Last night I realized my AC stopped working. I turned the thermostat to 74 degrees and by the time I woke up the house temperature was 80 degrees. My home has a single Carrier compressor (obviously outside). The air handler, evaporator coil and blower are upstairs in the attic.
I spent the day troubleshooting and figured out a few things:
- The refrigerant-filled tubes that come out of the compressor unit and into the house had ice around them, but right outside the compressor case and right before entering the house (see 2 pictures below).
- The condenser seems to be working OK as I can see some water on it (see picture).
- On the thermostat, when the system is off and the fan is on no air comes out of the registers (is my blower broken?). Every 5 minutes the attic makes a loud noise for about 10 seconds, a motor noise. I could smell burnt in my bedroom for a few minutes as well.
- Return vent filters were replaced 3 weeks ago.
- I cannot open the evaporator coils as the casing seems to be "glued" somehow with sparkling (??) or some sort of tape (see picture with red arrows).
- There is a tube coming out of the furnace in the attic with some green liquid spill around it. I'm assuming it's the refrigerant liquid. Is this normal or is there a leak going on?
- After speaking to an AC repair guy over the phone, he thinks the blower is broken. That makes sense and would explain the loud noise (blower trying to work) + the "burnt" smell + the fact that there is no air coming out of the registers even when the fan is set to "On" on the thermostat.
Any thoughts will be much appreciated.
Best Answer
The AC coil in your ductwork is freezing due to insufficient airflow across the coil. The coil needs to transfer heat by having airflow across it. If there is no airflow the coil freezes; hence, the ice. The coil is either too dirty for sufficient air to pass through or the fan blowing air isn't working anymore.
Thanks, Tom