Been giving your AC unit a pounding throughout this red hot summer? Most people have to try and stay cool in the blistering heats, and fair enough. But as Peter Parker was told, with great power comes great responsibility! While we use and abuse the wonderful power to keep ourselves cool through the heat, many don’t take on the responsibility of maintaining that AC unit to ensure that it keeps supplying you with cool air and doesn’t end up leaving a puddle on your carpet.

Just like our bodies, when AC units are used and abused, they eventually get sick and have problems. So what is causing your AC unit to feel sick and leak water?

Your AC’s inside unit contains the evaporator coil that cools the warm air blown over it. This causes condensation (moisture) to form on the coil, just like how water droplets form on a cold glass of water on a hot day. The moisture on the coil drips into a drain pan and down a condensate drain line (a white PVC pipe) that leads out of your home.

A clogged condensate drain line is the most common cause of water leaking from your AC into your home.
If the drain line gets clogged with dust, dirt, sludge or mold, that water backs up and runs out into your home.

If you’ve got an old air conditioner, the drain pan may be damaged or rusted through, so water just falls right through.

A dirty air filter blocks airflow over the evaporator coil. When that happens, the evaporator coil gets too cold and freezes over. When it melts, it drips an excess amount of water that the pan may not be able to handle.

If your indoor AC unit is installed a long distance from the outside wall of the house, or there is no fall from the indoor unit to the outside, then there is likely a condensate pump that pumps the water outside (you can probably hear it sometimes when it turns and starts pumping). If that pump breaks, the water isn’t being pumped outside anymore and will back up and cause a leak in the house.

Similar to a dirty air filter, low refrigerant will lower pressure in the AC system, causing the evaporator coil to freeze over. When the coil melts, water overflows the drain pan.
You’ll notice you’re low on refrigerant when:

• The air conditioner isn’t cooling well
• You hear a hissing or bubbling noise (indicating a refrigerant leak)

Depending on the severity of the refrigerant leak you’ll either repair the leak or have to replace the whole AC unit.

The surefire way to make sure your AC unit does not get sick and start leaking in your house, is to have a professional come and carry out a regular maintenance on the unit. Think of it like a check up with the Doctor.

Your FRIGAIR specialist can make sure that filters are clean, drains and pans clear and gas levels are good. FRIGAIR will ensure that you keep cool AND dry!