[tiffanyannemari]

I am in AZ and its over 100 degrees today! My unit is not working properly. Earlier I noticed that the thermostat was set at 75 and it was 80 in my house. I took out the filter which was really dirty. There was some minor ice on some of the tubes. I have frozen the unit before by not cleaning the filter so I assummed that was it. I have had the blower running for about 2 hours now. It is still barely even blowing a tiny bit. There is not the large puddle of water I was expecting. There is no water from the little bit of ice that defrosted. Anything I can do myself.. . Clean the coils, etc?? I cannot afford a tech right now and am suffering in 90 degrees with my daughter. HELP!

[mygirlsdad77]

Okay, if your coil froze up due to a dirty filter, it may have frozen real thick. If this is the case, it can take many hours to completely thaw. I would start by leaving the unit off for a complete night ( I know, it sucks but may cure your problem, so worth a shot). If you turn it on in the morning and it starts to freeze up again, and little air flow when you first turn it on, the real job starts. There are three things that will need a good cleaning if you have little airflow right away. The first is the blower wheel. You will have to remove the blower assembly and then clean the blower wheel vains very well. Next, get in the compartment where the blower assembly whas mounted and look up. There you will see what looks like a radiator (this is your secondary heat exchanger, if your furnace is a high efficiency unit). Most likely you will see that it is dirty and in need of cleaning (a wire brush and shop vac work well here). Finally, you will have to gain access to the bottom side of the evap coil (sits on top of furnace) most likey by removing or cutting some duct work and sliding the coil out enough to get to the bottom side. This may require removing furnace venting, evap coil drain, etc (not usually an easy do it yourself job). Once you gain access to the bottom side of coil, clean it with a wire brush and shop vac (careful not to bend any fins, as they are quite soft) Reinstall everything and you should have great airflow once again. Once this is done, remember to check filters once a month and change as necessary to prevent this problem in the future. If you still have freezing up problems after that, you will definitely need to get a tech in there to check system charge, etc. Good luck, and please let me know how things work out.

PS. Try the overnight cure with new filter first. If that cures the problem, you have saved yourself a lot of work. Take care.