Water flows from the air conditioner into the room. Causes and solutions
You have habitually switching on the conditioner, cooling process has started, but after a while you find out that water is dripping or even spilling from the inside unit. Fluid may be leaking:
- Directly from the indoor unit into the room,
- Through jalousies together with a stream of cooled air as if a conditioner “splashes” or “spits” water,
- Through the wall on which the unit is installed.
And, as a rule, conditioner is flowing not at once after switching on, but some time later. in 20-40 minutes. Intensity of the deluge directly depends on a set temperature of cooling: the more difference between temperature in a premise and a given split-system, the more water will go.
Where does the water in the air conditioner come from?
To begin with it is necessary to clear up where, when and why water appears in conditioner. It is quite simple. it is a condensate, product of water steam transformation, that is contained in air, in its liquid state while it is being cooled.
thus the higher the level of humidity of air, the more condensate (water) appears in air conditioner. For example, even the smallest in capacity domestic air conditioner is able to dehumidify up to 1 liter of air per hour. it is impossible to say exactly how much water will condense in each separate case, everything depends on humidity of air, its temperature and of course on a mark of thermometer you wish to see inside the premise.
If there is water leakage from the air conditioner, it means that there are some problems with the external or internal module. often the problem is caused by several reasons.
Clogged filters
Filter screens located in the air conditioner‘s internal module take up all the dust and quickly become clogged. If too much dirt is formed on them, the removal of cold in the device becomes insufficient, and the heat exchanger freezes. Droplets form on the body of the device and water flows directly to the floor.
Cleaning the air conditioner filters is recommended at least once a month
Uneven location of the unit
The condensate in the air conditioner should accumulate in a special tray located in the indoor unit. If the module hangs on the wall with a slope, the water compartment is at an angle. As a result, the liquid is spilling over the edge of the tank or is simply dripping past it.
The air conditioner is operating for too long
If the unit operates in cooling mode for a long time, condensation builds up on the freon pipes and on other components. As a result, water leaks from the outdoor unit along the front.
Float stuck in the chamber
For pumping out the condensate in the conditioner the pump is responsible which can fail because of the float sticking in the special chamber. The element sticks to the rod or the bottom, so the pump does not receive in time the command to turn on, and the liquid leaks from the internal module.
Attention! The float gets stuck especially often in rare use of split-system, because dirty water in the chamber has time to dry up and turns into a sticky substance.
Clogged drain hose
For drainage of condensate from the air conditioner is responsible corrugated hose, the inner diameter of which usually does not exceed 16 mm. With time dirt is adhered to the walls of a tube, the water is flowing less freely and puddles appear on the floor under the split-system.
Broken capillary tube
Capillary tube with diameter of 8-10 mm takes part in air conditioner functioning. It is quite soft and can bend and crimp when bending. As a result split-system is working, but its cooling ability decreases and there is water leakage from outside unit.
Causes of a leaky split system
The hotter the summer, the more intensive the condensate. In a perfectly functioning system, it quickly drains off the radiator ribs, and directly through a training tube goes outside the enclosure (into the street or into the sewer).
Let’s return to the description of split-system operation. With the help of the fan turbine, the air from the room passes through the fins of the radiator, the inner casing works like a vacuum cleaner. Everything in the “atmosphere” gets sucked inside and settles on the wet radiator. After a short time it becomes covered in flakes of dirt.
How to Fix Wall Air Conditioner AC Water Leak
Not only it becomes the reason of unpleasant smell, these “rags” do not let the condensate flow down. Freezing occurs (ice, snow).
Pieces of dirt fall into the tray and clog the drain tube. As a result you have a leaky air conditioner on the wall of the room.
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Cause Follow the chain: dust in the air, sticking of dirt on radiator, condensate delay, freezing, snow formation.
Further the problem grows like this snowball. The louver for the air passages becomes clogged, the system goes out of operation and the uncontrollable process begins. Melted water runs down the walls of the enclosure, drips on the walls and floor. Also, that chunk of ice can break a fan turbine and housing.
The joint is not always airtight or it has lost its strength with time.
What’s the conclusion? If the air conditioner leaks, the cause is most likely contamination. Cleanliness is a pledge of health, not only yours but conditioner’s too.
