Portable ACs and Mini-Splits Keep Leaking Water

“I made a post a week ago about my newly installed a/c leaking (I deleted it cause I thought it was finally fixed). It is an LG dual inverter and has been leaking on the right side. I think it is leaking from where I marked in the second photo. And it only leaks when it’s turned off. The contractor that installed it has already visited several times. He first said it was a leveling issue so he adjusted the a/c itself. Then during the most recent visit (last Thursday), he made a bigger hole in the”

“20x25x1 MERV 8 Air Filter. I change these monthly and seems like the last few months there has been water droplets dripping into the filter. I don’t remember this happening before but I may not have been using filters with metal so I wouldn’t have seen rust spots before. This is a new house that was built 1.5 years ago in Florida. AC is set to 77 in the day and drop it to 74 at night. I have the fan set on the circulation mode. The air handler model is 5TEM6D04AV31SA. Should I be concerned? &#32”

“Hi. I got this brand new LG Dual Inverter Window Type Airconditioner 1.5 HP LA150GC2. I noticed it alway have water building up on its main vent. Is this normal? I live in Southeast Asia so it's normally hot and humid here. submitted by /u/Mr_color_color [link] [comments]”

“I noticed drips on the side of the wall underneath my filter inlet (guessing on the word). I don’t recall ever seeing drops of liquid there before. I did notice a few things: 1. The air is going in except for a little bit that’s blowing out to the side in the direction of the arrow I put on the attached picture. Coincidentally, the arrow also points to the drips. 2. While I change my filter once a month in summer, I might have gone 2 months since we’re in fall. So it’s dirty but not terribly dir”

“hi everyone! we have a large LG windows AC unit and we noticed there is a large amount of pink gunk in there. When we try blowing out some water, it looks like a part is also flapping. Any idea what it could be? We live in north central florida if the weather adds any explanation. This is the best photo i could take. submitted by /u/RepulsiveBuilding503 [link] [comments]”

“Need some help figuring out a solution for my condensate pump. Water frequently gets stuck in the lines, sometimes it's stuck before the pump, sometimes after. I have to play with the line to "knock the air loose" and suctions starts back up, only to get stuck again a few minutes later. Any advice or recommendations for a better pump are welcomed. I have less than an inch clearance from my condensate drain, typical low profile pumps (little giant) don't fit. I also don't ha”

“Hi all, posting on behalf of my partner who's been having issues with her portable AC unit. It is an AEG BTU 9000 ChillFlex Pro (AXP26U338CW). The display was showing error code P1, indicating that it needs to be drained, she let some of the liquid drain, but also needed to tilt it approximately 40 degrees to get more of the liquid to drain. She also attempted to wash some gunk build-up off the evaporator with water. Her questions are: 1. Was it okay to use water (approx 150ml) to wash the g”

“I am looking for some solutions to how and where my condensate line terminates from my house. The line recently got clogged and I believe it was due to the water puddling where it terminated out of the house, not letting water flow out. The outside pvc pipe is about 3x the size of the one coming from the unit. submitted by /u/Successful_Tap_1859 [link] [comments]”

“AC froze up and i followed standard fan only mode. (Probably my fault on the filter) and now there is water bubbling (?) Out of this gap on my hvac system. Drain is clear of any blockage. What should I do/ is this a problem/ how do I fix this? submitted by /u/Outside-Use151515 [link] [comments]”

“My partner and I just bought a portable a/c for our bedroom. It seems we’re hitting one problem after another trying to install this. We have a dual-hose portable and the panels that came with it appear to be too long for our window. Any advice on what we can do to make the panels fit? We know we have to trim down the panels but the cut out holes seem to not fit within the size of our window. submitted by /u/Kindly-Fudge-6724 [link] [comments]”

“Hello Everyone! The windows at our apartment don’t seem to fit window AC units very well. The unit is propped up like that because the outer window sill is taller than the inner. Without it, the AC unit would be tilting down into our apartment as opposed to outside of it. Every so often we will wake up with the room flooded near the window. I believe rainwater is pooling in the window sill and eventually overflows. As you can see in the pictures- there is plenty of space for rainwater to enter f”

