{"id":1465,"date":"2021-08-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2021-08-23T12:50:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T16:50:24","slug":"will-ac-freeze-if-lower-thermostat-too-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/air-conditioning-service\/will-ac-freeze-if-lower-thermostat-too-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Will My AC Freeze If I Lower the Thermostat Too Far?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ice-on-an-ac\"You may have heard about an air conditioner\u2019s indoor coil freezing over because someone lowered the thermostat too far. This may sound a bit fanciful: after all, the lowest setting on most thermostats is 60\u00b0F, which is definitely far above freezing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s truth to this\u2014an air conditioner <\/span>can <\/span><\/i>suffer from coil-freeze with the thermostat lowered too far. It\u2019s more likely to occur at higher altitudes, such as more than 5,000 feet above sea level. Colorado Springs is 6,035 feet above sea level, so the danger of a frozen coil is extremely real for our ACs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if your AC doesn\u2019t freeze up because of a low thermostat setting, you still shouldn\u2019t lower the thermostat too far because it creates other problems for an AC leading to <\/span>air conditioning repair in Monument, CO<\/span><\/a> and high costs to run the system.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t lower the thermostat below 72\u00b0F<\/b><\/h3>\n

One of the major pieces of advice you\u2019ll hear about thermostat settings is not to lower the thermostat below 68\u00b0F when cooling a house, no matter the heat hourside. Well, the same way we have to adjust baking temperatures at higher altitudes, we also have to adjust thermostat setting recommendations. So this is a special warning that applies to us here in Colorado Springs: don\u2019t set the thermostat lower than 72\u00b0F when running the AC.<\/span><\/p>\n

The higher altitude creates a different situation for an air conditioner so that it\u2019s easier for the evaporator coil to freeze over. At sea level, it\u2019s unlikely for an AC to suffer coil-freeze just because of a low thermostat setting. Up here, going below 72\u00b0F on the thermostat puts an air conditioner at a high risk of a freeze-over, and that means the air conditioner will stop cooling the air, period.<\/span><\/p>\n

We recommend 78\u00b0F for the thermostat in hot weather<\/b><\/h3>\n

Honestly, you shouldn\u2019t need to lower the thermostat down to 72\u00b0F in the first place. Your air conditioner has a 20\u00b0 temperature differential, which means it can lower the indoor temperature 20\u00b0 from the outdoor temperature. So a setting of 78\u00b0F is within the AC\u2019s range even if it\u2019s 98\u00b0F outside, and that\u2019s a rare condition here. You\u2019ll find that 78\u00b0F is comfortable for most people, and it helps save energy for the air conditioner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The AC coil can freeze for other reasons<\/b><\/h3>\n

You may keep the thermostat set to coil-safe settings and <\/span>still <\/span><\/i>experience ice forming along the indoor coil. There are several other causes of the coil freezing, such as leaking refrigerant and a clogged air filter. A clogged air filter is something you can remedy on your own (although you may still wish to call our professionals to handle de-icing the coil). A refrigerant leak is a major problem that must have professional repairs or else the whole AC is in danger of breakdown. Just keep in mind that ice appearing on any part of the air conditioner is <\/span>not normal<\/span><\/i> and usually a signal the system requires professional service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Robbins Heating & Air Conditioning serves Colorado Springs and the Surrounding Areas. <\/b>Call us for AC service when you need it\u2014we offer 24\/7 emergency repairs.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may have heard about an air conditioner\u2019s indoor coil freezing over because someone lowered the thermostat too far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[70],"tags":[23,193],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1468,"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions\/1468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robbinsheating.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}