How to drill hole to make a/c drain better?

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farmerjohn1324

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Someone once showed me to drill a hole in the back of the casing of an a/c to let water drain better. Where exactly do I drill?

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nealtw said:
where you can be really sure you will not damage anything else.
It should tilt down at the outside so as close to the back as possible.
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Does it matter if it's drilled from the bottom, or from the back?
 
I had a heard a discussion that the water collected in the bottom to better cool the coils and as long as the unit tilted back slightly, there wouldn't be any leakage into the house or into the wall.
But I don't have a factual answer on this topic.
 
The unit is designed to hold water and the fan blade should touch the water. The action of the fan hitting the water cleans the condensing coils and will make the unit run better and be more efficient.

If you think you know more than the guy that designed the unit go ahead and drill a few holes. After you run the drill thru the refrigerant tube and let the gas out you can ask the more challenging question of how to replace the coil and recharge the unit.
 
bud16415 said:
The unit is designed to hold water and the fan blade should touch the water. The action of the fan hitting the water cleans the condensing coils and will make the unit run better and be more efficient.

If you think you know more than the guy that designed the unit go ahead and drill a few holes. After you run the drill thru the refrigerant tube and let the gas out you can ask the more challenging question of how to replace the coil and recharge the unit.
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Well obviously I wouldn't drill through the refrigerant tube.

Someone told me they design them that way so you have to buy a new one sooner.
 
They can fill with all kinds of guk and smell bad. Even with a drain hole it may want to be rinsed out some times.
 
some are designed like yours because they can be used in situations where the dripping water would cause a problem where it dripped. Yours is supposed to evaporate the water with the fan pulling air across it.
 
woodchuck said:
some are designed like yours because they can be used in situations where the dripping water would cause a problem where it dripped. Yours is supposed to evaporate the water with the fan pulling air across it.
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So if I drilled a hole, this would cause a problem?
 
farmerjohn1324 said:
Well obviously I wouldn't drill through the refrigerant tube.

Someone told me they design them that way so you have to buy a new one sooner.
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They may well have what is called planned obsolescence in the product. I would think if they wanted to do that they would speck the motor or compressor to have a limited life and once they died you would have to buy another. Seems a strange way to make a product wear out would be omitting the drain hole and then designing a fan with a flinger ring attached to the fan and making it throw water on the hot coil cooling it and making the unit run more efficiently. They could have punched a hole and then the coils would collect dust and run hotter and people wouldn’t spray them out and the unit would die quicker.
 
bud16415 said:
They may well have what is called planned obsolescence in the product. I would think if they wanted to do that they would speck the motor or compressor to have a limited life and once they died you would have to buy another. Seems a strange way to make a product wear out would be omitting the drain hole and then designing a fan with a flinger ring attached to the fan and making it throw water on the hot coil cooling it and making the unit run more efficiently. They could have punched a hole and then the coils would collect dust and run hotter and people wouldn’t spray them out and the unit would die quicker.
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Damn. I don't know what to do now. Would I be messing it up by drilling the hole?
 
Let's take a better look at the actual problem. Is the water dripping into the wall or the house? Is it dripping out the back onto the ground? If so, is that causing a problem?
 
slownsteady said:
Let's take a better look at the actual problem. Is the water dripping into the wall or the house? Is it dripping out the back onto the ground? If so, is that causing a problem?
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There is no "problem." It's a brand new unit that I'd like to get the most life out of.
 
Do a google search on (Drilling drain hole air conditioner.) and you will find all the pro and con information and even you tube videos showing you how to do it. Others will tell you to make a wick out of a rag and shove it in the back and let it hang down and it will wick the water out and you don’t need to drill a hole. Some people will tell you to drill the hole if the unit is in your bedroom as the sound of the flinger catching in the water will keep you awake.

If you want a hole drill one. The design of the product is to not have a hole and to be installed at a slight angle sloping away from the window. The manufacture could have put a hole in at almost no cost. they omitted it because they feel it improves the units ability to cool the room. If you feel you know more than the company that designed it then add a hole. It wont change anything that you can notice in how well the unit runs. It willl just work a little harder.

The whole unit should be cleaned and serviced once a year, no one I know does that also.
 
if the ac is installed correctly, there is no need to drill a hole
 
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