Water leaking out of from AC is never a good thing. Read on to learn more about what makes your AC leak and what you can do to stop it. In some cases, many (HVAC systems) Air conditioners leak water inside and outside their units due to their excessive use.
Finding out what causes condensation in your air conditioning system boils down to a few common problems. These are some of the most common reasons why you’ll start noticing water coming out of your air conditioner.
Clogged Condensate Drain Line Can Make The Air Conditioner Leaking Water
The most common cause of AC leaking water is because the ac unit has a clogged condensate drain line. Often, the condensate line gets clogged with dirt and dust that passes through it. Over time, it mixes with the moisture of the air conditioning unit and sticks to the sides of the drain line. This causes it to gunk up the line and prevents the condensation from getting drained to where it should be going. This results in the drain line backing up and overflowing out of the air conditioner.
Your Air Conditioner Doesn’t Have Enough Refrigerant
Having little to no refrigerant in your air conditioner may lower the pressure in your unit & can cause refrigerant leaks. When this begins to happen, you’ll notice it first from the temperature of the air getting expelled. It won’t be as cold as it was before. Also, having low refrigerant causes your evaporator coils to freeze up. Evaporator coils are responsible for converting the liquid from your AC unit into vapor. This is the vapor the unit expels and cools down the area around it.
Not having enough refrigerant means there’s nothing to power up the coils to do their job. This causes the coils to begin to freeze over time. This won’t pose a problem at first but once it starts to heat up again, what’s frozen will melt and cause a leak in the air conditioning unit.
The Air Filter Accumulated a Lot of Dirt
Another common reason why your Air Conditioner is dripping water is because of the air filter. Accumulated dirt can stop the filter from doing its job and prevent it from supplying power to another vital part of the air conditioning unit, the evaporator coils.
Similar to the effect of not having enough refrigerant, a dirty air filter can cause the coils to freeze over. This time around though, it’s because no proper airflow reaches the coils. Without air flowing through it, it gets too cold and freezes up once again. It’s best not to let the evaporator coils freeze up in either case though. Freezing can cause some damage to itself along with other parts of the unit. The damage it causes can sometimes be irreparable and lead to buying a new AC unit instead.
Drain Pan Got Rusted or Damaged
Damaged or rusted drain pans are a common case for old air conditioning units. If you’re faced with one that’s cracked, then you’re fortunate. It’s easier to fix than a rusted one as you can use sealants to solve the problem. A rusted drain pan is a bit trickier, though. It means the rust ate through the metal and there’s not much to work with anymore. Often, drain pans with this kind of problem have a lot of holes for water to fall through.