Any HVAC guys out there? I could use your help

General Lee · 10-04-05, 08:17

About 3 weeks ago I went to change my Air filter in my indoor air handler (I have a heat pump) I noticed the old filter was soaked with water. The filter lays horizontal underneath my evaporator coil. Well, water was dripping pre-maturely as it ran down the coil ( which is mounted on a slant BTW) and dripping on the air filter. Condensation pump works just fine. So I have a tech come out and he cleans the coil and calls it a day. Problem not fixed. Another tech comes out cleans the coil again and services my system. He said my system is slightly over charged with freon and lets out a little as he takes his guages off. Well the next day my new air filter is wet again as water is still dripping pre-maturely off the coil and in some areas is not running all the way down the the drain pan.

The weather has been cooler for the past week so I have not been using the AC. Well today was a little warm so I turn on the AC and experience the same problem, except I notice the copper lines coming in and out of the indoor evaporator coil are iced over. Not frosted over, ICED! I know this is not normal but could it be possible the system was working a little harder since it had to cool the house from not being on for a few days or what? Why all of a sudden the lines are iced over?

Also will this affect my heating operation as the weather gets colder? Any help and advice would be appreciated.

Setec Astronomy · 10-04-05, 08:23

Sounds like an expansion valve problem, if your evaporator is icing. This should show up as a pressure problem, which it sounds like your one tech found ("too much freon"), but misunderstood. How old is this unit?

General Lee · 10-04-05, 08:35

The unit is 12 years old. When I had the system serviced 2 years ago I had a freon leak repaired and re-chatged. System was fine up until the water dripping. Now that the tech let out some freon because he said it was overcharged..... I'm getting iced over coil lines??? I've paid the HVAC company twice now to come out and the problem is not fixed and now I seem to have another problem on my hands.

Gears · 10-05-05, 03:42

In normal operation water should never drip off the coil it should drain down the fins to a pan at the bottom of the coil and then to the condensate pump. My guess is the drain is either totally of partially clogged and the overflow is wetting your filter. The airflow will pick up the excess water in the drain pan and lift it up over the edge or onto the coil. Dump water into the drain pad to see if it has a fast drain to the condensate pump. Do you have a P trap on the drain line? Without a trap the water may not drain right, or sometime people forget to put the cap back on the P trap clean out. This causes the same problem as no trap.
The icing of lines is caused by a low charge. If the unit was ok for the past 2 years I don't think it could have developed an over charge condition now.

Setec Astronomy · 10-05-05, 04:29

Er...sounds like Gears is a little more on top of this than me...General Lee, make sure, after you blow out your drain line, you call your HVAC service place and read them the riot act about not finding that and bleeding out your freon instead! Make sure they come back to top it off for free.

General Lee · 10-05-05, 01:33

Thanks for the replies,I can tell you the drain pan and condensation pump are fine. I keep up on those and make sure they are clean and draining properly. I called my HVAC comp. and they are coming out Friday to check the freon level for free, and go from there. When it was charged 2 years ago it may have been overcharged then, and when *some* was let out last week the Big Boss said one of the valves may not have closed completely and caused a small leak. I guess we will see on Friday.

Rollman · 10-11-05, 04:07

Any update on this ?

General Lee · 10-12-05, 01:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rollman

Any update on this ?

Well, the AC system was undercharged with freon so he topped it off. The tech felt that was a very good reason why I was dripping the excess water. The system was overworking itself and causing excess condensation that the coil couldn't drain it off properly. So far no problems but I do need to check and see if I'm dripping water again, its been a couple days since I checked and I haven't been using the AC as much either.

So, I either have a freon leak, or when the last tech was out he let out too much freon as he said I was overcharged with freon. We shall see when I use the system for heat, I should know if I have a leak or not by then.

Its aggravating I know that