AC Leaking Water in Los Gatos

AC Leaking Water in Los Gatos

A leaking AC is almost never a dead system. The unit pulls humidity out of your air, and that water is meant to drain away cleanly. When it shows up on the floor instead, something in the drainage path failed. A clogged line is the usual cause. It can also be an overflowing pan, a stuck float, or a pump that quit. In most Los Gatos homes we can isolate the part on the first visit.

Los Gatos housing splits this problem in two. The hillside homes above town tend to run full ducted systems with the air handler in a closet or attic, which drains by gravity and clogs the way any long PVC run clogs. Downtown is a different animal. A lot of the older Victorians and Craftsmans got cooling through ductless mini-splits or retrofitted air handlers tucked into a closet or basement. Where the drain sits below the line it has to reach, a condensate pump does the lifting, and when that pump fails the water has nowhere to go.

We see both failure modes here. The fix is usually one component. The reason to act quickly in an older downtown home is the finish work: original plaster and wood floors that water ruins fast. Shut the system off and let us find the part. Our diagnostic is $75, credited toward any repair over $200, with the part and labor on a written estimate first.

Common causes

Failed condensate pump. Common in downtown Los Gatos basements and retrofits where the drain has to be pumped uphill to a drain line. When the pump motor burns out or the float inside it sticks, the reservoir overflows. We test the pump, check its float and check valve, and replace it if it is dead. A new pump is an inexpensive part and a fast fix.

Clogged condensate drain line. On gravity-drained hillside systems, algae and dust plug the PVC and the pan overflows. We clear the line with a vacuum at the termination, blow it out, and flush it until it runs clean. We also check the slope, since a sagging line in a long attic run holds water and re-clogs.

Mini-split drain or condensate issue. Wall-mounted ductless heads drain through a small flexible line inside the wall. A kink, a clog, or a line that lost its slope sends water down the wall instead of outside. On a retrofit this shows up as a stain below the head. We clear or re-route the drain line and confirm it sheds water properly.

Overflowing or rusted drain pan. When the primary line clogs first, the pan fills and eventually overflows or rusts through at the low corner. We inspect the pan, clear its drain, and replace it if it is corroded. A standing-water pan always means we look upstream for the original blockage too.

Frozen coil thawing. A dirty filter, low airflow, or low refrigerant freezes the evaporator coil into a block of ice. When the system shuts off, it melts and overruns the pan. We check the filter and blower first, then read refrigerant charge with gauges. We do not add refrigerant blindly to a system that is icing for an airflow reason.

How we diagnose it

• Locate the water source and identify whether the system is gravity-drained or pump-assisted, which changes the whole diagnosis.
• On pumped systems, test the condensate pump, its float, and check valve.
• Inspect the air filter and blower airflow, then clear and flush the condensate line and confirm flow to the outside.
• Check the float switch so the system shuts down before the pan overflows next time.
• Read refrigerant pressures if there is frost or weak cooling alongside the water.

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

AC Leaking Water in Los Gatos: common questions

Nearby and related

AC Leaking Water near Los Gatos: Saratoga · San Jose · Cupertino .

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