My 5 year old central AC in house froze up last night, any help?

Question

I noticed it when I came home last night. Fan was turning on outside but inside blower fan was barely blowing any air. I assume it was froze.... I changed the filter which was very dirty and I shut off unit completely overnight. Turned it on this morning and blower seems to be working again....My filters have been this dirty before and I change them every 3 months so what could have caused it to freeze up? When I opened up the door to main board there are also two filters stuck to the sides of the blower unit. They look like permanent filters? They look pretty dirty...Is this normal? Do I need to have a tech look at unit. I'm just trying to get advice before I spend the money on service. Thanks.

Answer 1

Definitely clean as much as possible and don't run it right away.  However, since it's 5 years old, I wouldn't take the chance and would get it looked at just in case, you don;t want to replace the whole system because you didn't have it taken care of early on.

If you are in the NJ area, try Browns Heating & Cooling.  They are priced well, are reliable, and have a good guarantee policy.

Good luck!

Answer 2

clean filters are a good start but it sounds like some of the inside blower compartments fiberglass came loose from the sides of your unit blocking some air flow not knowing what type of unit you have you might also have blockage on your coils  check those also for air flow if their bad you should also have those cleaned  call your service for that they can do a lot better job at it   also a unit freezing up can be a sign of low freon   at 5yrs old you should have it checked out  

Answer 3

Those "filters" stuck to the sides is probably just the insulation for the plenum which now required on most furnaces. It can be cleaned but is NOT to be removed. It is fixed to the side.  

Most often freezing is an airflow issue. The amount of humidity and how much you are running it could influence why it did it now and not before.

If your filters were not all that bad your coils could be getting dirty restricting airflow or your blower wheel is dirty and not moving as much air.

Also make sure you have all your vents open. Check, don't assume.

Sometimes if they are in the floor we put furniture over them, shut off ones near plants, close off rooms and the like. I have seen where half of all the vents were closed in a house and then they call me to ask why they are having problems. Go figure.

Good Luck.

Answer 4

check filter

Answer 5

Any time your filters plug up this can happen. As far as the side filters they also need cleaned. There should be a way to get them out with out calling a repair man.

Answer 6

It might just need to be charged If the pipes on the outside of the unit are white then it's frozen. We had a similar problem just a couple weeks ago. Luckily, my dad is a licensed in AC so he just charged it back up (added freeon). Check your fasteners out there to make sure they are tight.