A split system makes water whenever it is cooling. Moisture from the room air condenses on the cold coil, drips into a tray and runs outside through a small drain hose. On a humid day that can be several litres. When water appears inside instead, something has stopped it getting out.
First, turn it off
Switch the unit off at the remote and put a towel down. Water running down a wall gets into plaster, skirting and power points quickly. Leaving it running in the hope it sorts itself out is how a small job becomes a repaint.
The three usual causes
- A dirty filter. Blocked filters starve the coil of air and it gets too cold.
- A blocked condensate drain. Dust and slime build up until the tray overflows.
- An iced coil. Ice forms on the coil, then melts and misses the tray.
The first one is yours to check. Open the front panel, slide out the mesh filters and look. If they are grey and furry, wash them under a lukewarm tap, let them dry and put them back.
If you can see ice
Frost or ice on the coil behind the filters means the unit needs to thaw. Leave it off, or run it on fan-only mode for an hour or two with a towel underneath. Do not chip at the ice or use a hair dryer. The fins are soft aluminium and they bend easily.
If the filters were filthy, cleaning them may be the whole fix. If the filters were clean and it iced up anyway, the system may be low on refrigerant, which means there is a leak. That is licensed work. Please do not buy a top-up kit online.
When to call
- The filters are clean and it still drips after a day.
- It ices up again once it has thawed.
- Water is coming from the back of the unit or inside the wall.
- The unit is also showing an error code or blinking light.
You can check that the drain hose outside is not kinked, squashed or sitting in a puddle. Leave the inside end alone. Poking wire up the drain or opening the casing tends to push the blockage further in or crack the tray.
A blocked drain is usually a quick fix: we flush it, clean the tray and test it with water before we leave. Most are sorted on the first visit.
If yours is dripping, our fixed diagnosis visit is $165 and we will tell you the cause before we repair anything.