If you recently noticed that your air conditioner is leaking water inside of your home – you first have to know the real cause.
There are a ton of different reasons why your AC started leaking water, and it sometimes can be very serious and even lead to more complicated problems.
Don’t panic just yet as there are some ways that you can quickly fix it by yourself.
Let’s jump right into it and mention the most common reasons and solutions for them.
7 Common Reasons Why Your AC is Leaking Water Inside
Damaged drain pan
A drain pen is responsible for water flow both indoors and outdoors, so it’s very important to keep it healthy.
It’s located below the evaporator coils and is very easy to identify.
When the drain pan is damaged, it will start leaking water instead of passing it normally throughout the system.
If you want to avoid it, you should identify the cracks and buy a waterproof sealant to cover all the cracks.
Clogged condensate drain line
This usually happens if you don’t clean the drain line often and it collects a lot of dirt and debris which causes a blockage.
Over some time, water will largely collect inside your unit and it will start leaking water.
A good thing about smart air conditioners is that they will automatically shut off if they detect a clogged condensate line.
The easiest way to fix this is to thoroughly clean it and scrub it to remove mold or gunk. If it collected a lot of dirt, you might even need a vacuum.
Disconnection
If for some reason your drain line isn’t installed properly or if it disconnected recently, your unit will start leaking water.
In most cases, it happens with inverter air conditioners because they’re harder to install.
This isn’t something everyone can do, so it’s important to seek an HVAC specialist to fix it – just don’t use the same one who didn’t install it properly 🙂
Frozen coils
This problem happens during lower temperatures and it’s because of a refrigerant leak that causes a freeze-up inside of these coils.
In most cases, it will happen because of low refrigerant levels.
However, it might be that you need to inspect your filters and ducts further to see if there is any kind of blockage inside of the HVAC system.
Frozen coils are also the reason why AC isn’t cooling below certain temperatures.
Dirty air filters
Filters are responsible for efficient airflow, so it’s very important to keep them clean.
If they collect a lot of dust and debris, they can quickly clog the filters and now allow air to pass easily.
Because of this issue, refrigerant won’t have any contact with the heat and it will cause evaporator coils to freeze.
The best way to avoid this would be to clean your filters at least once a month and replace them every six months.
Faulty AC installation
If you bought a brand new air conditioner recently and it starts dripping water immediately – it’s probably a faulty installation.
When AC isn’t installed properly, drain pipes won’t be proportional or set up as they should, so this will cause disruption of the water flow.
You can call a company that installed your AC and tell them about your issue and they will most likely install it again for free.
On the other hand, if you did all the installation by yourself, I highly recommend seeking an HVAC professional.
Broken condensate pump
A condensate pump is very important for removing water from the system, especially if your unit is placed in the basement.
When the condensate pump works properly, it will trigger the float switch to drain water outside of your home to protect you from any water leakages.
But when the condensate pump is broken, it won’t pump water outside and it will start leaking.
I did almost everything to try to fix this on my own, but this is a more serious problem and it requires professional assistance.
Can You Use Your AC When Water Is Leaking?
The short answer is – yes, you can use your AC when water is leaking.
Don’t set very high expectations as you’ll see a significant decrease in efficiency.
The biggest problem here is that you don’t know the cause of water leakage because it might be something serious that requires a quick fix.
Why I don’t recommend running your AC when there’s water leakage is that it can lead to a compressor failure – this can be a threat to your walls and furniture.
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