Dirty Air Filters Can Lead to Very Costly AC Repairs: What You Need to Know!

A common problem that many people have is ice forming on the coils inside of their central air conditioning system.

The most common culprit of this ice is a dirty air filter. Dirty air filters are bad enough in that they can cause your air conditioner not to operate a peak performance and they can also result in your air being dirtier in your home.

But if those aren't good enough reasons to get you to change your air filters more often, then maybe this reason is: Dirty air filters can cause the tubing in your evaporator coil to collapse. Sometimes they can even break.

The end result can be that you will need a new evaporator coil, or at minimum some costly repairs!

What happens is that the dirty air filters inhibit air flow, which results in evaporator coil temps dropping below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. For an air conditioner to work properly, the operating temperature must be above 32 degrees.

Here is what happens when your evaporator coils start icing up:

-Ice can accumulate so much that the evaporator coil tubing actually starts to 'collapse'. Sometimes it even breaks. That means costly repairs.

-Your air conditioning equipment ceases to operate in an efficient manner. Since things are running smoothly, your ac may have to stay on much longer to cool your home or office, thus your energy costs can dramatically rise.

-Finally, after the ice builds up, at some point it will have to melt. That means a huge potential for water damage. Not only can water damage hurt your unit, but sometimes the water overflows from the drain pan of your unit and ends up damaging your wall, floors, or ceilings (depending on where your air conditioner is located).

Whenever you become aware that your unit is icing up you need to take action fast. One thing that you can do is to set your thermostat higher than the current temperature in the room. This will cause the air conditioner to shut off, giving the ice that has formed a chance to melt.

And even better solution is to turn the unit fan on and allow it to run continuously - even though the cooling is off. This pushes warm air through the system, which will cause the ice to melt more quickly.

Depending on how severe your ice-up is, the ice should melt somewhere between 30 to 90 minutes. Now, change your filters!