Isabella versus the Air Conditioner
Jul. 19th, 2010 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
isabelladangeloI won! :-)
Okay, so Thursday I stop by my house to get some clothes and find the floor beneath the window in my bedroom a sopping mess. My socks that were there (a pile of mismatches and I'm trying to find the matches) were soaked through and the rags I keep beneath the air conditioner just in case it leaks were completely saturated. Quickly, I turned it off and got everything cleaned up as best I could and just hoped it wouldn't get too warm upstairs. (I have another unit downstairs and it works fine.)
Saturday night, I get home and really didn't think about it because downstairs was nice and cool. When I did go upstairs, it was warm but not hot. Still, I opened the bathroom window and went about trying to figure out where this leak was this time. It's leaked before and, last time, it was just I learned I needed to clean the filter.
A bit more back story, I've had central air from the time I was five until I bought this house. I've never really been around window units and really, truly, am clueless as to how they even work let alone what you do besides pressing a button to make them cool the room. Over the past couple of days, I've learned a LOT.
Anyway, I check the coils behind the filter and they look fine but there is a lot of water in the pan at the bottom. A lot. So I try to clean that out and can't really and I try to clean the coils thinking that might be the problem and put the A/C back on. Well, after a couple of hours, it starts to leak again.
I give up and figure I'll deal with it in the morning and when I can take a good look at in the daylight. I just put towels around the bottom of the unit and hope they don't get too soaked through the night. The one right beneath the unit is but the one I spread out on the floor is fine when I wake up.
So, daylight. I read up on how you need to clean behind the coils too. Hmmm... Considering I've done that like never it probably would be the problem. I also learn that there is some sort of drain behind the coils and that it can get plugged up with gunk. Okay, cool. I go back upstairs and try to figure out how to pull the A/C out of it's case in the window which got fun but I managed to do it. And oh boy....
First, the water started to come out of it like a faucet since I had the A/C tilted. Luckily, I was prepared for that and put puppy pee pads down on the floor with some extra towels so that wasn't a big deal. What was a big deal was the bottom of the A/C behind the coils was nothing but mud. Thick brownish black mud. With leaves. Yuck. I truly, in that moment, wanted a wet vac just to deal with all the gunk. Unfortunately, I don't have one so paper towels and way too much windex it is!
Because of the way the A/C is built and because there was no way I pulling the entire thing out, I used a clog destroying piece of wire that had formerly been a coat hanger to help get all the debris out of the drain in the back of the A/C. I was just yanking out tons of mud and sludge and it was gross. After I had enough of it out to fill up a small flower pot, I saw that the drain led to one side of the A/C and there was even more debris there. I managed to get the entire thing unclogged and got it so it was only muddy water in the back of the A/C not actual mud. I swear, I could have had a garden in the back of that thing!
Once it was mostly clean (there is no way to get it completely clean without yanking the entire unit out and taking a hose to it) I put the unit back into the casing and turned it on, hoping that it worked. After one hour, dry as a bone. After seven, still dry. :-) Around ten at night, I can hear the water falling, but it's falling OUTSIDE like it's supposed to and not inside the house. So, I fixed the A/C! Woohoo!
Now, to remind myself to clean it this fall when I take it out of the window upstairs. :-)
Okay, so Thursday I stop by my house to get some clothes and find the floor beneath the window in my bedroom a sopping mess. My socks that were there (a pile of mismatches and I'm trying to find the matches) were soaked through and the rags I keep beneath the air conditioner just in case it leaks were completely saturated. Quickly, I turned it off and got everything cleaned up as best I could and just hoped it wouldn't get too warm upstairs. (I have another unit downstairs and it works fine.)
Saturday night, I get home and really didn't think about it because downstairs was nice and cool. When I did go upstairs, it was warm but not hot. Still, I opened the bathroom window and went about trying to figure out where this leak was this time. It's leaked before and, last time, it was just I learned I needed to clean the filter.
A bit more back story, I've had central air from the time I was five until I bought this house. I've never really been around window units and really, truly, am clueless as to how they even work let alone what you do besides pressing a button to make them cool the room. Over the past couple of days, I've learned a LOT.
Anyway, I check the coils behind the filter and they look fine but there is a lot of water in the pan at the bottom. A lot. So I try to clean that out and can't really and I try to clean the coils thinking that might be the problem and put the A/C back on. Well, after a couple of hours, it starts to leak again.
I give up and figure I'll deal with it in the morning and when I can take a good look at in the daylight. I just put towels around the bottom of the unit and hope they don't get too soaked through the night. The one right beneath the unit is but the one I spread out on the floor is fine when I wake up.
So, daylight. I read up on how you need to clean behind the coils too. Hmmm... Considering I've done that like never it probably would be the problem. I also learn that there is some sort of drain behind the coils and that it can get plugged up with gunk. Okay, cool. I go back upstairs and try to figure out how to pull the A/C out of it's case in the window which got fun but I managed to do it. And oh boy....
First, the water started to come out of it like a faucet since I had the A/C tilted. Luckily, I was prepared for that and put puppy pee pads down on the floor with some extra towels so that wasn't a big deal. What was a big deal was the bottom of the A/C behind the coils was nothing but mud. Thick brownish black mud. With leaves. Yuck. I truly, in that moment, wanted a wet vac just to deal with all the gunk. Unfortunately, I don't have one so paper towels and way too much windex it is!
Because of the way the A/C is built and because there was no way I pulling the entire thing out, I used a clog destroying piece of wire that had formerly been a coat hanger to help get all the debris out of the drain in the back of the A/C. I was just yanking out tons of mud and sludge and it was gross. After I had enough of it out to fill up a small flower pot, I saw that the drain led to one side of the A/C and there was even more debris there. I managed to get the entire thing unclogged and got it so it was only muddy water in the back of the A/C not actual mud. I swear, I could have had a garden in the back of that thing!
Once it was mostly clean (there is no way to get it completely clean without yanking the entire unit out and taking a hose to it) I put the unit back into the casing and turned it on, hoping that it worked. After one hour, dry as a bone. After seven, still dry. :-) Around ten at night, I can hear the water falling, but it's falling OUTSIDE like it's supposed to and not inside the house. So, I fixed the A/C! Woohoo!
Now, to remind myself to clean it this fall when I take it out of the window upstairs. :-)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 03:21 pm (UTC)My favorite line:
"a clog destroying piece of wire"
no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 04:00 pm (UTC)Really, the old bent wire coat hanger has become an amazing tool. It's very useful on old doors that normally adorable two year old nephews lock themselves behind because they think it's funny and for grabbing things you can't quite reach.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 04:03 pm (UTC)It was just...sludge. Very icky but once I got the leaves, pollen, and God knows what else out of there, it looked much better.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 11:56 pm (UTC)