There are times when the air conditioners we regularly use somehow freeze up suddenly. When the air conditioner freezes up, it doesn’t work correctly, which causes tons of problems in our daily life.
All we want during hot summer days is to feel the cool air from our air conditioners. However, if the air conditioner is frozen, it can’t deliver that cold, soothing air. So, keeping an eye out for frozen air conditioners is a must if you want to avoid problems during summer.
A thought that often pops into my mind is, “Can I pour hot water on a frozen air conditioner?”. Is it that simple to defrost an air conditioner? Today, we will talk about it and figure out if pouring hot water will defrost an air conditioner, how we can defrost air conditioners, why air conditioners freeze up, and a ton of other things.
Can I Pour Hot Water On Frozen Air Conditioner?
You can pour hot water on a frozen air conditioner. You can quickly defrost it by pouring the hot water on a frozen air conditioner. The hot water thaws the ice and makes the ice melt a lot faster.
The water doesn’t even need to be boiling. Just putting warm water on your frozen air conditioner unit will melt the ice a lot faster, giving you an air conditioner that delivers soothing cool air during those intolerable hot summer days.
Why Do Air Conditioners Freeze Up?
When we think about air conditioners freezing up, we automatically assume that’s great. However, the reality is different. The frozen air conditioner makes it hard for it to supply cool air.
Air conditioners work through a refined control of airflow, temperature as well as pressure. So, when one of these things is out of balance, the refrigerant system that creates the cold air overclocks and freezes itself without making the air cool.
If an air conditioner is frozen, it will either blow warm/cool air or nothing at all.
How Air Conditioners Make Cool Air
Air conditioners need freon to cool the air. There’s a compressor in the air conditioners. It compresses the freon with the help of a lubricant. Then the freon gas moves through a few coils, which helps lower the heat and convert it to liquid. Liquid freon is cold. The liquid freon flows through a type of expansion valve, which cools it even more—turning it into a gas. The cold gas then goes through a few more coils, absorbing the heat and lowering the room’s temperature.
The main element which cools your air conditioner is a coil full of cool freon /Puron. The freon / Puron requires hot air to blow across it when it’s activated. This process is what refreshes your air. It keeps the coils hot so it doesn’t become frozen over time.
If you own a simple cooling device, then the coil used indoors will pull out heat from the inside afterward and transfer it with the help of the freon gas to the coil that’s outdoors. After which, it shoves the hot air outside.
This is why the back of your outdoor unit feels like it’s pushing out hot air, and this air is warmer than the temperature outside. The air conditioning system pulls heat from your indoor air and transfers the extra heat outside.
The air conditioning system completes the action by controlling the coercion of the freon circuit. However, if a situation occurs and causes something to put an end to
The warm air from flowing on top of the coils. If the coercion level is not up to par inside the coils, then the coils will become cold and probably become frozen. The reasons why the inside of your air conditioner can turn into a deep refrigerator are entirely dependent on either airflow, pressure, or both.
Reasons Behind Your Air Conditioner Might Be Freezing Up
If the air conditioner is frozen while the temperature is at a peak, it can be tough to feel comfortable in your house, which is why you need to know the reasons behind your air conditioner freezing up. That way, you will detect it and get it fixed quickly.
The main reasons why air conditioners often freeze up are given below:
- A collapsed duct often disrupts airflow, which leads to the air conditioner freezing up. The air circulating through the air conditioners uses ducts to distribute. If even one of the ducts collapses, then the air conditioner can’t circulate air, leading to a frozen air conditioner.
- Having A bad motor is another problem which causes air conditioners to freeze up. A motor runs the blower fan of the air conditioner so, having a lousy motor causes the blower fan to stop working. And If the blower fan in the air conditioner stops working, the air can’t circulate through the ducts fast enough. Thus, the air conditioner freezes up.
- If the voltage of the fan inside your air conditioner is suffering from low voltage, then it can’t circulate the air properly, which leads to the air conditioner freezing up.
- The air filter of your air conditioner is a path that’s used to circuit air. When the air filter is dirty, it becomes a clog instead of a path which ultimately results in the air not being circulated properly. And that causes the air conditioner to freeze up
- Low refrigerant is often the cause behind your air conditioner freezing up.
- If dust is blocking the coils of air conditioners, it can lead to your air conditioner freezing up.
These are the main reasons why your air conditioner can sometimes freeze up.
How To Prevent Your Air-Conditioner Freezing up?
A frozen air conditioner is a huge problem. However, this issue can be avoided by taking a few simple precautions. Such as:
- Refrigerant checks by technical: low refrigerant levels are often why your air conditioner is freezing up. To ensure your air conditioner doesn’t freeze up, you have to get it checked routinely by a professional HVAC technician.
