To effectively cool a room, a central air conditioner needs to suck in air from a home. It usually relies on the air handler to do this. This, and the fact that the air handler is also responsible for pushing the air through the air ducts and into a home, makes air handler maintenance important.

One of the main consequences of poor air handler maintenance is coil icing. Here is what you should know about the relationship between poor air handler maintenance and coil icing and what you can do to keep your air conditioner coils ice-free.

Poor air handler maintenance and restricted air-pulling capacity

When dirt accumulates on the fan blades of an air conditioning system, they become heavier. This increases the effective load that the fan's motor has to handle. It reduces the efficiency of the motor, something that then leads to a reduction in the capacity of the system to pull in air.  Dirt accumulation can also have the same effect on its air-pulling capacity by simply reducing the blade's cupping.

Dirt can also settle on the rotating parts of the air handler. This will reduce the effectiveness of any lubricant within the system, something that will then reduce the effectiveness with which the air handler operates. Worm-out bearings, bent air handler fan blades and an overheated motor can also have the same effect.

Restricted air-pulling capacity and coil icing

With the ability of the air handling system to suck in air into the system restricted, the amount of warm air that becomes available at the evaporator coil area will be limited. This will create an imbalance between the rate at which the refrigerant absorbs heat and the rate at which the system delivers warm air to this area. This imbalance leads to an extreme drop in temperature that then causes the freezing of any moisture available in the passing air. And since the formed ice insulates the coils, it usually causes a drop in the overall cooling capacity of the air conditioning system.

To prevent coil icing and its effect on the performance on an air conditioning system, regular cleaning of your air handler is recommended. Simply cleaning the fan's blades with a wet rag will prevent the devastating effects that dirt accumulation has on the air handler. You should also inspect the air handler and make sure that any bent blades are straightened and blown bearings are replaced. Doing this will restore the air handler's ability to pull in air, something that will then prevent airflow-related coil icing.

Talk to a professional, such as Thermotech Inc for more information.