:

Your A/C unit is a SEALED system. That means that if the system is leaking then there is a need to get a COMPETENT A/C technician to troubleshoot the problem, find where the leak originates and repair it.
Your main problem is that you are using people who do not know what they are really doing and I am sorry to say that these cowboys drag the reputation of the industry down.
At some point you will have to decide whether to keep using the people who have returned and not repaired your machine …and… finding a really good technician who can genuinely fix your machine. All I can say is good luck because these guys are as rare as hens teeth and if you find one you want to keep their details and pass them on to close family and friends.
They might charge more for their time but they are worth every cent because they will get the job done right first time.
Sorry if I sound a little harsh but I have no time for so called A/C technicians who cannot do their job properly - good luck!