What causes an air-conditioner to leak?

After continual use bacteria, mildew and mould tend to thrive in air conditioners here in Darwin. As the exit point for your drain is only approximately 10 mm in diameter it only takes a thin film of gunk to block this hole. As the water has nowhere to escape it will fill up the entire front drain pan and leak out of either side. 

Solution 1 - Do It Yourself: In emergency situations (like its stinking hot and I need my air-conditioner!!) you may be able to use a wet/dry vacuum at the pipe outlet outside. This may momentarily unblock the outlet and allow you to continue using your air-conditioner without it leaking. But remember, if a blockage has occurred it means your air-conditioner is in need of a clean as that mould, mildew and bacteria that was blocking your drain is more then likely sitting along your entire drain pan and throughout your unit!

Solution 2:  Get Advanced Clean Air - The Cleanest Air Anywhere experts in to give your air conditioner a deluxe clean, ridding your unit of all of the nasty stuff and bringing it back to like new condition.

This is most noticeable by seeing water drip down the back of the unit down the wall rather than out of the front of the unit. Where the back drain passes into the front drain of a split system it is only quite a small path making it extremely easy to become blocked if the unit hasn't been maintained. In some cases it can take only a small piece of fluff to block this and change the course of the water to allow it to leak out of your air-conditioner.

Solution: Unfortunately there is generally no "do it yourself" method for this as it will require a deluxe air conditioner clean. Again, you need to remember that if the unit has a blockage in the drain it is usually dirty throughout, and while paying someone to just "unblock" the drain may save you a few bucks up front it is only prolonging the inevitable of the unit leaking again soon after. 

The two main causes of this are that your air conditioner is short of refrigerant (gas) or that your air conditioner is extremely blocked. In ninety percent of cases low refrigerant is the cause and will require a repair technician to attend to find and report on what has caused this. If you are in doubt, you can always book in a clean with Advanced Clean Air as all of our technicians have all the required fault finding equipment to diagnose your issue.

If you would like to organise an air conditioner clean you can view our prices and book a time and date that suits you all in under two minutes with our real time scheduling system.