Discovering water streaming down your wallpaper or dripping onto your timber floorboards from an indoor air conditioner requires quick, decisive action.

Step 1: Turn Off the Air Conditioner Immediately

Do not wait to see if the dripping stops. Shut the system down at the wall isolator or main switchboard:

Electrical Safety Hazard

Inside a wall split unit, the printed circuit board (PCB) and high-voltage terminals are located directly adjacent to the drain pan. Water overflow can cause an electrical short, destroying the board and creating an electric shock risk.

Step 2: Protect Floors & Place Catchment

Place dry towels and a plastic bucket beneath the dripping unit. If the leak is dripping from ceiling vents, inspect the area below to ensure electronics, rugs, and furniture are moved safely away.

Step 3: Understand Why the Water is Leaking

Water leaks originate from one of four primary issues:

  1. Choked Condensate Drain: The most common cause. Airborne dust and mould spores create an organic biofilm blockage in the drain hose. The plastic internal tray fills up and overflows.
  2. Frozen Evaporator Coil Melting: If filters are dirty or refrigerant is low, the coil drops below freezing and encases itself in solid ice. When the unit stops, several litres of melted ice overwhelm the drain pan all at once.
  3. Cracked Drip Tray or Detached Hose: Physical degradation or movement of the drain pipe connection.
  4. Improper Wall Level Fall: If the unit was improperly installed without a slight tilt towards the drain hole, water pools on the wrong side and spills over.

Step 4: Book a Professional Drain Clearing & Coil Sanitisation

While some homeowners attempt to poke wires down drain pipes, this often punctures the flexible PVC hose inside the wall cavity, converting a surface leak into an invisible, catastrophic in-wall leak.

Our technicians use high-pressure nitrogen gas flushes, wet-vacuum extraction, and non-corrosive chemical drain treatments to clear blockages safely and prevent algae regrowth.