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AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - mound - 08-18-2021
Just settling into a new house, AC is cranking..
I noticed a row of water on the floor in the basement mechanicals room:
[attachment=37220]
There's a pipe extending out of the air handler which has some sort of black foam insulation surrounding it, as well as a thinner cooper pipe that follows along side it (the two are strapped together)
At various points along the pipe, and at the air handler, there are actually chunks of snow/ice forming and further away from the handler, water is dripping.. Obviously condensation, which tells me this pipe isn't property insulated.. What's the right way to fix this?
[attachment=37221]
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RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - jteneyck - 08-18-2021
No expert here, but I'd check to make sure the air handler isn't icing up, too. If it is then something's wrong. Could be a really dirty filter, a fan failure, a problem with the T/P valve, or a problem with the Freon charge. If it's more than a dirty filter it's time to call in the experts.
If the air handler isn't iced up then maybe the basement RH is just super high. If there's no AC down there then it's time for a dehumidifier. I doubt this is the problem though.
John
RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - mound - 08-18-2021
(08-18-2021, 09:18 AM)jteneyck Wrote: No expert here, but I'd check to make sure the air handler isn't icing up, too. If it is then something's wrong. Could be a really dirty filter, a fan failure, a problem with the T/P valve, or a problem with the Freon charge. If it's more than a dirty filter it's time to call in the experts.
If the air handler isn't iced up then maybe the basement RH is just super high. If there's no AC down there then it's time for a dehumidifier. I doubt this is the problem though.
John
Yah I'll call the local HVAC folks to come service it, no idea when it was done last, but the AC and Furnace are all only about 4yrs old.
It is very humid in the basement, even with the dehumidifier running.
RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - blackhat - 08-18-2021
That is not a simple condensation problem. It’s either an airflow problem, a refrigerant problem or both. Shut it off. It needs to defrost before a tech can properly diagnose the issue.
RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - MstrCarpenter - 08-18-2021
(08-18-2021, 01:30 PM)blackhat Wrote: That is not a simple condensation problem. It’s either an airflow problem, a refrigerant problem or both. Shut it off. It needs to defrost before a tech can properly diagnose the issue.
Excellent reply. I would have said the same thing with a lot more words.
RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - Cooler - 08-19-2021
When that happened to me, they told me I was low on freon (so that tells you it was a long time ago). It seemed to fix the issue though. (But for the life of me, it made no sense at all.)
RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - mound - 08-19-2021
(08-19-2021, 02:43 PM)Cooler Wrote: When that happened to me, they told me I was low on freon (so that tells you it was a long time ago). It seemed to fix the issue though. (But for the life of me, it made no sense at all.)
The woman at the HVAC company mentioned to me that's likely the issue. Though, I told her the AC seems to be working quite well.
Gonna have the experts look the whole system over.
RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - Gary G™ - 08-20-2021
We had a unit do this and it was a defective coil causing the freezing.
Warranty covered the coil.
Hopefully, this isn’t your issue.
RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - mound - 08-21-2021
So turns out the problem was simply the filter. Completely caked over & packed full of.... sawdust! just had the whole house of floors re-sanded and finished.. I swore the guy told me that he replaced the filter for me when he was done (there was a spare down there already) but apparently he forgot or I mis-understood, and it hadn't been done.
I let the whole thing defrost, replaced the filter, and installed a new dehumidifier.. Then flipped it back on and it's been running well for a while now, no signs of new frost anywhere.
Service folks still coming out next week to do routine maintenance and check refrigerant levels.
RE: AC pipes are forming ice, freezing and dripping on basement floor - jteneyck - 08-21-2021
Glad that was all it was. Good to have the service folks check it out completely though.
John