Doesn’t matter what you call it, just make sure it happens!
What is De-frost / De-Ice?
For an air conditioning unit to work efficiently, the unit needs to protect itself from temperature fluctuations, and one of the ways it does this, is by running ‘DEFROST’ mode.
Why is my air conditioner blowing cold air on ‘HEAT’ setting?
Don’t worry, this is perfectly normal and a sign that your air conditioner is working as it should.
The cold air you may feel for approximately 15-30 minutes, blowing through your ducted vents is all part of the ‘DEFROST’ mode on your air-conditioning unit.
What does air conditioner defrost mode mean?
Your reverse cycle air conditioner works by pumping warm air into your building and extracting cold air from the building interior. It does this via your ducts and pumps the cold air outdoors through the coil and fan, located outside.
As you can imagine, all this movement of cold air through your exterior coils, can chill it down to a frosty temperature. And of course, we all know what happens when water vapour in the air mixes with extremely low temperatures; Ice.
After a while of running, your reverse cycle system runs the risk of building up ice on the outside coil, and when this happens, suddenly your air conditioner could potentially seize up and stop working altogether.
As you can see from the image above, this is what is looks like when you get a build-up of ice on the coil.
How does my unit know when to run defrost mode?
Air conditioning units are very smart, and they will constantly monitor the temperature of the outside coil. When the unit identifies that the coil is starting to get to freezing temperatures, it will temporarily flick over into defrost mode, to allow the coil to warm up, and melt any ice crystals that may have begun to form.
The downside to this is that you may feel slightly cooler air flowing through your vents for approximately 15 – 30 minutes. However, once this process is complete, your unit will kick back into ‘HEAT’ mode, and you will soon feel warm air once again flowing through your ducts.
How do I stop the flow of cold air when my reverse cycle unit is in defrost mode?
Feeling cold air when the unit is in de-ice or defrost mode, is due to the fan still operating during the defrost mode. This happens when you have manually set the fan to run.
By turning your fan to ‘AUTO’, this will allow the unit to control the fan and automatically stop the fan while the defrost mode is operating, and then turn it back on again as soon as it goes back into ‘HEAT’ mode.
What we do
The team at Chatfield OzCool are also available to assist with cooling and refrigeration equipment service and repairs, and we are happy to answer any questions you may have.
If you would like to find out how we could help you, please give the team at Chatfield OzCool a call on 1300 361 186.