What Is the Water in Your Condensate Drain?

We get a lot of questions about the water that comes out of the condensate drain outside their houses.  They want to know why we clean it on a regular basis.  The condensate comes off of the indoor air conditioner coil.  Because it is colder than the return air, it condenses water.  This is one way it cools your home and lowers the humidity.

When the water condenses and runs into the condensate drain, a few things happen:

  • All the fine particles from your home that come through the filter are washed out in the condensate. They will settle in the drain.

  • If the condensate drain gets full enough, it can run over and ruin your ceiling.

  • If water isn’t condensing, you have a refrigerant problem.

We like to clean the drain every year so that it doesn’t give you any problems.  We also like to install a whole house filter so that the dirt in the condensate doesn’t get into unit.  A wet evaporator coil is equal to a 6 Merv filter.  If the air going into your unit is not filtered and your evaporator coil is wet, a lot of dirt will stick to your evaporator coil.

For more information on our regular maintenance services, give us a call!  Also, check out our new maintenance plans page.

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