Cool, dry, and nothing dripping through the ceiling.

Georgia air hands your AC a lot of water.

Cooling humid air pulls moisture out of it — in a north Georgia summer, gallons of it a day from a single system. In many houses here that happens in the attic, above a finished ceiling. Four layers stand between that water and your living room.

How each layer works

1. Primary drain line

   Carries water from the coil's drain pan to a drain or outdoors. In a Georgia summer it carries a lot of it — and algae and dust slowly narrow it.

   Catches: Everyday condensate

2. Secondary drain pan

   A shallow pan under the whole air handler. If the primary backs up, water lands here instead of on your ceiling. Its own drain often ends somewhere visible — over a window or eave — so you notice.

   Catches: Overflow from a blocked primary

3. Float (safety) switch

   A small switch in the pan or drain line. When water rises where it shouldn't, it shuts the system off before the pan overflows.

   Catches: A pan that is filling up

4. Leak alarm

   A water sensor on the platform or floor that sounds or sends an alert. It covers the failures the other three can't — a cracked pan, a loose fitting.

   Catches: Whatever gets past the rest