Aircon? drip

[NZNick]

Hi all,

I have noticed a drip of liquid coming from under the car, rearward of the battery box, almost along the center line. As it is summer here and around 26C today, would this drip be aircon-related? From what I can tell of the liquid, it is not coloured and has no odour. I can't physically reach the drip, so placed kitchen paper under the car then moved the car over this.
I drove about 50kms after noticing the liquid when I parked for lunch - engine temp gauge and other dials were all normal. When I parked at home, there was a steady 1 drip per second coming from the same area, that ceased after about 10 minutes. The garage is cooler, about 20C or so. I had the aircon set to 19 degrees for the entire journey.
Do I need to investigate this further, or is this normal for the conditions described above?

Thanks in advance for you wisdom, as always.

[Pride]

Hi Nick, almost certainly from the aircon and if so definitely nothing to worry about. I’m surprised you haven’t seen this before.

Nearly all the cars I’ve ever had do this in the few hot summer days us brits get each year.

My NA1 does it more than most I must admit.

I’m sure someone on here will be able to give a more technical explanation as to why it happens but I’m sure it’s not a problem.

[NZNick]

Thanks Clive,

I haven't noticed this before.

ran the car for 10 mins with the aircon off - just a couple of drips.

Got a better look at the site of the drip and notice a black pipe coming from the front of the "firewall", just to the passenger side of where the front to rear water passage pipe is, just rearwards of the battery box. I'm guessing that this is an aircon-related drainage pipe, so hopefully all us as should be - see above.

[Heineken]

Hi Nick,

I would side with Clive. If it hasn't got any smell nor colour and does not feel "slippery" than it's almost certainly condense water from the air condition system.

Best regards
Lars

[Heineken]

I’m sure someone on here will be able to give a more technical explanation as to why it happens but I’m sure it’s not a problem.

Let me step in here
The warmer air gets the more water it can hold. If air is cooled down and becomes too cold to keep the water previously held condensation happens. Same effect at the air conditioning evaporator as on a bathroom mirror: Warm, humid air is cooled down, needs to get rid of the excessive water and condensation occurs.
The effect is therefore most prominent if it's warm and humid outside (which does not happen too often in GB, but don't know about NZ).

[Pride]

Very well explained Lars.👍

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, NZNick.




Compressor




+






Expansion valve



=





Humidity control



Kaz

[goldnsx]

I was just wondering where in GB you have 26 deg. C now...

The water drips are a good sign, at least the hose is not clogged and the A/C is working like others have mentioned above. The only other liquids that can get lost in the front compartment are coolant or brake fluid. On an older car it's quite important to distinguish the A/C water drain from the other two.

I always switch the A/C off 5 minutes before parking the car and raise the fan speed so the evap has a chance to dry and bacteria don't get an invitation to make the car stink (going the flush the hell out of the evap with 70% alcohol next week as a preventative maintenance which is done every two years or so).

[NZNick]

I'm in Dunedin, New Zealand! It doesn't get this warm very often. I only noticed the drip as the car left a small trail of drips as I pulled into a parking space for lunch. I hadn't observed this before - I walked round the car, had a quick look underneath and saw constant dripping, so I checked it out when I got home.
Turns out that the weather has been very humid - much more so than is usual. Often, if it is warm-hot here, the humidity is low. Yesterday was an exception - there was a strong onshore wind which brought warm moist air off the ocean - this doesn't happen often at the temperatures we had yesterday.

[NZNick]

Thanks Kaz - these picture illustrate the pipe perfectly - I now know the location of the third unit perfectly - it is very low down in the car, lower than I would have guessed, but that is better for weight distribution and handling - another example of Honda's great "packaging" on this amazing car. Would I be correct in saying that in other, lesser cars, this unit would be higher up in the dash, with a correspondingly longer outlet pipe?