Experts advise
Here are a few more notes and tips from professionals who install, set up, and repair cooling units. In general, the most common cause of air conditioner leaks, they call clogged drainage capacity. If you neglect its service cleaning, it will eventually get clogged. Dirt, wasps, spiders and other insects get into the tube. The question often arises. what are insects doing inside the tube?? They, like all living things in summer, are attracted to water. Some even live there. The owners of ingenious air conditioners sometimes put mosquito nets on the end of their tubes, but with time they also get clogged up.
As diameter of the hole of drainage pipe is about 1 cm and it gets clogged, when split-system is working, the water drops through the indoor unit in the apartment, not through the pipe on the street. It is better to entrust the problem of cleaning to professionals. After turning off the air conditioner and after flushing it the problem will be completely eliminated, the drainage system will be cleaned.

Quite often the independent human factor is to blame for the water dripping from the case. So, during repair, sometimes it is necessary to move it a little bit higher, lower or to the side (especially when repair refers to the ceilings in the room). In this case if it is done without specialists’ participation, the angle of the drainage can change, and the water is not flowing outside as it is supposed to, but is dripping inside. Here you cannot do without participation of workers of service departments, i.e. к. We have to drill a new hole and re-lay the communication. Besides that, during popular nowadays high rise works on warming, the industrial climbers, as the experience shows, can both putty to cover the drainage (if the neighbors drip from above), and bend up the end of the drainage pipe. Here, of course, in order to eliminate the leak, it is necessary to remake the intervention of careless workers.

Leaky air conditioner in the apartment. what experts advise
Masters assert that the most frequent reason of leak appearance is the clogging of a drainage reservoir. That is why if you do not periodically clean it, then at some moment one of the connectors will simply get clogged. In tubes, especially in summer, any debris can get. from grass and finishing with insects. Some of them, attracted by water, are even settling inside of split-system. Some owners of this technique even put on the end of the outlet pipe a special fine mesh, but one should not forget that in the course of time it can also clog.
Cleaning the air conditioner when it leaks Source mamamoet.ru
The freon evaporates not there where it is necessary
There are copper tubes inside the internal block through which the freon circulates. If there is a crack in it then it starts to evaporate. At the same time its temperature can drop lower.40 degrees.
At this temperature, the moisture in the air crystallizes and settles on different parts of the indoor unit. It is accumulated with time, it is heated and starts to melt. At the same time drops of water get by the tray and air conditioner starts to leak.
It is difficult to define this problem by yourself, it is better not to risk and to call a master. If none of the descriptions didn’t help you, please contact the expert. You can find it with the help of a specialized service to find a handyman. He certainly can figure it out.
Causes of split system leakage
The hotter is summer, the more intensive condensate forms. In ideally working system it quickly flows down from the radiator ribs, and at once through the drainage pipe goes outside the case (in the street or in sewerage system).
Let’s return to the description of split-system operation. With the help of a fan turbine, the air from the room passes through the fins of the radiator, the inner casing works like a vacuum cleaner. Everything in the “atmosphere” gets sucked inside, and settles on the wet radiator. After a short time, it becomes covered in flakes of dirt.
It doesn’t only cause unpleasant smell, but also these “rags” don’t let the condensate flow down. Freezing (ice, snow) occurs.
Pieces of dirt fall into the pan and clog the drain pipe. As a result, you have a leaking air conditioner on the wall of the room.
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Cause Follow the chain: dust in the air, sticking of dirt on the radiator, condensate retention, freezing, snow formation.
Further the problem grows like this very snowball. The grate for the air passage becomes clogged, the system goes out of operation, the uncontrolled process begins. Melted water runs down the walls of the enclosure, drips on the walls and floor. This chunk of ice can also break the fan turbine and housing.
The joint is not always airtight, or has lost its strength over time.
Where to Buy a Replacement
While repairs are being made, a portable air conditioner can be a temporary substitute for a stationary product. It may also come in handy at the cottage, or, for example, when traveling somewhere to visit. Optimal, in terms of price-quality ratio, is the option of buying in the online store AlieXpress. Obligatory long waits for parcels from China are a thing of the past, because now many products are in intermediate warehouses in destination countries: for example, when ordering you can choose the option “Delivery from the Russian Federation: