You come home from a long day at work to discover that your air conditioner isn t working properly you inspect your a c unit and find that the drain pan your unit sits in is completely full of water.
Small amount of water in ac pan.
In a functional hvac system the condensate pump automatically turns on when it comes into contact with water.
Dirty air filter a dirty air filter blocks airflow over the evaporator coil causing the temperature to drop below freezing and ice up.
When that frozen evaporator coil melts there may be so much water that it flows over the drain pan and then onto the floor.
If the drain clogs water will back up and leak.
It s one of the hottest days of summer.
There are 2 common causes of a frozen evaporator coil.
When the warm air passes over the cold coils it condenses the moisture vapor into water.
This water travels down a small pipe where it ends up in the drip pan.
In an arid climate where relative humidity remains well below 50 percent most of the time the evaporator coil in a residential central air conditioner will send about about 5 gallons of water down.
Small amounts of debris or hair will clog the drain as can algae growth.
The pan within the unit that gathers the dripping condensate can clog.
Like drainage issues a frozen coil may result from lack of system maintenance including ac checks and tune ups and regular air filter changes.