The purpose of this letter is to educate and empower you, the customer/consumer, with knowledge and understanding of your newly installed air conditioning equipment.

When you received your new split system air conditioning equipment you more than likely noticed that your new air handler and condenser unit were significantly larger than our old equipment. To achieve minimum federally mandated energy requirements (14 SEER), air conditioning manufacturers had to oversize the indoor evaporator coil and the outdoor condenser coil. The larger surface area of the indoor coil allows it to pick it up more heat and humidity from your home, while the larger surface area of the outdoor coil allows it to release more heat from your home more efficiently, using less electricity to cool your home.

What you may not know is that your new air conditioning is equipped with a variable speed motor. These high efficiency ecm motors are paired with the new larger indoor coils the unit becomes very efficient at bringing down the temperature as well as the humidity in your home. These motors sometimes run slower, making the indoor coil colder, and thereby removing a great deal of moisture or humidity from your home. This action promotes comfort as 75 degrees at 47% humidity can feel like 73 degrees; on the other hand, 75 degrees at 65% humidity can feel like 78 degrees. The air conditioning manufactures clearly had an agenda to not only meet the new federally mandated energy requirements but also make you the customer/consumer more comfortable at a higher temperature.

With this new equipment removing more moisture or humidity from the air in your home to make you more comfortable comes the problem of water condensate leaks. When new equipment is matched with existing condensate pipes that are often as old as your home, water leaks are more likely to occur. Old condensate pipes with the inside walls lined with aged algae (see figure 1 and 2).

A new condensate line is the remedy in this case. Some of these pipes are in the foundation of your home and cannot be replaced. You must now consider getting a condensate pump to remove condensate from your home. Please be proactive and consider these options now. In the best case scenario, condensate leaks cause interruption of cooling and in the worst case they can lead to water damage to your property.