“Entire return plenum is full of water in a basement due to a failed pump, cause the system to freeze up submitted by /u/Single-Lawfulness-55 [link] [comments]”

“Hey guys. My AC has been off for over 3 weeks, but the condensate pump keeps filling up and running every ~50 min. The pump works fine and actually pumps the water out. The drain pipes run through the wall and into a false ceiling on my balcony. It is summer here, not hot, coincidence or not, the last weeks it rained some days and the nights are very very humid. Yesterday night was very humid and I noticed the pump triggering in like 20 minutes I just started to notice this last week, I don’t kn”

“Hi everyone, I noticed a lot of ice buildup one day. I let it thaw then cleaned the filters since they were pretty dirty. Now ice keeps building up every single day since cleaning. It gets so bad that that the unit throws an error code and shuts the cooling off. Any advice would be helpful! P.S. photo shows only the bottom part of the coils freezing. I’ve had this unit almost a year and it has never done this until I cleaned the filters. submitted by /u/Alex_jcw [link] [comment”

“Okay so for I think a year now, our appartment's main hvac intake vent (living room) has been leaking water whenever we get big storms. Management has repeatedly sent people who claim to fix the issue until the next storm hits and it's dripping again. But it's weird because it doesn't start dripping until much later during the storm. At least 30+ mins after. It's steady-ish but it does seem to speed up or slow down sometimes. It only drips from one corner of the vent. Also, w”

submitted by /u/grazzyphase [link] [comments]

“The condensate drain is dripping into the main sewer system? This is not a good idea, who is maintaining the air conditioner? If your AC is not being used often in the winter months and the P-trap water evaporated enough below the weir, sewer gas is allowed to enter, and when your mom turns on the AC, the air handler pulls air from the return there is a negative pressure exerted and can suck sewer gas into the duct via the condensate drain. Ask your mom if she smells something offensive occasion”

“My A/C is also in the attic. The condensate trap trap froze in the winter and cracked, leaking on to the ceiling below. So, check for cracks in the trap, if you live where it can freeze in the winter. Second thing to check is if the condensate drain line is clogged and backing up. To keep my trap from freezing, I pour about a 1/2 gallon of RV anti freeze into the trap in late October.”

“Is it normal to hear water dripping on the microwave exhaust vent duct when there’s heavy rain? submitted by /u/False_Umpire_7587 [link] [comments]”

“Good day all. We’ve been having recurring issues with our hvac/handler. This is the third time in a year that the vdx valve (maybe wrong thing?) has stopped working. The handler is leaking water from the top of the metal and the AC stops cooling. The refrigerant was replaced last time. Heat continues to work. They say they can’t do anything but keep doing the same thing. This sounds like BS and something else is wrong but I don’t know anything. If you need any more info please let me know but is”

“Hi everyone,I have a portable AC unit (Castorama WAP-267EB). Today it started leaking water from the front vents instead of shutting off with an error code. I figured out the internal drain tray was clogged with gunk/dust.While trying to unclog it from the outside through the bottom drain port using a Q-tip, the Q-tip got stuck and slipped completely inside the drain pipe/lower water tank.I took the plastic casing off the AC (as seen in the pictures). I've got it from someone who didn't”

“I have two air conditioners, the one in the bedroom always has a build up of condensation and it drips. There’s an outlet below and I’m worried about that. The company these are from kind of don’t gaf and didn’t seem concerned by it , but the one in the living room doesn’t have this problem. submitted by /u/EnoughBalance5526 [link] [comments]”

“Hi HVAC enthusiasts. I am an apartment dweller and could use some perspective on an issue around my air handler. Since March, I’ve had an ongoing water leak above my AC air-handler closet. I initially filed a maintenance ticket after the dripping became noticeable because it had already eaten a hole through the ceiling drywall. Since then I’ve filed six maintenance tickets. Maintenance has found and patched several pipes/tubes that had apparently been chewed through by rats, but the water intrus”

