Leak in the central air/heat unit (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Thanks for looking out for me. I'm having problems adjusting to the coldness of the house now since my house was sort of warm due to the AC not putting out real cold air during the hot portions of the days, so I guess I'll have to play around with the temp setting until I get it comfortable for me (I get the sniffles when it's really cold now inside, but with the hot-cold from outside to inside, the temps are messing with me adversely at times, but better than being hot all the time).

 

[Chelsea]

Our problem is 2 of my ceiling air vents are leaking water ...dripping. Anything we can do other than put buckets down and not take out a second mortgage?

 

[JoeyR]

how much water?

Do you have the grills shut?

Are they properly insulated in the attic?

Are the dampers open in the ductwork?

what room does this serve?

 

[Chelsea]

Old metal ductwork with insulation around ducts. Grillls are open, I'm in Florida! 2 bedrooms are problems. in a 3 bedroom home. We are not sure what you mean by "dampers" in the ductwork. Ducts are insulated, again house is built in ) to replace with newest product $17,000.!!!! Less than a cup a day of water leaks through grills.

 

[Chelsea]

Daddyplace help me. Has my return message been posted? Old metal duct work, 2 bedrooms grill leaking, they are open. 3 bedroom house in Florida. Can't close grills, we will die! small amount of water house built in '78. FPL ELECTRIC CO. wants $17,000 to replace with new stuff. No way can we afford that. Both disabled on a budget. Our Air Conditioning company (Whcih we have a contract with for maintenence) says its "SWEATY DUCTS)

 

[JoeyR]

Sorry but I cant fix over the net

with that age its time for new equipment, your units are almost 30 years old if the original. 17,000 seems quite a bit steep, of course this is over the net, I would have to see the house, etc. The best thing to do is shop around(I'm not saying cheaper is better). You can usually find someone reputable in your area at www.hvac-talk.com which I am also a member. This will have to be looked at in person.

 

[Chelsea]

thank you trying to find a REAL HVAC tech in Delray Bech, Florida.

 

[Jay H]

I hear the beef flavor is not too bad... Don't add too much of the seasoning packet if you expect to live over 60.

Jay

 

[pphlws]

Hi,

I'm not sure how or why people are talking about Central A/C units on a home theater forum, but since you are, we have a problem with our central A/C unit that is similar to what you are discussing.

We also have a leak coming out of one of our vents. Am I right in thinking that this isn't really helpful as an indication of what is wrong, and that the leak could be from multiple sources?

Our unit is in a two story town home so it might be a little different. The actual A/C unit is back behind our home and elevated almost to the height of our second story bedroom back window, so it is not accessible without a large extension ladder. The other part of the A/C and furnace are inside the home at the top of the stairs on the second floor. The unit faces out of a wall facing out into the living room, but is very high up. I change the air filter by leaning over a railing at the top of the stairs. There is a small metal door above the filter that I can open to access what I assume is the furnace motor or blower.

If I pull the air filter out there is a little compartment or area behind it that has what I believe is the evaporative coil which is in the top of the compartment running diagonally toward the top part of the A/C filter. On the bottom of this little compartment is some kind of insulation and I guess what you would call the condensation pipes. The pipes run through a little opening on the bottom of the compartment and down towards the vent which is leaking the water, and then, I assume, make their way somehow to the outside of the house. The condensation from the A/C comes out of a pipe on the side wall of the house. It doesn't appear to be blocked because it seems to have the same amount of water or condensation coming out of it that it usually does.

When this first started happening a while ago, I pulled the filter out and found that water was dripping out of the evaporative coil fins in several places and falling onto the insulation in the bottom of the compartment, and that maybe the water coming out of the vent was because of this water leaking into the opening that the condensation pipes pass through, which as I stated go down towards where the vent is. I decided to put several flat sponges in the bottom of the compartment around the area where the pipes go down through the opening to the vent, in the hope that the sponges would soak up a lot of the water and block most if not all of the water from going through the opening down to the vent. This seemed to help or maybe was just coincidence because the A/C ran for days after that without any noticeable water coming out of the vent, However, today, water started coming out again of the vent again, and this time much more than last time. When I looked to see if the sponges were still blocking the opening that the pipes go through down toward the vent, they were still in place and did not even seem that wet. We were hoping to at least make it to the break in the severe heat before deciding what to do, but now I have sent an email to an A/C repair place to inquire about their methods and then I will arrange to have someone come out.

I am now worried that maybe we should have just had it looked at right away. Am I right in thinking the water could be coming from further back in the system and just happens to be leaking through the evaporator? If that's the case I am afraid it could be in the walls and doing water damage. I didn't realize even a central A/C unit created that much water from condensation each day!

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!