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Warm air blowing from your air conditioner or loud sounds developing are problems that you don’t want to encounter. However, they are also the types of problems that you may expect to run into from time to time with your air conditioning system. One issue that you may be completely caught off guard by is an air conditioner that is leaking water. After all, there is no water used in the AC that should be able to leak out of the system, right?
This may be true, but it certainly does not suggest that you are seeing things. There very well could be water pooling around your indoor air conditioning unit, and it very well may be coming from the AC itself. However, it is not exactly a “leak” in the way that you’d typically think of one. Here are a few of the reasons why you may discover a leaky air conditioner in Celco.
One Symptom, Multiple Causes
As is the case with just about any air conditioning problem, there are actually a number of different reasons as to why your air conditioner may be leaking water — or at least appear to leak water. One potential cause of the problem is an issue with the drain assembly. Your AC has a drain pan and a condensate drain line designed to drain condensation away from the system and out of your home.
You probably know that, while not its primary function, your air conditioner does have some dehumidifying effect on the air in your living space. As refrigerant evaporates in the evaporator coil, drawing heat out of the air, moisture is drawn out of the air, too. This moisture condenses on the evaporator coil, drips off, and drains out via the condensate drain pan and line.
If this drain pan is corroded or even misaligned, or if there is a blockage in the drain line of any kind, then the water may wind up all over the floor. This puts your home at risk of water damage and the proliferation of biological pollutants. Keeping the drain line clean and moving freely is important to preventing such issues.
The drain assembly could also be overwhelmed if faced with a lot of water to drain at once. This is possible when ice that has built up on the coil all melts off. But this is an air conditioner, not a freezer. Why would ice develop anyway?
There are two potential causes of this one problem (surprise, surprise). The first is a simple fix: a very dirty air filter. A very dirty filter can restrict airflow to the point that the AC cannot draw enough heat out of the air. The coil gets too cold, causing the condensation on it to freeze over. The other issue is much more serious: a refrigerant leak.
If your AC has a refrigerant leak that is rendering it incapable of drawing sufficient amounts of heat out of the air, then you need to have the problem resolved ASAP. Refrigerant is not consumed by the AC, so any depletion in refrigerant indicates a leak. Not only can this lead to the aforementioned icing, but it could actually irreparably damage your compressor if you continue running the system.
Leave your AC services to Celco Heating and Air Conditioning.
