Air conditioner leak

[mmayville]

Has anyone had a leak from the front vents of the A/C from the condenser? I checked my A/C install and it seems that the top channel where the bolt holes are drilled to mount the A/C fills with water and instead of running out from under the A/C onto the roof it leaks inside the unit from the vents. I have tried to adjust the level of the unit to stop the leak but it moves the leak from one side of the front vent to the other side. Unless I put the unit in to one heck of a lean the water continues to leak. I adjusted the unit nose high and stopped the leak and it runs down the side of the door and does not leak inside. But if I adjust the unit back to level the inside leak starts again. I did notice that the drain rail for the water on top of the unit near the A/C is slightly leaning downward towards the A/C unit which will cause the A/C unit to leak inside. But there has to be a way to shim the top mount from the inside to raise the channel back up for the air to drain outside again. I have chiseled out a 1 1/2 deep section below the mount and put in a 1x2 to support the air conditioning unit but is does not seem to be enough to raise the edge of the drain channel to allow the air conditioner to drain outside. I am open to any fixes, suggestions.

Mike

[Bill]

There was a discussion not long ago (with pictures!) about the air conditioner's drain pan, where it is located, how it drains (through a tube), and how to unclog the tube. Perhaps someone will post a link to the discussion, or a Search on "drain pan" might find it.

This is it http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...d.php?t=18132]

You should not have to reseat or adjust the air conditioner itself - just push a wire or a pipe cleaner through the tube. The condensate does not drain under the unit, but as I recall, from the side of the unit and down onto the roof.

Bill

[tentcamper]

When you have the AC open to clean the drain tube, clean the inside coil with coil cleaner.

[mmayville]

My particular unit does not have the drain tube. It seems that it is an add on for the water to drain. I did notice that the front of the unit where it is mounted that the drain rail is low in the front where it should be higher so the water drains from under the unit onto the roof either front or rear depending on how you level the unit. I am going to shim the front of the A/C to bring the drain rail up so the water drains away from the A/C and see how that affects the way the water drains away from the unit. We are expecting a heavy rain tomorrow so I will shim the front of the A/C this evening to see if it fixes the leak. The four bolts that hold the mounting brace in place maybe too tight causing the front of the A/C to pull the drain rail down towards the inside of the unit. Will let you know how it turns out.

Mike

[Bill]

Originally Posted by mmayville

My particular unit ...

Mike -

What is your particular unit? You are describing some things that I'm not recognizing.

The words "drain tube" may be misleading. It is more of a hole than a tube. In one of the references above, the serviceman says
"on most roof top A/C/ units, the condensation drains out the bottom of the unit - between the base of the air conditioner and the roof. For this reason, never, ever seal around the perimeter of the air conditioner - I cannot say how many times I have had to deal with a unit where someone slopped goop around the base of the air conditioner, trapping water in where it has to leak inside. The "inside" coils of the air conditioner sit in a drain pan, to collect the condensation, which then runs out a small hole in the side, and out the bottom."

Bill

[mmayville]

Originally Posted by Bill

Mike -

What is your particular unit? You are describing some things that I'm not recognizing.

The words "drain tube" may be misleading. It is more of a hole than a tube. In one of the references above, the serviceman says
"on most roof top A/C/ units, the condensation drains out the bottom of the unit - between the base of the air conditioner and the roof. For this reason, never, ever seal around the perimeter of the air conditioner - I cannot say how many times I have had to deal with a unit where someone slopped goop around the base of the air conditioner, trapping water in where it has to leak inside. The "inside" coils of the air conditioner sit in a drain pan, to collect the condensation, which then runs out a small hole in the side, and out the bottom."

Bill

I will take pictures when I am out there this afternoon to show how the top of the air conditioner is sitting on the cowling for the mount.

[makriegz]

Hi all,

I know this is a 6 year old thread now, but it has the right title, so others can find it.

I have been chasing down an AC leak, and wanted to post some pics to help others, and also share my latest discovery, which is where I'm unsure what to do next.