Air conditioning systems are systems that are encased from the outside atmosphere. Which Means the refrigerant can not leave the system. Low freon levels are primarily due to a leak inside the air conditioner. It can be inside the refrigerant line or in the component that controls the refrigerant.
- Changing Your air filter: a clogged air conditioner filter can be the reason behind your air conditioner freezing up. Changing your air filters regularly is a must. Air filters often collect dust and germs circulating the air. So, cleaning or changing these filters is very important to keep the air clean, and it makes sure the performance of your air conditioner is good. However, how frequently you need to change your air filters depends on how often you keep the windows of your house open.
- Check and be sure your blower fan is working: blower fans are not working correctly, which is a common reason behind your air conditioner not working correctly. A blower fan not working makes it incredibly hard for your air conditioner to work correctly. The air conditioner freezes up when the blower fan isn’t blowing the cool air fast enough. The only way to make sure the blower fan is working correctly is by hiring an HVAC technician to look at your air conditioner.
- Make sure your vents are okay: You can avoid a frozen air conditioner by making sure your vents are okay.
These are some tactics you can use to prevent your air conditioner from freezing up.
How To Fix A Frozen Air Conditioner?
Fixing a frozen air conditioner can be challenging. There are a few tactics to fix a frozen air conditioner. These tactics are:
- Shut down the power of your air conditioner: the best way to fix a frozen air conditioner is to let the ice melt. The best tactic to make the ice melt is to shut down the power of your air conditioner.
- Pour warm water on your frozen air conditioner: this is not a conventional way to get your frozen air conditioner fixed. However, it is one of the easiest ways. By pouring warm water on your frozen air conditioner, you are helping the ice melt faster.
- Get the ducts of your air conditioner fixed: a collapsed duct can cause your air conditioner to freeze. So, by repairing that frozen duct, you can also fix your problem.
- Check refrigerant levels: low refrigerant levels can cause your air conditioner to freeze up. By checking and refilling refrigerant, you can fix your frozen air conditioner.
- Call a technician: Sometimes, home remedies don’t work anymore when a situation occurs. The best approach is to call a professional technician and ask for help.
These are the best ways to fix a frozen air conditioner. However, while trying any of these ways, you might end up ruining your air conditioner altogether. So, if that does happen, the best approach would be to buy a new air conditioner.
What To Do If There’s Ice On The Outdoor Unit Of Your Air-Conditioner?
There might be times when you notice that your air conditioner is blowing warm air instead of a soothing cool breeze. When this problem occurs you will also notice that there’s ice forming on the outdoor unit of your air conditioner.
If this does occur the first thing you need to do Is stop expecting your air conditioner to provide cool air for the moment and just turn off the thermostat. By turning off the thermostat you are also turning the compressor off. Shutting down the compressor will allow the cool freon/ puron gas to stop getting colder.
While keeping the air conditioner off, you have to keep the fan of the air conditioner on. By keeping the fan on you are promoting air flow which helps melt the ice and reduces the problem.
After taking these steps all you have to do is call an experienced HVAC technician. This is an incredibly risky situation. If this issue isn’t solved right away it can cause permanent damage to your air conditioning system.
Read more: Where Are The Drain Holes On A Window Air Conditioner?
Can A Frozen Air Conditioner Fix Itself?
Frozen air conditioners can not fix themselves. Most people assume that having a frozen air conditioner is good. What they don’t realize is how it’s not cooling the air surrounding it like it’s supposed to do. So, this is a problem that requires immediate attention if you wish to avoid further problems.
Can A Frozen Air Conditioner Cause A Fire?
A frozen air conditioner can cause a fire. Air Conditioners are used daily in many households. However, very few people keep an eye on maintaining it. Most of the time we don’t even notice that our air conditioner is frozen.
Frozen Air Conditioners have to work a lot harder than we think. Most of the time frozen air conditioners are overworked and overheated. These overworked and overheated air conditioners are fire hazards.
However, a fire can easily be prevented by doing proper maintenance. Proper maintenance is crucial when it comes to the health of air conditioners. Keeping an eye out for a frozen is air conditioner can prevent many accidents from occurring.
Conclusion
The question was,”Can I Pour Hot Water On a Frozen Air Conditioner?” My answer is yes you can pour hot water on your frozen air conditioner. But you have to take precautions and make sure a disastrous situation doesn’t occur. If something goes wrong while trying this method then the best approach will be to contact an HVAC technician and ask for help. If the HVAC technician is unavailable then you can turn your air conditioner off and wait till the technician is there to help you tackle the situation at hand.
