Typically with frosted units, you’re dealing with either a poor airflow issue, or a low refrigerant (freon) situation.

First, check the condition of your filter. Change it if it’s over a month old, whether dirty or not. Dirty filters are the #1 creator of service calls in the summertime. After, defrost the unit by running the fan only, with cooling and heating turned off. It should only take an hour and a half to melt all the ice on the evaporator coil. You can now turn your unit back on. If the issue disappears, there’s no need for a service call.

If the issue persists, or the filter was changed less than a month ago: likely you’re facing a leak in the system and the freon levels have reached a critically low point. Unfortunately there’s nothing you as a homeowner can legally do to remedy this without calling a service technician, (hopefully us!).

We get this a lot. This can be caused by several factors involving the high-voltage side of the equipment, so we can’t give any advice on how to safely address this yourself. The upside is, the diagnosis is quick and generally small electrical issues such as this can be repaired the same day.

Generally this problem rears its head after an HVAC system is replaced, but is not limited to that scenario.

-Oversized equipment will short-cycle, meaning it does not run long enough to remove moisture from the home. There are a few tricks to improve the situation, but they are band-aids at best. A best-practice as an HVAC professional, is to run what’s called a Manual J Load Calculation on the home to know exactly what size equipment it needs before anything gets replaced. If the equipment is less than a year old, contact the installing contractor and request a copy of the Manual J.

-Equipment with low freon will sometimes produce a symptom of poor dehumidification.

-If the home has recently been upgraded with new insulation or windows, your equipment may now be short-cycling due to less heat infiltration it has to contend with.

That’s frustrating. Breakers and fuses are designed to limit the amount of power the equipment uses, so it doesn’t self-destruct. DON’T bypass these safety measures or attempt to install one that is a different size or type.

A tripping circuit is usually an indicator that a motor is failing, or a wire is shorting out on something. You can look for scorch marks around the equipment, but don’t touch anything metallic; electric shock can be fatal.

This could be something easy, or something difficult. Let’s walk you though what you can do yourself.

First, make sure the air conditioning breakers are on. If the power is off or tripped, it is a symptom of something bigger. See the tip previous to this one.

Second, if the unit is easily accessible, look at the plastic drain line and check if any water is overflowing around your unit. Some systems have overflow safety devices to prevent water damage in the home by shutting off the thermostat. You may need to flush out debris in the water trap.

We hear you. Start by changing your filter, if you haven’t done so this month.

If you have a smart thermostat, check to see if any energy saving settings are turned on- the city can request your thermostat be set into a mode that runs the unit less to reduce stress on the utility.

Next, if the outdoor equipment coils are accessible, use a water hose and gently rise them. Look for any ice that has formed inside or outside of the unit; this is a sign of airflow and low freon issues. Listen for any unusual noises if the equipment is still running- a video helps us a lot during our diagnosis!