Is it Normal for Your Air Conditioner to Leak Water?

When your air conditioner turns warm air into cool air, it does so with the help of the evaporator coils on the inside. The coils contain a cool liquid that chills the air before it recirculates back into your home. That coolant then picks up the heat blowing past the pipes and evaporates into a gas. As heat dispels outside, the gas then condenses back into a liquid, and the cycle starts over. But if that liquid is all contained inside the coils, is it normal if you notice your air conditioner leaking water?

If you noticed earlier during the cooling process, there is a gas that condenses back into a liquid. Some moisture draws from the surrounding air too, and as moisture condenses around the evaporator coil itself, it will need to go somewhere afterward.

The dehumidification process is a normal byproduct of the entire cooling process. Usually, your air conditioner will contain a drain pan or a drain line for that moisture. A misaligned or rusty drain pan will cause a noticeable leak. You can reset the drain pan yourself to fix the problem.

A less fortunate scenario is if the water results from melting ice. Your air conditioner should a cooler, not a freezer. If there is ice on the evaporator coils, when it melts it can overwhelm your drainage setup.

Ice in your air conditioner means that your coils are getting too cold. The extreme low temperatures may be from a dirty filter that restricts airflow, which you can fix yourself quickly. The worst-case scenario, however, is if it isn’t a water leak, but refrigerant instead.

Continuing to run your air conditioner when there is refrigerant leaking will damage your unit. Over time, the compressor will weaken and break down. If you have recently cleaned or replaced your air filter and still see this problem, then you need to call a professional technician.

Seeing your air conditioner leaking water may not be the end of the world, and it can be a problem you can solve on your own. However, if you are unsure of the situation going on inside your air conditioner, you need to call the professionals at Sunrise Heating and Plumbing at 616-293-9326. By providing exceptional customer service, our staff can handle any problem.