Why Is Your Indoor AC Unit Leaking?

Waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of water dripping from your AC’s indoor unit is annoying, to say the least. If left unchecked, leaking ACs can cause water damage in your home, or ask for major AC repairs. Since both have the potential to put you out of pocket, let’s try and understand why your AC might be leaking. Most AC leakage issues our experts here at Petrocelli Services have addressed, belong to one of the following categories:

1. Humidity-led condensation, followed by drainage problems:
   1. As part of their cooling process, AC systems extract some moisture from the air. This moisture condenses on the evaporator coil inside the indoor unit (because refrigerant evaporation keeps the evaporator coil at a very low temperature). Normally, the condensed moisture drips into a drain pan at the base of the indoor unit, and is channeled out via dedicated drainage lines. During particularly humid conditions, there may be too much moisture in the air to begin with, which could end up flooding the drain pan and dripping into your room. The drain pan itself could be corroded or misaligned (due to improper installation of your indoor unit). Or, the AC’s drainage line could be blocked with dirt or algae. In all such cases, water will accumulate in the drain pan and start leaking from the indoor unit. Luckily, these problems are relatively minor, and need small fixes such as replacing the corroded drain pan or cleaning out the drainage lines.
2. Refrigerant leakage, leading to ice formation:
   1. Leaking refrigerant slows down your AC’s cooling process. The evaporator coil in the indoor unit is unable to extract heat from the air quickly enough. It this gets too cold and the moisture condensing on it ends up freezing. Upon melting, this ice can flood the drain pan and cause water to drip from your AC. Ice formation doesn’t always result from refrigerant leakage, though. Sometimes, the issue can be as simple as restricted airflow caused by dirty air filters. As such, what your leaking air conditioner needs is professional diagnosis, followed by cleaning or repair, as needed.

Troubled by a leaking AC? Call us here at Petrocelli Services. We deal with all varieties of air conditioner complaints, and can also assist you with professional AC maintenance, or new air conditioning system installation.