Why is there water on my ceiling?

HVAC technicians probably aren’t your first choice when this happens! Usually when someone sees water leaking from their ceiling they will call a roofer, assuming that rain is coming in somewhere (especially living in Vancouver!) or a plumber for a leaking pipe. It can be expensive to call out a professional, only to have him tell you that there’s nothing he can do and you need to call someone else. So, if you have an air conditioning unit here are some things to be aware of so that you can make an educated decision on who to call if this happens to you.

Think of your air conditioner like a glass of iced water, where water beads collect on the outside of the glass. In the same way,  your air conditioner unit will pull water out of the air and cause it to condense. Over time, if the unit is not well maintained, the drain on the unit will plug with dirt, leaving the water with nowhere to go. It will overflow and cause a water leak.

So, make sure you have your machine regularly cleaned and checked to ensure this never happens to you.

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Photo by: reditall

The warm weather is finally upon us so here are a couple of ideas to make sure your air conditioning is energy efficient…

•  Keep all doors and windows closed if you are running air conditioning. You don’t want to try to cool the entire city!
•  Don’t try to program your settings too low. If you put the temperature lower than around 68 °F the machine will ice up, stop working, and cost you HVAC call out fees.
•  Program your a/c to come on a couple of hours earlier, just for the warm spell. That way staff will be coming into cooler temperatures and are less likely to mess around with the thermostat (see above!)
•  Make sure your filters and coils are clean for optimum efficiency. All that cotton wood last month will play havoc with your equipment if you haven’t had it serviced.

Stay safe in the sun – and have a wonderful July.