Check Your AC!

I had a client this week call with an unusual problem. He had water flowing out of the bricks on his front porch! Wow! I mean, flowing out from under the front door threshold!! Now, I've seen a lot of weird stuff in 12 years of home inspecting, but never this

Not a plumbing leak as there was no plumbing in that area.

Not a roof leak, roof was intact and no problems observed.

What could it be?

As I walked into the house and down the front hall I noticed that the AC closet was near the front of the house. Instinct said, "Check under the AC." I listen to Instinct, he's been right a lot in the past.

Sure enough, there was about one inch of standing water in the return air plenum under the unit. And the float switch was not installed properly, so it was no help.

An inspection of an adjacent bedroom/home office revealed wet carpet in most of the room. The home owners generally had shoes on when they were in the room, so they never noticed the wet carpet.

I advised the homeowners to get professional help ASAP. The carpet needed to removed and dried. The slab needed to dry thoroughly and the laminate flooring in the hall may need to come up. Yuck!

But, now they know why there was water flowing out of the bricks!

Moral of this story: Have your AC serviced in the early spring and don't forget to put your bleach in the condensate line every month during the hot season. Oh, and get the AC guy to test your float switch. Don't have one? Get one! About $80 installed.