Air Conditioning - Leak from upstairs condo

There's a leak from upstairs condo that is coming into my unit. A thermo inspector went upstairs and said the runoff pipe from the condenser had excessive water and leak was ocurring from that. They tore out the wall and saw no water.

A plumber came and found water between the condenser unit and furnance. Perhaps the leak is coming from that and going back the wall- then coming into our unit.

Their question is -Is it possible that some water outside the condenser unit is okay and cannot cause the leak to our unit? If water is outside the condenser, why aren't their floors wet? Is there something we/they can do to do to show that the water from the condenser is the culprit?

Should there be any water outside the condenser at all?
Thanks for any help.

** After more reading, i should have been calling it the evaporator coil unit

Any missing insulation on the low side tubing will cause condensation to drip. If the A/C pipes to the upstairs unit runs between the floors and any insulation is missing from the tube then it will leak down to you, and leave the impression that the upstairs unit is fine.

The most likely thing is that the primary drain for the condensate pan for the unit upstais is overflowing into the secondary, and the secondary is either stopped up too, or has a leak between the floors.

Can you get up in your ceiling to take a look? If it has your ceiling sheetrock wet it will likely come down soon anyway.

My ceiling is timber ceiling. I can see the leak when the wood is wet or there are drips coming down. I can only saw through the wood to see what is going up there.

Are secondary units usually between floors?

If the unit upstairs does not fix the leak. How long would they see the effect to their system- to the point that they realize they should have the unit service? years? I think they will hire someone to fix the problem if they can see without a doubt that there's water in their unit. I am wondering when they will actually see the water

No, the secondary drain is just another hole in the main drain pan, although both might be routed between the floors to the outside of the building to drain. Perhaps a wet vac on the end of each line might clear a drain if the cause is a stopped up drain.

Do you know these people upstairs? You might bring them down and show them the leak. Maybe even the building super or management. Between the three of you all agree to expose the leak and whoever is responsible cover the costs.

I can only saw through the wood to see what is going up there.

Dont do it if you hit the freon line they will say you did it all. Like said did they check the drain line on the unit???

This is why FL code now calls for a pan on the floor under the units. With a over flow cut out in it.

ED

I showed our leak to the upstairs people, inspector and the people upstairs.

They see that some water is outside their condenser unit (showned by the plumber). However, they are not 100% convinced that our leak is caused by their condenser- they think it may be the units around them - a loose toilet/ a tub that needs caulking, etc.

They basically see some water and can't look at the back of the condenser unit (because it is against a wall) to see if there's water there. I am not sure what is the best way to convince them to hire an AC guy to come and check the condenser.

They have been super at making time for the plumber and management stop by.

The model is similar to http://www.papeac.com/products/evaporator/evapcoil.htm (model CD5). After some researching, the secondary drain is not used nor connected to anything. Since the unit is made of plastic and won't rust - how do one see that the pan is overflowing? Well -I can argue that the pan is overflowing because there shouldn't be water under the unit.

I'm not even sure how to open the unit. Is the pan replaceable? The plumber says the drain should have more water coming through, the drain pipe is slanted a little up. He does plumbing only.

** After more reading. I realize I should be calling this the evaporator unit, not the condenser unit.

Has anyone tried to blow or suck on the drain line from that AC unit . Can use a shop vac.

ED