If your air conditioner is constantly freezing up, it may be time for a maintenance check as it can permanently damage your unit.
Many people complain about their air conditioners freezing. There may be numerous reasons why this happens. There could be a constant leakage due to low refrigerant or Freon levels in the unit.
Due to this the coil starts to become very cold and sometimes ice starts forming on it. The ice acts as an insulator and it keeps growing gradually and there comes a time when it becomes a block of solid rock ice. If you keep running the unit in this condition it may damage the compressor of your air conditioner. The refrigerant levels should be checked once in a while to avoid such problem.
You can also turn off the compressor and let the fan run in order to melt the ice.
Another important tip to prevent freezing is that you should also make sure that the evaporator coil has a proper place to drain. Usually a hose or pipe is attached for draining. If the problem gets worse you must call for a repairman to find exactly where the leakage is and fix the problem.
One reason for the ice formation could be if the coil filter or the blower wheel in the furnace which needs to be kept clean for efficient cooling, becomes dirty.
A dirty filter restricts air flow which drops the cooling point of the coil below freezing point. All the vents should be frequently checked and kept clean. Changing the filters frequently is also a solution to avoid air conditioner from freezing. Using ducts that are too small for your unit can also be one of the reasons for the unit to freeze. Air conditioners may not operate well if the temperature at night gets too low.
Freeze up may occur in such cases also. Since outdoor temperature cannot be controlled, a temperature controlling device can be installed to make sure the unit works fine.