“The unit was installed by my room mates, and it falls on me to uninstall it to install the portable unit. It leaks water inside constantly because it has been run constantly. I am planning on removing the unit tomorrow. The AC will be run into tomorrow, and my first question is if it is okay to move immediately after removing it from power. The second question is if we were to give it to someone else, such as a friend, would it be good to toss in the back of a car and drive it over? submit”

“Any recommendations for a small compact pump that could be used on a ceiling mounted pancake style fan coil? submitted by /u/Candid-Purple-4905 [link] [comments]”

“Hello, so my one month old portable AC (Home Depot 8,500 BTU (5,000 BTU DOE/SACC, whatever that means) is leaking from the bottom. I’ve cleaned the filters, drained the unit completely, ran it on fan mode for 3 hours, and it did stop leaking for one day before the leak came back. I also couldn’t see any ice from where I was looking but also can’t take every piece of this apart so. Any suggestions before I return it and get a new one? submitted by /u/evantigone [link] [comments]”

Condensation probably

“If they have the condensate running into the vent, possibly. With the heat it's likely a constant trickle. Assuming it's hot there too anyway. You could try turning the AC off and see if it stops filling or slows down. But you'll likely need a plumber to diagnose this. Hmmm, is the consate line running into the drain under the sink, usually a branch tailpiece (hose sticking out of the side of the drain piping under sink before the p-trap). If that's the case, your clog may just b”

“Hi everyone. Obviously I need some help fixing this issue. For context, this is the only vent in my house that does this and this is the furthest vent from the AC unit. What’s the best way to resolve this? submitted by /u/Abarrach_Front242 [link] [comments]”

“Hi, we’ve been in our house for a year and a half. The filters are the correct size but have been getting sucked into the hole and bending and becoming floppy and don’t filter much. Does anyone hvac person need to come out and do something? Am I too stupid toto place a filter even though I’ve done it before in my old house? Another problem is that there are mold spots in or ceiling. Our roof is only 5 years old and should not be leaking. Is this connected to the filter being sucked in? sub”

“Hello, I noticed that my air filter gets sucked in when the air handler is running. I destroyed the last filter getting it out because the suction had bent the filter up. I did some research and the filter is sized correctly for the unit, 16x25. It’s also only a merv8 filter. Any suggestions on how to help this? Would trying to modify the filter slot to fit a 2” filter help? It’s a 2020 Goodman, can’t remember the model number and im not home to look at the unit. Thanks for the help! submi”

“Hi all, I just bought a new portable AC unit for my room, it’s the kind that fully stays inside and requires a big hose attached to the wall. It’s the only type of AC I can have in my room as my windows aren’t suitable for window units. My new AC has been turned on for some hours now and it works much better than my last one which died. But it’s emitting a weird plastic-y smell and is really irritating my throat. My mom told me this weird smell is normal for a new unit, and online searches say t”

“Someone said that this is due to caulk around the vent has worn out so the attic’s hot air is mixing with the AC’s cold air forming the condensation w dust. Looking for more options. submitted by /u/rovervogue [link] [comments]”

“I just purchased a home a month ago and we have not moved in yet as we are doing a kitchen renovation. It has been very hot and humid in the northeast so this has been running constantly. My husband assures me this is a normal amount of condensation but I wanted to check in with experts. Thanks! submitted by /u/Lucybunny96 [link] [comments]”

“Carrier unit, 6 years old, fresh filters every 30 days. Coil is not frozen. Condensation line is clear. Water is pooling on the unit where it vents out. Ceiling vents in bedrooms are dripping water, paint is bubbling. Ceiling insulation throughout the building is cellulose. Not a roof leak. What else am I missing? submitted by /u/HVindex8458 [link] [comments]”

“Idk where to post this, so here's my best shot. I used to have an old portable AC, but every time I ran it, my throat would get sore and feel tight/inflamed. I figured it was impossible to really clean, so I replaced it with a brand new one. Now my new AC is doing the exact same thing. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I feel completely fine when it's off. The weird part is I was fine using it for months, and now all of a sudden it's started happening. submi”

