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Four layers between your attic AC and your ceiling.
An air conditioner in a Georgia attic makes water all summer. Here's how that water is supposed to leave — and what should catch it when it doesn't.
Each layer catches what the one above misses.
Top to bottom: the everyday drain, the backup pan, the switch that shuts things off, and the alarm for the rest.
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 condensateSecondary 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 primaryFloat (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 upLeak 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
Not every attic system has all four. We check which ones yours has on every visit, and tell you if one is missing.
The pipe that drips over the window.
The secondary pan's drain usually ends somewhere you can see — over a window, a door or an eave. That's on purpose. Water dripping there on a summer afternoon means the primary drain has blocked and the backup is working.
It isn't an emergency yet. It is a reason to call this week, not next month: the backup is now the only thing between the water and your ceiling.
Four checks, one for each layer.
Flush the line
The primary drain cleared and flushed, and the trap checked.
Look in the pan
Rust, standing water or debris in the secondary pan, and its drain tested.
Trip the switch
The float switch lifted by hand to make sure it really shuts the system off.
Test the alarm
If there's a leak sensor, we wet it and make sure someone gets the alert.
Above a drop ceiling, the same four layers.
Offices and medical suites often have fan coils or air handlers above the ceiling tiles. A blocked drain there stains tiles, soaks carpet and interrupts appointments. The same layers apply — and in a building with many units, a drain schedule matters more than any single fix.
- Every unit's drain on a maintenance schedule.
- Float switches wired to shut the right unit off.
- Leak sensors where a failure would do the most damage.
If water is already on the ceiling.
Turn the system off at the thermostat, catch the water, and call. If you can safely reach the attic platform, a towel under the air handler helps — but don't climb into a hot attic in the afternoon to do it.
Mould and drywall
We fix the cause and dry what we can reach. For wet drywall or mould, you'll need a restoration company or drywall contractor — we'll tell you honestly what we see.
Have all four layers checked.
Before the first long hot spell, not after the first stain.