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 03:52 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)