“Hey all, I just noticed some water coming out of my HVAC system. There’s a hole right next to my drain line, and water is coming out of it whenever my AC is on. I also feel air coming out of that hole, if that changes anything. It’s a fairly old system, and it was installed prior to us moving into this house. We moved in last summer, but I don’t remember seeing any water, or maybe I just didn’t pay enough attention. I’m wondering if the hole should simply be capped off to redirect the air + cond”

“So, we have a two story home - approx 3200 square feet. We have two air handler units in our attic space. Unit 1 - for the downstairs was replaced literally 1 year ago w/ a Reem and Rudd (bc that’s what the company now installs vs a Trane). Multiple times during the warmer months here in FL, we have to pump the water off the pan bc it hits the flow switch and shuts the unit off. Once the water is suctioned off - the unit comes back on and as of late lasts about 4-7 days before the same ish happe”

“Don’t feel or see any moisture in vent 2009 AC pump with 3 story single family home. Ac works very well and cools the house when fan is turned on. 3rd floor doesn’t get as fast air flow but that’s expected as the unit is in the basement. I keep hearing these drops, very slow and small amount. What could it be? submitted by /u/TwinkleMan [link] [comments]”

“I’ve been getting a pool of water to form outside the coil housing after the AC unit has been running for several hours in a day. Originally thought condensation was forming on the flare valve and wrapped that with insulation tape, but the water pool persisted. I’ve now determined after removing the access panel that the condensate drain lines and pan are working properly, and what is likely happening is condensation is forming on the refrigerant lines just inside the panel cutout and the angle”

“Hi, since we in Europe usually have problems to use regular AC, I have to use a portable one with one hose. Since the summer is brutal here at the moment, I use mine to get my office at home to an agreeable temperature. But this time it always stops after a while to show an error that I should release stored/drained water. I had to drain it twice already today (very humid and hot outside), I notice it once it shows an error, beeps and stops the compressor. Is this normal even if I don't use”

“I have a lot of water coming from my ceiling, a lot where my duct work is. I honestly dont even know what to do to stop this. Anh help is appreciated. Assuming condensation. I have a dehumidifier running constantly. It is sitting at 50. I just dont know what to do. I have rockwool insulation as well. submitted by /u/CHex_TheVaultHunter [link] [comments]”

“We have a standard 20-year-old HVAC unit in the attic. We noticed our roof overflow line dripping yesterday, so I shop-vacced the ground floor and pulled out some debris -- a bunch of small woodchips and a small chunk of something. The wood chips are likely from the uncapped t-joint cleanout (tangent, is it okay to cap this? it's been this way forever) The secondary is a line out from the pan. I looked around that and saw no signs of water leakage. At this point, the roof line was dripping 1”

“Hi everyone, I have a two-story home with a dedicated AC for the downstairs and one for the upstairs. The downstairs is completely fine. Upstairs has been not cooling properly for a few weeks, but I chalked it up to the extreme heat. Last night, it wouldn't get below 82 degrees. When I woke up, I had water marks on the ceiling directly below the system. I went up in the attic and found a pool of water and started drying it up immediately. There is no water in the pan below the unit. I went o”

“I don’t know how to word this properly, but I know my condensation line is full,. And I know I need a shop vac in order to empty it out, can anyone tell me where to connect the shop vac to so I can empty it? submitted by /u/Aggressive-Carpet944 [link] [comments]”

“Hello everyone, I am looking for some advice on recent issues I’ve been having with my AC. About a month ago I noticed my AC started blowing warm air and my condenser fan was blowing cool air. So I called a hvac buddy of mine to come check out my unit and he said my compressor was kicking itself off because of thermal overload and not able to cool off. He put his gauges on it and said the pressure was way too high and pulled gas out of the system to the level he said it needed. Flash forward 3 w”

