Any A/C professionals?

jbadjones · May 13, 2017

So, I normally can google things and come up with an answer, but I'm totally stumped. A few days ago my neighbor approached me and told me that their entire backyard was flooded and it seemed to be flowing from my yard to theirs. I walk into my backyard and sure enough the ground is soggy and mushy and the neighbors yard has standing water. We have no sprinkler systems, and the only thing close to the area is our outside AC unit.

I turn the unit off for a few days and there is no more water. Yesterday I turn the AC unit on and run it normally, not really thinking about it. After about 6 hours I walk into my backyard and there are large pools or water in my yard and my neighbors yard is flooded even worse than the prior time this happened. I went outside first thing that morning and my yard and neighbors yard were both dry. The AC seems to be the contributing factor because I can't think of anything else that would be causing it and it happens whenever I run the AC.

Filters are clean, unit is 3-4 years old. Any idea what might be causing this? It is definitely way more water than normal condensation would cause. Also, the concrete slab the unit is on is always bone dry.

sandman7925 · May 13, 2017

Any underground water pipes back there?

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SVTFreak · May 13, 2017

Is that outside unit fan cooled condenser or do you have a water cooled condenser outside (that would be unusual, most of that type would be inside). If water cooled, you have a water pipe underground that cools the water by putting that heat to the ground. That system could have a leak. That's the only thing that could tie the ac to the water.

jbadjones · May 13, 2017

sandman7925 said:
Any underground water pipes back there?

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I wouldn't assume so. We do have a swimming pool but those pipes are on a total opposite side of the yard.

shrxfn · May 13, 2017

There are usually two drains for the inside blower unit to get rid of water that condenses on the inside of the blower unit coils. the main one usually goes into your normal house drain and out to your sewer/septic. If that drain plugs then there is usually an overflow pipe that will just drain outside of the house. For instance mine goes from the attic unit drip pan to the eave of the house and I can see it dripping out by my kitchen window so I know that the main drain plugged and i need to clean it out. You will need to check this quick because the secondary drain is usually setup to catch the overflow that is in the drip pan leaking from the blower unit so if your main drain is clogged then that means your drip pan is filling up and could overflow and cause water leakage in the house.

I am not an AC pro but this happened at my house and we did not catch it until too late and the water overflow caused the sheetrock in my daughters room to get wet and it fell off the rafters dropping sheetrock and insulation into her room. Luckily she was not in it at the time or I would have been gunning for the contractor that built the house and did the AC as it was not done correctly and I had to pay to get it done right.

SVTFreak · May 13, 2017

The above is correct, but that much water would not wet two backyards. That's a small amount. What he has is a huge amount of water.

Def not a bad idea to keep an eye on them drains though. A properly ran drain with a pee trap and the right slope shouldn't ever give you any trouble. Older houses may not have a second drain on the outside pan. But a cut off switch to stop the compressor.

dantheman · May 13, 2017

Also check your plenum and ductwork around the unit upstairs and make sure that there are no air leaks that would contribute warm humid air to the return .

bigtattoo79 · May 13, 2017

SVTFreak said:
Is that outside unit fan cooled condenser or do you have a water cooled condenser outside (that would be unusual, most of that type would be inside). If water cooled, you have a water pipe underground that cools the water by putting that heat to the ground. That system could have a leak. That's the only thing that could tie the ac to the water.

While most people don't have that type of system some do. And I agree it's pretty much the only way I could see an a/c flooding the back yard.

EJAIII · May 13, 2017

There has to be a compromised pipe somewhere

swampfoxx · May 14, 2017

When I built my first house in '87, I put in a water-cooled system. It had 2400' of 1-1/2" pipe 6' underground. 12 - 100' long trenches (200' out and back). Worked great. About 5 years after I sold it, new owner calls me and says there is a leak in the yard, and would I show him how the pipes were run. I go out there to show him how it's run, and he has poured a driveway over it. I still showed him the layout, but good luck finding and fixing it. You can do it with a deep well also, but I am a DIY guy and didn't want to hire a welldigger.

cajun 22 · May 14, 2017

You have to have a water cooled system. There is no way any standard unit will produce that much water.

stag0608 · May 14, 2017

cajun 22 said:
You have to have a water cooled system. There is no way any standard unit will produce that much water.

I agree. Pics of the outside unit will help.

Any A/C professionals?

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