Water under the air handler on a Marion County well: when the drain is clogged with limestone, not algae

Why the well matters

An air conditioner makes water. In Ocala’s humidity, an attic unit can condense several gallons a day from June through September, and it all leaves through a three-quarter-inch PVC line that runs to the side yard. In the city, on softened municipal water, what clogs that line is algae and biofilm, and a monthly cup of bleach keeps it moving.

On the roughly 40 percent of county parcels on private wells, in Oak Run, Pine Run, the acreage along US 441 and toward Reddick, Marion Oaks’ edges and much of the land around Belleview and Silver Springs Shores, the house is full of hard, iron-heavy Floridan water. It doesn’t flow through the air conditioner, but its residue does: mineral dust from evaporated spills, iron staining from humidifier-like sources such as showers and sinks, and dust that carries calcium. Those settle on the coil, wash into the pan with the condensate, and build a chalky scale in the trap and the line that bleach can’t dissolve. The clog forms slower than algae and clears harder. Condensate pumps on these properties scale up and fail in a few seasons.

So the first question we ask on a Marion County water call is: city water or well?

Four places the water comes from

1. A clogged drain line or trap. The pan fills, the float switch trips if there is one, and if there isn’t, the pan overflows into the secondary pan and then the ceiling.
2. A cracked or rusted primary pan. Common on fifteen-year-old units; the pan under the coil corrodes through.
3. A frozen coil thawing. Ice forms from a pollen-choked filter or low refrigerant, then melts faster than the drain can take it. See our frozen-coil page; the water is the second problem.
4. Sweating. Uninsulated suction line or supply duct in a 130-degree attic condenses moisture on its surface and drips. The pan is dry; the ceiling isn’t.

Call 866-266-5709

The first hour

• Turn cooling off. Every minute it runs makes more water.
• Find the air handler. Attic in most pre-2000 Ocala houses, a garage or hall closet in many newer ones, outside in a package unit for most villas.
• Look in the pan. Water standing in the primary pan means a clog. Water in the secondary pan under the unit means the primary overflowed. A dry pan and a wet ceiling means sweating.
• Find the drain outlet outside, usually a PVC stub near the condenser. If nothing drips while the system runs on a humid day, the line is blocked.
• If you have a wet-dry vacuum, seal it over the outside end of the line and pull for a minute. This clears a lot of city-water clogs. Scale clogs on well-water properties often don’t move; don’t force it.
• Put a bucket under any drip and towels in the pan.
• Call. A clog is a same-visit fix. A ceiling that’s already sagging needs the water stopped tonight.

What we do

Clear the line mechanically, not just chemically, and flush it. Inspect the trap and rebuild it if it was never sloped or was glued without a cleanout. Check the primary pan for rust-through and replace it if needed. Confirm or install a float switch, and position it so it actually trips before the secondary pan is involved. Test the drain with water poured into the pan and watch it exit outside. On a well-water property, we talk about a maintenance routine that uses vinegar rather than bleach and about avoiding a condensate pump wherever gravity can do the job. If the water was sweating duct, we quote insulation and sealing, which Ocala Electric Utility’s repair rebate has helped pay for.

Keeping the ceiling dry

Monthly, in cooling season: a cup of vinegar down the line’s cleanout. Twice a year: a professional flush and a pan inspection at the spring and fall tune-ups. Once: a float switch if the unit doesn’t have one, and a secondary pan with its own drain to the outside if the attic unit sits over a finished room. And on any well-water property, a note on the calendar to have the trap checked before June, when the condensate volume quadruples and a half-blocked line becomes a fully blocked one.