How your AC could turn on a waterfall

Before you turn on your air conditioner this spring, it’s important to check for any maintenance issues that may have occurred during the last cooling cycle and over winter. One of such issues, is a clogged condensate drain line. This is a common problem that can lead to a serious problem if not remedied quickly.Your air conditinig unit removes water from the air using a cooling coil and then drains this water through a condensate drain line. This drain line safely removes the water to the outside of your home. This is an easy process as long as this drain line remains open and the water can flow freely. Unfortunately, this drain line can become clogged with dust, debris etc. Once this happens, the water in the line will drain much slower or depending on how badly the line is clogged the water may not drain at all.
This trapped water then begins to accumulate in your air conditioner’s drip pan which is located under your air handler. The drip pan can only accommodate a certain amount of water until it begins to overflow. When this happens, major problems from water damage can occur. Sometimes the leak takes place in areas that are out of sight. If left unnoticed, these wet conditions allow for mold growth and even structural damage due to rot. Equally bad, if not worse, is if the drip pan is located on a second floor or in an attic. The overflowing water can leak onto the ceiling below causing unsightly stains and even causing your ceiling to drop under the weight of the soogy sheet rock.
Sound like a mess? Well it is. But fortunately it is easily avoided. Of course an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure. The easy solution to this problem is having an E-Z water safety device installed. When the water in your drip pan has reached a certain level, this device will cut off your air conditioning system before the water reaches the overflowing stage. This is such a simple and inexpensive solution when compared to the costly repairs water damage can cause. Once this device is in place, you can forget about pesky leaks. This is great for people who like to go away on trips over the summer. Nothing is much worse than coming home from vacation to find your home damaged by water.
During a A/C tune up your MTB technician will check your condensate line to make sure it is flowing freely. He can install your condensate drain safety device at the same time. Give us a call today to schedule a tune up on your system so it will run at peak efficiency this summer.