I moved into this condo a year ago. During the winter the heat (what I assume is a heat pump) was blowing cool air. When I flipped the thermostat up to where it was auxiliary, it would blow hot air. Now comes summer and it's hot. I turn on the central air, and it's blowing cool air, but a very little amount (no force) and it's not all that cold. I have the heating/air conditioning guy come out one week ago today. He never opened the unit, just flipped the circuit breakers and added freon. Worked like a charm! Only now I fear I have a bigger issue.

1. When I switch the thermostat to OFF (not auto), the pipes get super hot. It also sounds like it's constantly working, and even vibrates through the duct work in cycles. This scares me.

2. When I switch the thermostat to Auto / Cool, but it's not actually at a temperature where it needs to turn on, it is still always working (not running or blowing air, just working). During this time where it is not blowing air, a THICK layer of frost builds up on those pipes that were HOT when it was off.

3. The minute the AC turns on, that frosty/ice thing on the pipes melts off, which I feel is dangerous since it melts down the machine.

I feel like I can't win here. I can't shut the machine OFF, in fear it will explode, LOL! And when I leave it on AUTO, that pipe gets all frosty, and it's constantly working. I'm afraid I'm going to have a huge electric bill.

Let it be noted that this unit NEVER "worked" in the background for the last year that I lived here...only when the wonderful heating & A/C guy came out did this start.

Please tell me what you think this could be. Is this normal? I never had electric heating/cooling before this, so I'm not sure if this is supposed to happen or not.

TIA