Ice on the coil?

mommucked

mommucked

Endeavoring to persevere
Joined
Sep 26, 2011
Location
Rural Apex n.c.
Recently had the new (6 mo. old) elec. heatpump looked at because the outdoor unit started making a god awefull noise as it went into defrost. Tech added some refrig. that was a little low and the buzzing is now much quieter. Late last night I noticed a 4-5" tall ring of ice, not frost all the way around the outside of the coil about 2/3s up the side where the piping comes and goes from the coil and watched the frost melt off the rest of the coil in less than a minute. The ice is now thick and hard and appears to be growing. I also see Ice 1+"s thick all around the tank and some of the pipeing to and from it and the compressor, What would cause this? Tech. coming soon to check it and just want to be informed before he arrives.
 
Thanks for the replies, he checked everything, intake/out temps, on the air handler, pressure, etc. and said all was good w the functioning and pressure was right and steady. There was an ice covered limb from a baybush hanging over the top of the unit lastnight and I removed the entire bush last night. He said that was probly the problem and the ice had'nt had a chance to melt because of the weather. I'm watching it carefully for more ice.
 
I'm by no means a heat pump specialist but I think he filled you full of BS. Even if it froze from not being able to exhaust last night it should have defrosted by this afternoon unless it never reversed and defrosted for some reason. Hard to believe the pressures were right w/ it frozen.
Did he check it w/ it frozen still?
 
When I called this morning, they told me to turn it off so the ice would'nt damage the fins and not be there when the tech arrived to troubleshoot. The coil was un-iced when he arrived, some was still on the tank inside the unit.
 
No, I just now heard it switch to defrost and went to look 10 seconds later, there is no frost/ice at all on the coil or anywhere inside the unit and thanks again for all replies. I did take pictures of the ice before I shut it off to show the tech and we have about 6 more months of free service and parts w our warranty.
 
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in heat mode, you are essentially running a/c outside, when temps are right it will freeze, its the defrost board and sensors job to thaw it out, yea it makes a racket going into defrost, chances are it was freezing it faster than it could thaw it, had several do it during the snow, heat was running non-stop and as it melted the middle the water froze before it could hit the ground, some were low pressure caused, and some were caused by bad board or sensor, when he checked the pressures did he hook it up to the normal lines out side the unit? if so he didnt get the most accurate set of readings, hope its doing good for you now, if not thought i could lend a hand
 
Thanks for the offer, haven't had anymore issues since I removed the Baybush branch from above the unit and the terrible,loud buzzing that resonated for 2 minutes when it defrosted is now much quieter and only lasts seconds as it comes on then it's just a hum. Both the techs added refridgerent and used the ports on the outside unit. The last guy also looked inside the airhandler and checked some things in there w a meter, he also checked the temp of the intake and a duct and said the temps indicated it was working fine. I'm concerned there may be a leak, but will have to wait and see. We still have 6 monts of free mantainence and 6 years on parts.
 
about 10 years back, my folk's unit lost freon...it was about 5 years old at the time. This was a single unit, sized for an about 4k house. Topped it off, it leaked back down. Checked it over, somewhere inside a part was installed using a sheet rock screw about 2" long....it had gone thru a panel and into a freon line. It had finally rusted enough to break the seal and start leaking This unit had never been apart to be worked on...just a service and inspection every couple of years...so it had to be some dumbass at the factory did it. I wouldn't think they'd had sheet rock screws laying around...bet he hated his job and did some crap on his last day. All was good, Trane replaced the whole shebang.
 
boatedwagon said:
in heat mode, you are essentially running a/c outside, when temps are right it will freeze, its the defrost board and sensors job to thaw it out, yea it makes a racket going into defrost, chances are it was freezing it faster than it could thaw it, had several do it during the snow, heat was running non-stop and as it melted the middle the water froze before it could hit the ground, some were low pressure caused, and some were caused by bad board or sensor, when he checked the pressures did he hook it up to the normal lines out side the unit? if so he didnt get the most accurate set of readings, hope its doing good for you now, if not thought i could lend a hand
Click to expand...

update....it was iced up again in the morning when the bad ice storm hit though we had very little ice here on the trees/deck etc. Ice coated the rim of the fan opening and icicles hung down and bent one of the fan blades. I heard the fan grinding on the ice, but still spinning and quickly busted the ice off when the unit shut off. Their was ice, not frost coating about all the internal piping and expansion tank. I also watched it defrost and it only melted a few inches of the thick frost from the bottom of the coil and it seems only defrosts for about 2 mins and not long enough to thaw the coil. I took pics and called them. They came out last Fri. and moved a sensor on the coil from near the bottom of the coil to the area where the ring of ice was forming on the coil (where the in and out pipes are arranged side by side) and a manager explained on the phone before the tech arrived he suspected the sensor was in the wrong location from the factory. Tech also said he set it to defrost more often? Does this sound like an accurate assessment and fix of the problem? I've heard that defrost mode is hard on the compressor and wonder if frequent defrosting will shorten it's lifespan.
 
Mine was doing similar...
About March last year, it froze up once, but the temps warmed and had no issues until time to flip to AC... Nothing but hot air, fan ran all the time.
Replaced a small the fan controller (nada), finally a $5 thermistor (goodness), but no cooling.
Had an old friend look at it, but he couldn't determine why it wasn't cooling... flipped the breaker & left it off ALL SUMMER (sucked, but was hard to argue with <$50 electric bills)
Since it appeared to "heat" alright, when the temps got too cool, I turned it back on and was fine until it got below freezing... stood in frog strangler with a hose to defrost
Called a local outfit that came highly recommended the NEXT DAY, they were here 45 minutes, told me it was the "TXV" (thermal expansion valve - partly responsible for the reversing that keeps the coil defrosted)
Came back 2 days later, replaced the valve (mounts on the condenser inside), $70 part/$700 labor plus evacuate/pressure test using "something" cheap-inert/refilling refrigerant...
ZERO issues since and WILL be running the AC in the summer :D
 
It all seems good now. The only ice I saw w the last round of cold nights was on the very bottom of the expansion tank and only saw light frost on some internal piping and the coil.
 
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