“So I’m having an issue, sometimes when ac runs continuously, I get water dripping on ground and not going through condensate pipe When I turn off the ac, a rush of water comes out of both the pipe and the opening Then the pioe starts dripping water for about 15 while ac is off I searched it up and what I gathered is that it’s a negative pressure issue and I need a p trap? How do I know if I have a p trap? This is an airmax hi-velocity air handler The outlet is right above the concrete, where wou”

“From the handler in my garage. Unit works well. Condenser is new. Handler is a couple years old. Seems like a lot of water. Secondly, what’s that valve dealio in the second pic. A diverter or sorts? submitted by /u/Sky_Jockey [link] [comments]”

“My apt is 85 right now so I wasn't sure what id find behind this vent but ive been hearing dripping water for months. Maintenance didnt seem to care but I think this is unrelated. submitted by /u/idiotcardboard [link] [comments]”

“Im trying to figure out the best way to have my dehumidifier ducted into my system and could use advice. 2-stage AC unit, Panasonic balanced home ERV. The ERV has separate return ducts to pull stale air and exhaust outside. Fresh outside air is dumped into the return side just before air handler, using the central air ducts to distribute that air to the rooms with the central blower running on low (From prior Corbett/Energy Vanguard advice) My humidity is running high despite adequate room tempe”

“I’m trying to figure out what’s going on with my attic AC unit. It’s leaking enough water to create significant pooling, and it appears to be coming from both ends of the unit where the AC “junction box” where it splits to different rooms. I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Some questions: What would cause water to leak from where both boxes are? Does leaking near the junction box point to a specific issue? What should I be checking? Is it safe to keep running the unit while”

“Just went outside and heard water dripping. Noticed this puddle and water dripping from what I assume is my condensation line. Is this amount of water normal? In five years of living here I have never seen this. Any advice? submitted by /u/Radiant-Oil9119 [link] [comments]”

“Previously posted about am having humidity problem and vents leaking. I originally had the door not sealed on air handler and thought that was the problem and even turned the fan speed to medium to help with humidity. Even with lower humidity in the house my vents were still dripping non stop in the middle of the vents as if the moisture was coming from the actual duct work and not the boot. I finally pulled back the insulation wrap leaving the penulum and it was soaked. I pulled it back to wher”

“My condensation pump just started making some noises, and I could use some help with figuring out how to fix it. First, I noticed the white pipe has an open end pointing upwards. Is this intended? Won’t that just get dust and gunk in the system? It might be hard to see in this photo, but there are two holes on the main unit facing upwards. One is capped, but the other is open. Same question - should this be capped or blocked somehow? From other threads, people have suggested turning off and disc”

“Call for leaking unit at a storage place. Confirm its draining properly and condensate pump works. But it had a plugged filter so we figured that just caused high static pressure pulling water out of the pan into the insulation. Come back the next day to see if its dry and noticed this metal plate that we some how missed the day before. So that plus the filter definitely caused the water to be pulled out the pan but why the hell would anyone do this? submitted by /u/Puzzleheaded_Chai”

“Hi! I live in a condo that has an ERV. However, there’s a lot of whooshing noises coming from a single vent. The photo attached is from the vent opening. The duct opening at the end is where the ERV connects. Pretty much a straight line. And the ERV itself is only inches away. The drywall cavity is about 32x24 and is on top of a closet. My best guess is that the sound is bouncing / echoing from because of the empty chamber. Does anyone know why this would be left open like this, and not connect”

“Did you ever find anything for this? I get something similar and it’s been doing it for months as it’s hot here in the south. I’ve assumed it’s by design but always a little skeptical at the dripping I can constantly hear.”

“Hello! We had an HVAC condensation overflow that led to some leaking, I lifted this small section of LVP to allow for drying. How do I get it to go back in? Any videos would be super helpful, thanks! submitted by /u/Quick-Land2546 [link] [comments]”

“Could someone share what these kind of Mitsubishi mini split head units are called? We closed on a new place but the head units here were so nasty and I need to disassemble and give them a deep clean and would appreciate any advice or links to helpful videos, especially getting the blower wheel and condensate pan. I’ve previously only had the more traditional head units. submitted by /u/mocochinchiii [link] [comments]”