[landlords]

I have been dealing with this problem for a while now not knowing it was the suction line all along. It started some time back with a tiny wet spot in a bedroom ceiling. I figured a roof leak and had repairs done. Some time after the roof repair a new wet spot next to the first one then some time after that an additional wet spot in that bedrooms walk-in closet. I removed a 6" square of drywall in the closets ceiling an discovered the a/c lines came into the structure at this point then crossed over a tie beam right over where the ceiling in the bedroom was damaged. The line continues furthur until the airhandler. My biggest problem is that my home has no attic or crawl space. I remodeled my home some time back and had an a/c contractor design the system to work with the limited truss space. All lines and ducts had to be in place before the ceilings could go up. What a nightmare that was. I have since exposed the line in the bedrooms ceiling (affected area only) and inspected the foam insulation covering the copper line as best as possible with the limited space. It seems intact but, on the flip side where the line goes to the exterior of my home the foam insulation is extremely degraded around the suction line coming to the compressor unit. I discovered this after removing the sheet metal housing attached to the exterior wall that protects the a/c lines. Could this be the cause for the excessive condensation present on the lines inside the rooms that have damaged ceilings? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated and I apologize for the lengthy write up, thank you. :confused:

Angel M.

[hvac1000]

Any bare suction copper refrigerant lines can condense and drip. Usually those lines are insulated with a CLOSED CELL foam type insulation called Armaflex or Rubbatex. Where these joints meet they are supposed to have a piece of Armaflex laped over the top and around the meeting area but no one hardly ever does that. Sorry I can not add more since I would need a visual inspection to see exactly what is happening.

[mygirlsdad77]

Now that you have a hole where the water damage is, wait for actuall water to start dripping, and then follow the source, this may require opening more ceiling. When you find the source of the drip, let us know. If there is any exposed suction line, it is probably your problem. If the only exposed portion of suction line is outside, the condenstion may be running into armaflex and leaking at any point that armaflex is torn(common to tear insolation when running line set through tight holes, and its easy to miss the tears when inspecting line set). Just going to have to keep exploring the situation and find the source of leak. Good luck and please do let us know what you find. Lee.

[landlords]

Thanks for the replies, HVAC1000 & Mygirlsdad. I couldn't tell you if the foam insulation over the copper suction line is armaflex but, I will ask the contractor who did the work originally. The length of suction line on the exterior is about a 9 foot verticle run into the compressor unit, the foam insulation as I mentioned earlier is very degraded and at certain points the copper is exposed to the hot ambient air. I leave in South Florida, the Miami area to be more specific. The humidity here is murder, can this condition with the exterior verticle line cause the condensation up stream? I can reach about 2 feet into the bedroom ceiling opening and the insulation is damp to the touch. That original wet spot area is about 2-1/2 feet away from were the lines exit to the exterior. There are no other wet spots or signs of trouble further into my home from the affected bedroom. The run from the air handler to the point of exit out is roughly 25-30 feet. Thanks again for the help.