It’s one of the hottest days of summer. You come home from a long day at work to discover that your air conditioner isn’t working properly. You inspect your A/C unit and find that the drain pan your unit sits in is completely full of water. What do you do? In this article, we discuss reasons why water could have pooled in your drain pan and some simple maintenance steps that you can take to prevent this issue from recurring in the future. In most cases, a full drain pan means that you have a clogged drainpipe. The humid conditions inside the refrigerant coils and pipes are the perfect breeding ground for algae and mold, which can clog the drainpipe over time. If not taken care of, a clogged drainpipe can create serious mechanical problems for the air conditioner. First, turn off the power to your air conditioning unit, even if it isn’t running. With the unit turned off, check the tubing on and around your unit to make sure there are no cracks, holes, or leaks in the drain line.

If you find any, these pieces should be replaced. Once you have determined that there are no issues, the next step is to remove the water from the drain pan. The easiest way to do this is with a wet/dry shop vac, which you can pick up at your local hardware store. Simply vacuum up all of the water and dispose of it. Finally, remove any sludge or debris that may be at the drain. Check the drain termination outside for obstructions.  Be sure the drain outlet is not blocked by mulch, pine straw or other debris. The water is gone, but the source of your problem still needs to be fixed. Start by removing the PVC cap from the top of the drainpipe. Next, use a strong, small wire brush to gently clear the clog. Once the large pieces are gone, pour a cup of bleach in the drain pan and into the top of the drain pipe (don’t forget your eye and hand protection). This will get rid of any additional algae, mold, or mildew that may be gumming up the works. Once the clogs are clear, put the PVC cap back on and turn the power to your A/C unit on.

If the unit does not begin to work immediately, turn it off, wait thirty minutes, and turn it back on again. If the problem persists, contact a professional. Regular maintenance can easily prevent this from occurring. If you live in the Raleigh or Wilmington areas of North Carolina, consider purchasing a maintenance service agreement with Newcomb and Company. how do you install an ac unitThe scope of our agreement will prevent this issue as well as many others.cost of window ac vs central airGREENSBORO, N.C. – Local housing groups and FOX8’s On Your Side office have gotten several calls from tenants concerned their air conditioning units are broken.central air conditioner brands reviews Many are asking what the law is when it comes to requiring a landlord to fix the A/C.

North Carolina housing code requires a dwelling to have a heating system so that at least one habitable room can be heated to 68 degrees in the winter. However, there’s not a numerical threshold defined for hot temperatures in the summer, said Greensboro Housing Coalition Executive Director Brett Byerly. If a property owner provides an A/C system to a unit, he or she is required to maintain and fix it “promptly,” according to state law. But how many days is considered “prompt?” It’s a bit fuzzy. “In court cases like this, most of the time judges require that the landlord has been making some sort of 'reasonable effort' to make repairs,” said Byerly. So while a tenant may want a fix immediately, landlords may say they need time to get quotes, get an appointment with a company during the busy summer season and secure funds. In the meantime, it can feel unbearable to a tenant. “Excess heat is a strong respiratory irritant that might send somebody’s who’s otherwise healthy into the hospital,” Byerly added.

As soon as a tenant notices any repair needs, he added, “Have the conversation with your property managers. ‘Hey, my A/C isn’t working. Then follow up with a written request. Keep copies of that. Take pictures of it. If it’s an online submission to the property management company, take screen shots. Documentation will be extremely important if it ever goes to court later on.” But don’t assume your landlord will pay you back if you pay for repairs or go to a hotel to escape the heat. They aren’t required to reimburse you for such expenses. The Attorney General advises never to withhold rent, even if you believe they’re failing to make proper repairs. The only exceptions are if the landlord or judge gives you written permission. GREAT RESOURCE: LANDLORD / TENANT RIGHTS BOOKLET FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Lastly, Byerly said most landlords he’s worked with really want to do the right thing. His advice for property managers is to have some mobile cooling units on hand as a backup.

