What Are the Causes of a Leaking AC Unit?

Air Conditoner's Internal Drains Are Blocked

• Air conditioners have small passageways created for the purpose of allowing water to drain from the front to the rear. Should these passages get blocked, water pools at the front and overflows onto the floor as a result. These occurrences require that the air conditioner is removed and serviced by a professional HVAC technician.

Air Conditioners Recycle Water

• Preconditioned air humidity condenses and collects around the cooling coil throughout the cooling and dehumidification portions of the air conditioning process. Water drip down the cooling coil, collecting in the air conditioner's base when it forms, and follows several channels to settle at the base of the machine. An air conditioner will recycle this water to cool down the heating coil and the excess water leaks out of the AC unit.

Poor Installations Can Cause Leaks

• Water leakage from air conditioners is a normal occurrence in several instances. However, improper installation or mechanical problems can cause water leakage to increase substantially, creating issues. For example, an air conditioner that's install with one side higher or lower than the other will leak more water than one that's symmetrically aligned and correctly installed. Additionally, if the built-in drains from the air conditioner become clogged, collected water may pool until it either leaks out or spills onto other parts of the machine. Water may then leak from the other areas of the machine and cause mechanical failure as a result. Water that freezes on the cooling coil also create excessive leakage when the ice melts.

External Temperatures Are Too Cold

• When cooling season ends and temperatures decrease below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, water leakage can also become a problem. This happens because the cooling coil ices up. A tell-tale sign of this is waking up to water leakage in front of the air conditioner in the morning. When this happens, keep the machine turned off during the night and keep it on only during the daytime hours when the temperatures climb. If you insist on keeping the unit on, then place it in fan-only status, so that the fan recirculates the air within the room but does not cool it.