I have a 2007 3124KS. The AC is a Coleman Polar Mach 9203c876. I couldn't find a brand anywhere on it, but as you start taking it apart, there are labels around with part number 9203c876.



To begin, anytime the AC was on cool, I had a constant drip (every few seconds) coming through the left vent (behind the selector switch, passenger side).



I got on the roof, started dismantling, and cleaned all this nasty gunk out. Made sure all the little holes around were un-clogged.





But that didn't change the leak at all, so I kept on. On the passenger side, I saw this sponge which people in the forum had described. I tried yanking on it but mine is pretty anchored in there and I didn't wanna mess with it too much.



So I started taking it further apart. By the way, I think it was Bill who shared this link about AC roof links, which was very helpful and gave me the courage to keep dismantling.

I had a bunch of nice shiny tape holding my evaporator cover on. Got that off to expose the evaporator coil.



I cleaned and felt all around. Discovered that water was pooling on that off-white piece of plastic in the center. And that was dripping off the left side, and through the left vent. I've got a video of it, here.

I could see what looked like the drain pan, but it was all locked in place. So I started dismantling these parts with high voltage warnings.



This exposed the drain pain.



There was a bunch of nasty gunk in the pan, and dammed up along the base of the coil. I think that means the initial leak couldn't get to the drain pan, because of the dam of gunk.

I got a toothbrush to scoop all that out. Jammed my finger down in the drain hole to clear that out. I also sprayed the evaporator coil with 409. Others had recommended "coil cleaner". Then I sprayed it with water so the gunk in the coil also dripped down. And I cleaned all that out of the pan.

Finally, this fixed the internal leak!!

But, there is still some water finding its way back inside. I noticed that when the water drips through the drip pan, it's pooling on the yellowish surface, the base of the AC. So I suspect that the water is either (1) coming in through a crack in the top of the yellow plastic, or (2) dripping off the plastic, pooling on the roof, and coming back in through a gap in the sealant at the base of the yellow plastic.

I've also been following the remaining leak, as it's been coming in through a few different places. I've found water dripping off of the front left spring-loaded screw. But more often, I've seen it coming in through this screw hole here, with water gathering all along that lip.



I took that shroud off, and found water pooling on top of the metal roof layer, near this crack.



I don't understand the anatomy of this part of the roof and AC. My best guess is that this white wood paneling with the crack in it is what's holding up the yellowish plastic. And it seems that there is water flowing through the crack, and then down through the screw holes. That's why I'm thinking the water is either dripping through the top or the bottom of the yellowing plastic, then finding it's way through this crack, and back inside.

My first thought was to seal up the crack in the wood, but then the water would just pool up there in the inner layers, which would become very problematic. Any ideas on how to trace down the potential crack in the yellow base?

Hmm perhaps I could carve out the big whole in the drain pan, and route a short length of tubing to bypass the yellow piece, and run the water straight onto the roof.

Hope this is helpful to others, and thanks in advance for any ideas.

[Bill]

It's been a long time since I delved as deeply into the construction as you describe. But I would concentrate on the drain pan. All of the water that drips off any part of the air conditioner should drip into the drain pan. In earlier days (including 2007) the drain pan had an opening that simply drooled the water onto the roof, and it ran away in whatever direction it could. Sometimes an unexpected direction, especially of the crown of the roof was collapsing. More recently, a clear vinyl hose was attached to the drain pan outlet, and led a couple inches over the edge of the roof. Now the water drips onto the ground.

You might try adding a nipple to the drain pan outlet if it doesn't have one, and then adding a length of vinyl hose over the edge of the roof.

Of course it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that the nipple and hose must be cleared of all gunk and goop that might block it. Again in the older days, it was common to find that the drain pan outlet was clogged, making the pan overflow in areas where it wasn't supposed to.

Let us know.

Bill

[Shane826]

Can we make this a new thread instead of resurrecting a 6 year old zombie thread?