04/08/2026
My Air Conditioning is Leaking Water: What Do I Do?
Found a puddle under your indoor unit, or water dripping from the vent when the air conditioning is running? First up: don’t panic, and don’t just chuck a towel down and forget about it. A leaking air conditioner can be a more common than you think, and the good news is it’s rarely a disaster, but it is something worth sorting quickly before it turns into a bigger problem (think warped floors, water-stained ceilings, or mould).
Here’s what’s likely going on, and what you should do about it.
Turn it off first
If you spot water pooling near your indoor unit, switch the system off at the wall. It won’t fix the leak, but it stops more water dripping onto your floors or ceiling while you work out what’s happening.
The usual suspect: a blocked condensate drain
Your air conditioning doesn’t just cool the air, it pulls moisture out of it too. That moisture has to go somewhere, and normally it drains away quietly through a condensate line you never think about. Over time, that line can clog up with dust, gunk, algae, or the odd curious critter. Once it’s blocked, the water backs up and finds the easiest way out, usually straight down the front of your unit and onto the floor.
Dirty filters causing ice build-up
If your filters haven’t been cleaned in a while, airflow over the indoor coil drops off. That coil can then ice up. When you turn the system off (or it defrosts naturally), all that built-up ice melts at once, and more water than your drain pan or line was designed for ends up on the floor. A quick filter clean is cheap insurance against this one.
Low refrigerant
Low refrigerant can cause the coil to get too cold and freeze over. This isn’t a DIY fix, if you suspect low refrigerant (often paired with the system not cooling as well as it used to), it’s a job for a licensed technician.
A cracked drain pan or dodgy installation
Sometimes it’s simpler than a blockage, the plastic drain pan under the indoor unit has cracked with age, or the unit wasn’t installed with quite enough fall on the drain line to begin with. Both are fixable, but both need a professional to sort properly.
Condensate pump has given up
If your system relies on a pump to push condensate water away (common when there’s no easy gravity drain to the outside), a failed pump means the water has nowhere to go except back into your home.
What you can check yourself
Before you call anyone, a couple of quick things are worth a look: check your filters aren’t caked in dust, see if you can spot the condensate line outside and make sure it isn’t kinked, blocked, and confirm the drain pan (if visible) isn’t visibly cracked.
When to call in the pros
If the water leak keeps coming back, the system isn’t cooling like it should, or if you’ve had a go at the filters and drain line and water’s still appearing, it’s time to get a technician out. Left unchecked, a persistent leak can damage flooring, ceilings, and even the unit itself, and a small blockage today is a much cheaper fix than water damage down the track.
If your air conditioning is leaking, give the team at Ford & Doonan a call. We’ll track down exactly what’s causing it and get it fixed properly.
(08) 9331 8800 
