You walk into a room and you see a small puddle on the floor. Understandably you’re concerned. You are about to reach out to a plumber when it dawns on you that it seems like your air conditioner is the thing that is leaking, rather than the plumbing. You didn’t even know the system could leak.
You may be wondering to yourself, “How in the world does my air conditioner leak?” It is a good question, and we have several answers to it. We also have the solution to the leak itself, depending on what is causing it. Let’s explore what might be leading to a leaky AC so do you understand why prompt repairs are a must.
3 Main Causes of an AC Leak
If you have a system that is leaking water, you will need to schedule an air conditioning repair in Portland sooner than later. Here are some of the main causes of this issue:
- You have an evaporator coil that is collecting ice. When your evaporator coil becomes too cold, it can start to collect a layer of ice on itself. This ice will start to melt after the system turns off and the air around the coil warms back up. As you may have guessed, melted ice makes water which may be the leak you are noticing.
- Your condensate line is clogged. When your AC is in use, it is pulling heat out of the air which can lead to moisture condensation along the evaporator coil. This condensation drips off the coil into the condensate pan which drains via a condensate line. If the line becomes clogged with built-up dirt and debris the condensation won’t be able to drain and will instead overflow into your home.
- The condensate pan is leaking. There is also a chance that the condensate pan in your air conditioner has developed a crack which is allowing the collected condensation to leak out into your home.
When the Leak Isn’t Water
There is a chance that the week that you are noticing is outside of your home near the condenser unit. In this case, it is more than likely not water. It is probably refrigerant. The condenser housing is the part of the refrigerant line where it is in its liquid state. If this part of the line has a leak it will allow the liquid refrigerant to leak out. We address this individually because a refrigerant leak is a far more serious issue than a leaking condensate line because it can lead to a full system breakdown.
If your air conditioner is leaking, the main takeaway is that this is not normal and not good. A leaking air conditioner is something that requires professional repairs as soon as possible. You can come to our team to get the issue identified and addressed.
Please call Sydni, our Office Extraordinaire, to schedule your next appointment! We will take care of you from there! Contact The Clean Air Act today.