A Quick Guide to Fixing Your Leaking AC
If you notice that your air conditioner is leaking while it’s running, it’s important to schedule an appointment with a professional air conditioning company in order to properly fix the problem.
If you are the handyman type and would like to try and make the repair yourself, here are some instructions on how to fix a leaky air conditioner.
Why Is My Air Conditioner Leaking Water?
The reason why your air conditioner is leaking water varies based on where the leak occurs within the unit.
There are a few different types of leaks that can occur and each type requires a different repair method.
Sometimes the leaking might not be visible.
But most of the time you should be noticing there’s water dripping out along the wall or out from the air conditioner unit itself.
From our troubleshooting experience, we can conclude some of the most commonly seen problems are easily fixable.
Common causes of leaking and dripping aircon
Now, let us share some of our observations from all the years of our on-field AC servicing.
We had sorted out the below common problems that are causing your air conditioner to leak.
1. Frozen Evaporator Coils
The icy white substance in front of the evaporator coils of your air conditioner is usually the ice.
The only way to get rid of it is by defrosting the air conditioning units.
You can see that melting ice is not a big deal with a small amount of accumulated water.
But it can cause leakages when it forms lots of ice and then melts all at once, thereby releasing all the water at once.
So, what causes the frozen evaporator coils?
This happens when your refrigerant pressure is too high.
We need to make sure that your air conditioner system has the appropriate and correct amount of refrigerant, not too much nor too little.
That is why our technician will measure the pressure of refrigerant using a refrigerant manifold or gauge.
2. Cracked Drain Pan
Drain pans usually are made from plastic and depending on the quality of the plastics, they can tend to crack or break over time.
A broken drain pan is like a broken bowl that cannot hold water. It starts to leak.
Now that you know what’s causing your air conditioner to leak, you have the idea to start repairing the leak.
3. Clogged & Overflowing Drain Line
Where the condensate is collected and discharged into your home or yard is the drain line.
Over time, it can get clogged and cause overflowing.
Once again, what causes the clogged condensate drain line?
Usually, it happens when condensation from freezing pipes builds up on your air conditioning unit.
Check out this nasty gel that forms inside your drain line and you should have an idea why it can clog out your drainage system.
4. Incorrect Installation
A little truth here on the air conditioner installation. It’s not exactly straight or horizontal when we are installing the indoor unit. We actually have a little “slope” angle to follow.
This is to make sure that the water will flow out through the drain pan by gravity force.
The correct slope angle is required to make sure that the water from condensation will not stay in the drain pan.
And it will not affect the visual appearance of the whole installation.
So, installing a unit incorrectly can cause a leak as well.
5. Loose Bandage on The Drain Hose
This is another common problem over a period of time due to the aging of the taping or bandage.
The drain system consists of the drain pan and drain hose that connects it to the outside.
The usual practice is that the technician will wrap the drain pan to a drain hose using waterproof tape.
But over time, the wrapping will become loosen and opens up the connection. Thus the water leaked from the unconnected drain hose in the air conditioner unit.
In a nutshell, from our observations, the above five most common problems are the reasons why your air conditioner leaks.
But it’s not all bad news.
How To Fix A Leaking AC Unit?
Should you decide to fix a leaky air conditioner yourself, you can start with our recommendation above.
But safety is above all though it can be a fun weekend project.
So, we would not recommend that you do it yourself.
It’s better to leave it to the professionals who have years of experience and training to deal with this stuff safely.
Acontech Can Help With Your Leaky Aircon Problem
We provide the best air conditioning service in Malaysia.
If you are in the Kuala Lumpur area, then you should be familiar with our Acontech fleet running on the busy street.
With more than 10 years of experience, you can trust us to handle your home or office AC issues.
A proper inspection allows our expert to diagnose your leaks and other problems so that a suitable repair solution can be provided.
A leaky air conditioner is definitely not something you would want to take lightly.