If your air conditioner is leaking water from the inside, this could be because there is a blockage in airflow, a clogged drain line, or frozen coils.
Moisture forms around the coils of your air conditioner as a normal part of the air-cooling process, but it is usually drained.
However, if something goes wrong in the draining process, like a lack of airflow, a clogged drain line, or frozen coils, this moisture can build up and will start leaking from the inside of your air conditioner.
How and why does moisture form inside of an air conditioner?
Air conditioners do not only cool down the air in your room, but they also dehumidify this air. When the hot air from your space is conditioned, the moisture will accumulate around the cold coils in the process.
This moisture usually drips into a drip tray, which is connected to a drain line. The moisture can then be reused to cool down the compressor or it will even form a vapour, which is carried out through the exhaust vents.
However, if a lot of moisture accumulates, it is drained from the drip tray via the drain line to the outside of your home.
Air conditioner leaking water inside
When this moisture that accumulates during the air conditioning process does not drain through the condensate drain line as it should for whatever reason, the water may start leaking out of any other opening in your air conditioner that it can find.
This includes the front vents of the inside air conditioner unit, which explains why water may be leaking from your air conditioner inside of your home.
This leakage can be quite inconvenient to clean up, but this may also cause long term damage to your floors, walls, and furniture, which is why it is important that you understand what is causing the water to not drain properly, and how to prevent this from happening again in the future.
There are many potential reasons why the moisture collected in the air conditioning process is not being drained as it should from your air conditioner, but some of the most common reasons why this happens include the following:
- A blockage in the airflow of your air conditioning system may be causing too much condensation to form and this is what is causing the leak
- A clogged condensate drain line will prevent water from draining to the outside of your home properly and this could be pushing the water out of the front of your air conditioner
- The ice around frozen coils will start melting when the air conditioner is turned off and this will cause the water to drip from the inside unit of your air conditioner
How a blockage in airflow can cause an air conditioner to leak water from inside
When an air conditioner does not have sufficient airflow throughout the system, too much of the hot air in your space and cold air will mix. This will result in the formation of much more condensation than the air conditioner drip tray was designed to handle.
As a result, the drip tray fills up quickly and when the water starts to overflow, it will leak from the air conditioner and inside of your home.
To prevent this from happening in the future, you need to clean your filters regularly using lukewarm water, a gentle detergent, and a soft brush, if necessary.
How a clogged condensate line can cause an air conditioner to leak water from inside
If the system is working correctly, your air conditioner will use the condensate line to drain water to the outside of your house.
However, if this line is clogged, which means that water does not drain out of the drain hole of the inside unit, the water in the drip tray will start overflowing and leak from the inside of the air conditioner.
To fix this, you need to locate the end of the drain line, which is on the outside of your house. You can then use a wet/dry shop vacuum to suck any blockages out of this line.
Placing a cloth around the connection between the vacuum and the drain line will ensure that you get a better seal and more suction.
How frozen coils can cause an air conditioner to leak water from inside
If the coils in your air conditioner have frozen while it was working, the ice around the coils will melt once the unit is switched off and this water can leak from the inside of the unit.
This is especially true if your air conditioner is not tilted slightly to allow any accumulated moisture to run to the drain line automatically.