re: Larger copper line on my outside AC was frozen yesterday...advice?

That's great advice, dumbass!!!

Check the air filter first to be sure it is not restricting air flow across the evaporator. That can cause an evaporator to freeze over but not the likely problem. The problem (low line freeze) is low suction pressure returning from the evaporator caused by low discharge pressure being sent from the compressor to the evaporator because of low refrigerant charge in the system. R-22 will start to freeze up lines at about 30 psi on the low side downstream of the evaporator. A normal system runs at 75-80 psi depending on ambient temps outside. You need a couple of lbs. charge of R-22 which unfortunately these days costs about $100 lb. to be put in by a tech. You have a leak in the system, likely in the evaporator because it works in a corrosive environment in south Louisiana with the humidity. Just charge it first. It might take a year to leak down if its a small leak. If it leaks down fast you will have to just pay up and fix it. I've changed both of my evaporators in my R-22 units over the years.

Update: Just in case any of you guys were wondering...

AC tech came (friend of mine who's been doing this 10+ years, very knowledgeable). Below is a list of his troubleshoot and what he did.

1. First he went in the attic and looked in drain lines. Emergency (secondary drain line) was clear, but the main drain line was clogged up about 75%. He blew that line out really good about 4 times until it was all clear and draining good.

2. Checked out the attic unit duct work. The big return duct wasn't even tightened on. It was just slipped on and hanging there. He put some silicone to seal it and also a big tie wrap tight around it. While he had it off, he inspected the evap coil and said it was actually really clean and in good shape.

3. He noticed there were several spots on the plenum where they did a shitty job sealing the seams and also used some crappy aluminum tape. We pulled all the old tape off, cleaned the seams good with alcohol, and then applied some thicker commercial grade tape. No more air leaking after that.

4. Went to the outside unit and inspected the electrical. He noticed that the magnet/spring on the contactor was bad and told me that it was most likely getting stuck (there was some pitting on the round little circles) and probably wasn't shutting off the outside unit 100% of the time like it should be when the inside unit turns off. So he replaced the contactor with a new one.

5. Checked the freon level and he showed me on his gauges that it was about half of what it should have been. It was at 30 and should have been around 70-75. So he refilled it with R22 freon back up to around 70 (maybe 75). He also mentioned that I most likely have a leak in my evap coils since it was low on freon.

6. After filling it up with freon, he used a tube of stop leak and pushed it through the line with freon. Said that it may give me another year or two before having to do something (like changing out the coil or purchasing a new unit) that would require a good bit of money.

AC is running great now and has no problem getting very cold in the house, we've actually had to bump it up a few times to cut it off because it was getting too cold which never happened before.

Best thing about the whole situation (besides learning a good bit from him) was that he did all of this (which was about an 1.5-2 hours of work) all for the low price of...$125!

quote:

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For his services and R-22...? You should be kissing his arse, or taking him to lunch....

Must be a really good friend...

So why the hell were you on TD asking for A/C advice when you know this guy...?

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Yes lol...and he came out on the weekend! I asked because I usually try to troubleshoot and do things myself before I call someone.