Allow me to apologize in advance if this is miscategorized, I see a lot of large central AC questions on this forum and realize this may be small potatoes compared to those.

I have a standup AC unit that has a window vent hose and a small hose at the bottom where water is drained. My issue is that it is putting out what I assume to be far more water through this hose than is normal.

In the first 8 hours we had the AC running it put out well over 5 litres of water. This normally wouldn't be a problem for me, I'd just put a huge tub behind the AC unit and drain it every few days, however if the drain hose is tilted up at all there isn't enough pressure for the water to be pushed up into the tub, and it starts to leak at the bottom of the unit where the hose connects. This causes me to have to drain the small pan I have behind it every 2 or 3 hours, and I can't run it overnight or it will overflow and get water everywhere! Hence my post here.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide!

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Originally Posted by myapartmentstoohot

Allow me to apologize in advance if this is miscategorized, I see alot of large central AC questions on this forum and realize this may be small potatoes compared to those.

I have a standup AC unit that has a window vent hose and a small hose at the bottom where water is drained. My issue is that it is putting out what I assume to be far more water through this hose than is normal.

In the first 8 hours we had the AC running it put out well over 5 litres of water. This normally wouldn't be a problem for me, I'd just put a huge tub behind the AC unit and drain it every few days, however if the drain hose is tilted up at all there isn't enough pressure for the water to be pushed up into the tub, and it starts to leak at the bottom of the unit where the hose connects. This causes me to have to drain the small pan I have behind it every 2 or 3 hours, and I can't run it overnight or it will overflow and get water everywhere! Hence my post here.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide!

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Unless there is water dripping onto/into the unit from elsewhere, the source of that water has to be condensation on the cooling coil. For the volume of water to increase there, then either: 1) the incoming air being cooled is holding more water (has a higher dewpoint) that is condensed when the air is cooled, 2) the outgoing, cooled air is dryer (has been cooled to a lower temperature) so more water is removed in reaching that low dewpoint temperature, 3) a greater volume of air is being cooled (and proportionately more water must be removed), or 4) some combination of the 3. Anything strike a chord? Has it gotten much hotter and more humid? Is the unit running much longer? Does the air leaving the unit feel colder?

The other possibility is that water is not being removed over the condenser coil into the exhaust. Some of these A/C units use condensation water from the evaporator (cooling) coil to help cool the condenser (warm) coil. I understand that the water is dripped/sprayed over the outside of the hot coil and evaporates. That water vapor is then blown out of the unit with the warm air through the exhaust vent pipe. This provides 2 benefits. First, it helps get rid of some of the condensate water without your intervention, and 2nd it helps improve the cooling performance of the unit.

I don't know what to look for with this problem. Maybe verify that the air filters are clean so that the airflow over the condenser coil is normal. Check the manual and see if it claims to have this feature to see if it's a possible cause. If you can see the condenser coil, see if you can observe water on its exterior, or any plumbing that could be involved in the delivery of that water. If you see the plumbing, but no water, look for kinks, leaks, etc.

Sorry that I couldn't give a more definitive answer.