0

Today we noticed a large puddle of water under our car after taking it on an errand. More than usual. About beach ball size and continued to drip for awhile when parked. None of the reservoirs are missing any water. It has now done this twice today when we’ve parked again at a different location. It’s hot so we’ve had the a/c on naturally.

Could this still be condensation when it’s this large?

Jayne Campbell
  • 1
  • 1
  • Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! How humid is it where you live? Realistically, depending on how much the AC was being run, it can and will create a lot of condensation. – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Aug 05 '19 at 00:04

1 Answers1

1

I'm hoping you mean the outline of a beach ball when you refer to size. A three-dimensional beach ball would be a couple of gallons/many liters! For A/C condensation, that's not unusually large in high humidity conditions.

It's a good sign that you are seeing the water. It should be clear, as it is, as Paulster suggested, condensation from the humidity of the atmosphere. The water drain is working on your evaporator inside the vehicle, rather than leaking into the passenger cabin.

Compare the amount of water you see on the ground with what you see on the outside of a cold drink. Those days when your drink is dripping condensation are the same ones you'll see increased volume under your vehicle.

You may also be able to note other vehicles (if running) in the area with puddles. On a humid enough day, the duration of a red traffic light is sufficient to create a puddle on the ground.

By confirming that your reservoirs are not leaking, you've narrowed it down correctly to the A/C.

fred_dot_u
  • 4,455
  • 1
  • 9
  • 16
  • 1
    I believe the condenser is up front ... it's the evaporator which is inside the vehicle and collects the water on it. – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Aug 05 '19 at 11:02
  • I agree with Paulster2: it's the evaporator that is cold (due to evaporation of working fluid), which causes water to condense. So water does not condense to condenser: it condenses to evaporator. The condenser and evaporator are named for what they do for the working fluid: for water the opposite happens. – juhist Aug 05 '19 at 11:46
  • Yeah, you'd think I'd realize that evaporation causes cooling, but the grey matter sometimes doesn't spark. – fred_dot_u Aug 05 '19 at 13:35
  • Thank you so much! It has only done the normal amount of drainage today when running the a/c. Is it possible that it dumped that much because the drain was blocked and all of it dumped at once? – Jayne Campbell Aug 06 '19 at 03:59