Make sure to get A/C and heating units evaluated before the busy, hot season for any repairs. And consider hiring maintenance workers who are A/C certified. That way you can save a lot of time and money sending them out immediately when problems arise.Posted June 17th by We have all experienced this, either first hand or from a friend telling us about their experience. But how does a freon leak occur? When a freon leak happens, where does it go? Is a freon leak safe for the environment? Can a freon leak be repaired? All of these questions (and more) often arise with home ownership. In the heating and air conditioning trades there has been a common misconception that freon leaks often and needs to be “topped off” from year to year. Many homeowners believe that a freon leak is what is causing their system to not turn on during the hot summer months. Like air in a car tire, when it’s low it needs to be filled up. However, if the hole isn’t addressed, then the air will continue to leak out and cause other problems with the vehicle.

The same is true regarding a freon leak. Once a freon leak occurs, a service technician can add more to correct the charge but until the cause of the leak is diagnosed and resolved, the freon leak will continue. In many instances, freon leaks will gradually get worse as time goes on. Leaks often start out as “pinhole leaks”. The industry has coined these as “champagne leaks” because the freon leak will often show up as tiny bubbles. A freon leak will often show up in the evaporator coil. This is the most common spot. The freon is mostly a superheated gas while in the evaporator coil and can therefore leak from smaller holes. Freon is part gas and part liquid, depending on where the chemical is in the process and in the system. When freon leaks as a liquid, this often occurs outside. This is a more uncommon place for a leak to show up and will often cost more when it does. Freon leaks are unsafe for the environment because of the capability to deplete the ozone layer.

More important than that though is the possibility for freon to enter the airflow inside the interior of the home. This chemical can be sensed by some and will often report a foul-smelling odor coming from their hvac system when it kicks on. All that being said, the common idea that freon leaks over time is a myth and is simply not true. The system does not consume the freon over a period of time. Nor does it get absorbed into the copper tubing. The only place for the freon to go is out- through a leak in the system. One of our past articles dives into WHY some service companies would say the freon is bad… A freon leak can happen from a variety of different methods. I’ll cover the most common ones here.What about a lesser known cause? This corrosion will advance at quicker stages when their is more moisture present on the evaporator coils. Moisture develops from the air traveling across the coil and being condensed-just like rain clouds in the atmosphere. Undersized ductwork or dirt filters can cause a freon leak to develop at quicker rates.

The long term solution is to insist that evaporator coils made from all-aluminum be installed in your home. Trane began manufacturing all-aluminum coils in 2005 and have great success with this material. Through extensive testing and engineering, Trane has found that aluminum is resistant to formicary corrosion. They carry exclusive patents on their all aluminum evaporator coils and a wise choice when needing to install a new coil. We have been testing repair methods that allow a freon leak to be temporarily taken care of but not permanently resolved. We have not found enough success in our early testing to offer this as a recommended repair solution for our customers. In most cases the most permanent repair solution is to replace the entire evap. coil instead of trying to weld the pinholes throughout the system. Welding a small leak can cost several hundreds of dollars and most of the time more leaks will show up later; costing more money in the long run. Trane coils are the best long-term solution if you want to avoid any freon leaks in the future.

I think we can all imagine lots of ways to spend our hard-earned cash instead of dumping it into freon and evaporator coils… What to do if your air conditioner is leaking freon Our service technicians will locate the leak of the freon, upon your approval, and will then provide options to repair. If the leak can be repaired as a cheaper solution, we will provide you the cost. If more work is entailed, we will let you know all costs upfront before proceeding on the work. Our goal is to fix something once and for all. We always look for the root cause and seek to address that before repairing parts… Our service technicians have a variety of methods available at their disposal, such as: If you think your system is low on freon or is leaking, look at the repair history of the unit. Often times your air conditioner will have oil stains around the service ports outside if it is leaking freon. If the freon leak is in a tough spot, it can sometimes cost $1000’s to have the issue resolved.