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Hoping someone can help us out on what we need to do here. I've no idea what, if any, laws apply to protect consumers from sloppy AC work.
I live in Austin, TX. 2 weeks ago, AC repair came by because our the line going outside from the AC was freezing. They supposedly had already fixed it 2-3 months ago, but obviously it hadn't worked.
Well, now that's fixed. The line is not freezing anymore. However, it looks like whatever they did up in the attic caused water to start leaking. From the looks of it, the water pooled on the ceiling (there's a bulge up there where the drops were falling) and it also accumulated in the wall, where we can now see a line of moisture along the wall, along with some drooping paint.
I called the AC company again, they're sending someone to take a look.
My question is, how big a deal is it that it looks like for 2 weeks water's been accumulating on the wall? Should I be concerned? And is the AC company on the hook to fix this? I'm thinking we'll have a fight on our hands if we say they'll need to fix whatever damage happened to ceiling and wall.
The fire alarm is now going off randomly throughout the house, so I'm assuming water got into that as well.
Now that the AC is cooling you may have a clogged drain line for the condensation. Have you been in your attic and looked to see if the overflow pan is full of water ?
There is an air pipe to the drain line and about 3 times a year I pour a mix of 2/3 water and 1/3 bleach down it to flush out the line and keep it from clogging.
I'll bet your AC guy is not at fault and you've neglected maintaining your system. That line needs to be flushed out so your AC will drain. Also ask him about the secondary drain line. It should route the water outside if the main line clogs.
Yes, I went upstairs. There is no water in the overflow pan. I saw one of the pvc pipes that comes out of the AC leaking water directly into the attic floor. From the looks of it, it appears the AC repairman disconnected it, did not reconnect it.
Took a video just to be on the safe side.
Plus, the house is 6 years old. And these guys supposedly did maintenance on the AC when they did the duct work, and installed a central air filter, fixed it not 3 months ago.
You should be OK on the mold but I would put a fan in the attic to blow air and dry it out for a few days. That pipe may have come disconnected by itself or by the AC guy. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air and it needs to drain somewhere. You need to pay attention to it draining and do the bleach water mix I mentioned. Get your AC guy to show you.
Is your filters in the attic ? I go in mine about 4-5 times a year to change filters and check out the drain pan.
I would say right off that you have more than one problem. Assuming that the unit is in the attic, it has a primary drain line. I assume that's the line they say was "freezing". It wasn't freezing but if you haven't been keeping clorox in it once a month, it probably clogged with algae which is common in Texas. You also have a secondary drain pan that sits under the entire unit. The purpose of this pan is to catch any water should the primary drain become clogged. The drain for the secondary pan is supposed to exit at a conspicuous location, like over a door, window, somewhere that is highly visible. No water should be escaping from both.
But I do have concerns that yer A/C guy may be clueless if he told you the drain line was frozen- they don't in Texas heat. They can become clogged like I said but they don't freeze.
I'll bet his compressor or outside line was "frozen" due to low Freon not the drain line. Low Freon causes the compressor to work longer and freezes. (I think).
Ok. From the looks of it, the primary drain line "somehow" was disconnected (I had no idea what it was until AC guy said what it was). Not sure where it discharges the water. So the water was all falling on the attic floor, and going down our wall. We don't know for how long.
The line that was getting frozen was the one that goes to the fan. 1st guy from AC company that came said the freon was fine, used a tool to measure pressure. But he obviously missed the actual cause. It was the 2nd guy (3rd visit from company) who said that the insulation inside the unit in the attic was loose, getting sucked into the fan and stopping airflow, which was causing the freezing to occur. He used industrial glue to put it back where it was supposed to go.
3rd AC guy (same company) came yesterday and didn't really see where the problem was, so I showed him video on my phone of the pvc pipe where the water was coming out. He glued it back up.
We now have a company coming over to supposedly dry the wall/rug, remove some wet dry wall. After several days of fans & dehumedifiers, they then repatch everything again, and repaint. Hallway already smells musty.
We'll call AC company again and complain, see where it takes us. We're also filling claim with insurance.
OP. Good Luck.... Keep us posted about what the insurance company says and whether you find other problems due to this.
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