Air Conditioning - Window Unit Help

I just replaced the AC in my living room. It's a Whirlpool and works excellently with one exception. The case was designed with a series of vent slots in the top of the unit (outside). I know that there should be a certain amount of water collected in the bottom of the tray to facilitate cooling the outside coils. The problem is when it rains the bottom fills so full with water that it interferes with the fan, slowing it down drastically. Every time it rains here I have to go siphon the water out of the darn thing. It's a real pain in the butt. I called Whirlpool about it and they said it was designed to be outside and it should be working normally... And if I drill into the casing to allow the water to drain I will void the 7 year warranty. They said it should be mounted with about a 1/2 bubble tilt on a level, leaning back away from the house. This has almost a full bubble tilt... Which I was told was even better. Their suggestion was to turn the AC off and cover it during a rain storm. I'm in Texas and it's way too hot and humid to turn it off everytime it rains. I'm pretty ticked off about the design of this thing, and the fact that I will probably end up building some kind of awning over it to keep the rain out.

Anyway, my question is, has anyone else experienced this kind of issue with a window unit?

And does anyone have any ideas how to build an "attractive" awning over this thing. It is not in a window, but mounted through the wall. The outside of the house is done with "asbestos" tiles (not real asbestos, but some kind of hard, easy to break tile). It will be difficult to mount to the exterior walls with a temporary unit to facilitate maintenance.


Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Mike

I would think that there would be an overflow in it. It's kind of hard to say what to do with this thing without actually being there and looking at it.

If this is a new unit, I would return it to the place of purchase & tell them the problem.