Air conditioner not blowing hard

[Lph008]

I have central air and boiler for heating. My central air wasn't blowing as hard and not cooling the house. I removed the cover on the air handler and the blower was running but the coil was iced over. I let it thaw for a day but it still isn't blowing hard. Put a new capacitor in and no change.
So here's the weird part. Now when I remove the panel to access the coil and blower, the air blows like it should out of the vents when the access panel is off. When I put it back on it restricts airflow???

Any help is appreciated. We hooked a gauge up and the redrigerant system is holding pressure

 

[Lph008]

I have central air and boiler for heating. My central air wasn't blowing as hard and not cooling the house. I removed the cover on the air handler and the blower was running but the coil was iced over. I let it thaw for a day but it still isn't blowing hard. Put a new capacitor in and no change.
So here's the weird part. Now when I remove the panel to access the coil and blower, the air blows like it should out of the vents when the access panel is off. When I put it back on it restricts airflow???

Any help is appreciated. We hooked a gauge up and the redrigerant system is holding pressure

I've checked all return vents. Filter is new. No major dust around blower either

 

[Dave Carney]

If the coil is iced over, the system probably low on refrigerant and therefore the coil is getting below freezing. When you take the panel off you just allowing air to go around the frozen coil. I don't know how hooking up a gauge can tell you it's holding pressure. Just because it has some pressure, doesn't mean it's not low. You need a technician.

 

[fitter30]

Blower wheel cups dirty? Ifso pull whole blower pull motor take housing outside clean with garden hose and dish soap or simple green. Coil could also be dirty and need to be cleaned. They make evaporator coil cleaner. Spray the cleaner on then spray clean water on it. Unit still could be short of refrigerate.

 

[nadogail]

Classic Symptoms of Poor Air Flow; possibly caused by dirty filters, obstructed ducting or loss of blower efficiency. Check the Refrigerant charge.

 

[CGarage]

Clean your condenser coil!!! I bet you can’t see through it!!!!
That is an annual maintenance item!

 

[Milton Shaw]

Sounds to me like the evaporator core is blocked from no or dirty filters. Need to clean the coil so it quits freezing and lets the air flow. Outside coil dirty would not have any effect on airflow inside, but if both are dirty clean both, and charge and pressures checked.

 

[American Locomotive]

Take the filter out and see how it goes. What kind of filter did you put in (size and type)?

 

[FredWanaker]

so if puling the cover off below the fan improves the flow thru the supply vents, then the return air has changed. I bought this house around 30 years ago. The HVAC was 12 years old and I put in escrow it needed to be inspected. Guy came out, serviced it, changed the filter and left. I moved in. One night I shined a flashlight into the return air to try to understand why the air flow was so weak, and what do I see? The original horsehair filter on the bottom of the air handler, totally caked in dirt was never removed when a filter was added at the inlet. Dumb. Pulled it out, problem solved. Added a larger return grill (wish I had gone larger) and later one in the back of the house too. So - get your flashlight out and start figuring out what is blocking the return air. I would start by removing the filter and seeing what happens. If the flow goes to normal then the filter is too restrictive. This house has a 3-ton air handler and 836 sq inches of filters. It is barely enough. 1000 sq inches would have been better, or even closer to 1440.