Condensate leak

[BillP]

Good DAy, 

i am having an issue, i have an ACRC100 unit and condensate is somehow getting on the base of the unit around the condensate pan and draining to floor, the condensate pan does not seem to have any cracks, the floats are sealed, the side panel does not have any water marks to say condensate is running down the door and getting to the base of the unit, the pump hose does not have any leaks. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be the cause if this or if they anyone have any similar experiences?

[BillP]

Hello Terrence. If the water is pooling around the condensate pan, this most likely means there is a small crack in the pan. Make sure to pull one of the bottom fans in the front of the unit to check the front side of the condensate pan for cracks as well. If you find one, dry out the pan and use some water sealant to seal the crack.

Thank you

[BillP]

I removed the entire unit from the row and inspected the condensate pan, no crack of any sort was found, three different persons inspected the pan and nothing was found wrong with the pan. We found one or two spots that the internal insulation is a little loose and condensate is forming, these points were sealed but a definite point of how the water is getting to the base of the unit could not be determined.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hello. The only water in this unit should be coming from the condensate from the coil while cooling. If the pan is not cracked, you can check the txv and distributor tubes to make sure they are not creating condensate. You have already checked the insulation on the pipes which is good. The only other parts is the condensate lines and pumps to make sure they are not leaking. These are the only sources of water in this unit.

Thank you

[BillP]

thanks, condensate pump and lines were checked as well.

[BillP]

We had a possibly similar issue many years back where water was found in the bottom of 2 of our servers. We discovered that the condensate pan of the A/C unit located in the ceiling of the server room was not draining. But it was not overflowing and we found no leakage on the rack or any other piece of equipment in the room. But the humidity was very high. We did not have a sensor at the time.

My theory on the issue is that the humidity in the room was high enough that the pressure difference in front of the fans caused condensation to form inside the server.

Temperature is a much stronger influence on condensation but pressure also has an affect. Normally any condensation caused by pressure drop would evaporate when the temperature comes up a bit. Only in a server, in a server room, could the temp remain constant enough and the fans strong enough for this to happen.

In response to this incident I changed the temp setting for the server room from 60 to 65 degrees and we added a dehumidifier and put a temp and humidity sensor on the rack. The human body senses low temp and high humidity as the same as a slightly higher temp and lower humidity so you can't necessarily trust your senses. I also believe that an extra cool server room will draw humidity from the rest of the building.

Brian

[BillP]

Good Day, 

That sounds interesting, i will check into this and monitor the humidity levels in the room, i will get back to you.

[BillP]

Another note is that the 2 servers were identical and had the loudest fans in the room.