AC Leaking Water in Concord

AC Leaking Water in Concord

Water around a Concord air handler is a drainage problem in nearly every case, not a dead system. The coil pulls moisture from the air as it cools, a pan collects it, and a line drains it outside. When the line clogs or the pan or float fails, the water overflows indoors. Because Concord systems run so many hours in summer, they produce a lot of condensate, and a drain that's been marginal all spring tends to give out under that load.

Plenty of Concord homes date to the postwar tract era, and the air handler is commonly in a closet, garage, or attic. The attic units are the ones that stain ceilings. The closet and garage installs show up as water on the floor. Either way the fix is almost always one part: a cleared line, a new float switch, a condensate pump, or a pan. The compressor and coil are usually fine.

Concord's Diablo Valley heat is the real driver. Long stretches in the 90s through the core of summer keep the system cycling for hours, and the condensate stream is steady. That's why the water calls cluster in the first sustained heat, the same window when we're busiest on AC repairs of every kind.

Common causes

Clogged condensate drain line. The most common cause, and more so here because heavy runtime feeds steady condensate that algae thrives on. We clear the line from the outside termination with a wet vac, flush it, and confirm full flow before we close up.

Overflowing or rusted drain pan. On older Concord systems the primary pan can rust through, or the secondary pan sits full because the float never tripped. We inspect both, and when the primary is corroded we put a pan replacement in writing rather than patching a leak that will return.

Failed condensate pump. Garage and closet handlers that can't drain by gravity rely on a pump, and under heavy summer duty those pumps jam or burn out and overflow. We test the float and motor and replace the pump same-visit on most units.

Frozen coil thawing off. In Concord's heat a coil low on refrigerant or starved by a dirty filter ices over, then dumps more water than the drain can handle when it melts. We read pressures on the gauges and check airflow, because clearing the drain without fixing the freeze just sets up the next overflow.

Stuck float switch. The safety float should shut the system down before the pan overflows. When it's stuck or bypassed the AC keeps filling the pan. We confirm the float actually interrupts the circuit and replace it when it doesn't.

How we diagnose it

• Trace the drain line from the coil pan to its outside termination and find where it's backing up.
• Inspect both the primary and any secondary pan for rust, cracks, and standing water.
• Read refrigerant pressures and check the filter and blower, since Concord heat makes freeze-and-thaw leaks common.
• Test the condensate pump float and motor where the install uses one.
• Verify the float switch shuts the system off and reseat or replace it if it doesn't.

$75 diagnostic, credited toward any repair over $200. You get a written quote before any work begins.

AC Leaking Water in Concord: common questions

Nearby and related

AC Leaking Water near Concord: Walnut Creek · Martinez .

This is usually a ac repair in Concord job. See our ac repair overview or the Concord service area.