Why Is My Heat Pump Freezing Up in Long Beach, MD?
Strange as it may be to imagine this happening during the summer, the heat pump in your Long Beach, MD, home can sometimes freeze up. Since this problem can grind your system’s operations to a halt, it’s important to understand why it happens. Here are a few reasons ice might form on your heat pump when it’s freezing up:
Airflow Issues
Without adequate levels of airflow, all aspects of your heat pump’s performance will decline. If enough air doesn’t move through the system and pass over its coils, it risks the coils freezing over. The two most common causes of poor airflow are dirty filters and a faulty blower motor.
If your system’s filters are dirty, they can trap condensation and moisture in your heat pump, which can freeze once its interior temperatures drop. If the blower motor fails and cannot power the system’s fans, the same thing may happen.
Refrigerant Leaks
Your heat pump uses refrigerant to transfer heat from one area to another. If leaks or blockages of any kind occur in the system’s refrigerant lines, ice may form on them. Without enough refrigerant in the coils, the rate and quantity of heat absorption will drop, possibly causing the system to freeze.
Dirty Evaporator Coils
The evaporator coils are among the parts of your heat pump that are most likely to freeze up. Normally, the refrigerant that sits in the coils should be able to absorb heat from the air that passes over them. However, if too much debris covers the coils, air won’t make sufficient contact with them, inhibiting the heat absorption process.
If the refrigerant in the coils cannot take in enough heat, temperatures will drop. This will create a condition for any stray condensation in the immediate area to freeze. Therefore, it’s important to periodically schedule maintenance services and let service technicians clean your coils.
Though it’s annoying to have ice appear inside your heat pump when it’s freezing up, the system has ways to handle this problem. Unfortunately, defrost mode fails to fix the issue sometimes. To thaw things out, call B.M.C. Clower Heating and Air Conditioning today to schedule the best heat pump services around Long Beach, MD.
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