Why is my window air conditioner freezing up?

[Holly_Hobby]

It's only a year old. Granted, I keep my house like a meat locker, and it's really hot this week, in the 90's, but shouldn't it last longer than a year? It's just out of warranty. I clean the filter once/week, and the coils aren't dirty.

Thank you!

[Kingshakabobo]

1. Low refrigerant will cause the lines to freeze up.

So will dirty coils but that doesn't sound likely at one year old.

Until you can get it checked you should let it thaw completely and or turn it down a bit once it DOES thaw. Running it while frozen can damage it.

[Holly_Hobby]

2. Thanks for the reply

I don't know what it is with me and air conditioners, but I seem to go through them every other year. I do like it cold. I always buy the proper size for the room, so I don't know why mine don't last very long. I always buy brand names, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore.

[yy4me]

3. You may have done what we did when we put a window

window unit in. We now know is necessary to have the unit tilt slightly down(the outside) so that the condensation drips outside from the rear of the unit. It may be necessary to put the front(inside) on some very thin shim, perhaps a ruler or thin strip of wood under the spot where it rests on the sill. This shim causes tilting back of the unit which will allow the condensation to drip off, not build up around the coils. It should not be level, a quarter of an inch would be enough.

The same thing happened to use several years ago with a new unit we bought. I called the store to say that I thought the unit was defective and the owner said to tilt it back. Worked perfectly from the minute we did as he said.

[Holly_Hobby]

4. Thanks for your reply

We have a tilt on it. But the entire bottom of the metal case it sits in was sitting in water. The water covered half of the fan.

My husband drilled an extra hole in the bottom for more drainage, but there's no difference, even after all the water drained out. It's still freezing up when set below 67 degrees. I'm going to buy a new one tomorrow. We can have it looked at over the winter, it's going to be too hot here next week to wait for repair. I have breathing and circulatory problems, so I can't be without it.

Thanks again.

[TygrBright]

5. "When set below 67 degrees"....

...that could be your problem. We stayed in a hotel in Bisbee, AZ one time and had the A/C freeze up on us. IT was frozen, ice and everything, but no cool air coming out--the room was hot! The hotel guy said it was because it had been set too cold and running too long. The housekeeping staff were supposed to shut it off after checkout, and then turn it back on to 70 degrees two hours before checkin, but they forgot.

They were nice and comped us a lovely dinner to get us out of the room for a few hours while the A/C was shut off and warmed back up to room temp. It was a bit warm when we first got back but when we set it for 72 (as cool as I'm comfortable with) it came right on like a lamb and cooled things down nicely all night.

Depending on your model/make, you may be asking too much of it setting it that low trying to cool the particular space it's in. Try letting it warm completely up to ambient temperature and dry out, then turn it on to 68 or 70 and see what happens.

helpfully,
Bright

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. If the compressor doesn't get enough time to cycle on and off, it can freeze the coils

And the condensation you're getting could be forming on the evaporator coil (which is normal), and is causing an air flow problem.

If you live where there's a lot of humidity, some newer more energy efficient models have a very dense evaporator coil which could possibly get restricted by moisture on very humid days.

Am assuming the window unit you have is correctly sized for the space (sq. footage) you are cooling...?
(too big for the actual living space can cause freeze up)

Some troubleshoot info here:
http://searchwarp.com/swa81426.htm


Take a look here, too:
http://www.repairclinic.com/0088_16_1.asp

Site has trouble shoot links, and a guy you can email with your questions