Leakage vs. Condensation

What is the normal rate of condensation?

• A heat pump will typically discharge between 50 - 70 L of water PER DAY and can get up to 10L an hour.

How will I know if there’s a leakage on the pipes?

• the heat pump can be turned off first, after a couple of hours, water dripping should stop (because the heating process stopped).

How will I know if it’s leakage or just condensation?

• A sample of water dripping from the heat pump can be brought to any nearby pool shop and test it for chlorine, if the test is positive, then it’s leakage, if the test is negative then it is pure water from condensation.
• Turn the heater off but keep the pump water going through it. If the water stops after a couple of hours then it has all drained away and is not leaking.

The water from condensation is pooling up below the unit.

• A drain hose should be connected at the bottom of the heater, the drain hose will not stop the condensation but it will take it to a nearby drain point. This will help avoid water puddles below the heater.
• Drainage hoses are included in the accessory box when purchasing a new Madimack unit.

Water is not coming out of the drainage hose.

• If it is leaking in another location than the main drain point, then there are also a couple of points to consider.
  • Is the unit levelled?
  • Is the drain hose blocked and water dripping from other places? This can cause the water to overflow and start dripping.
  • If humidity is over 80% the formation of condensation on the outside of the heater and even internally can happen causing a small amount of condensation to form and come out of the unit. This is normal.
  • Low ventilation conditions can cause excessive condensation to form which might spill over into other compartments in the heater area and create a small drip in other locations. Water pooling inside the unit is fine and will not be an issue.
  • Low flow conditions can also create high condensation
  • Finally note that it is very difficult to stop 100% of condensation as it is natural water in the atmosphere. If 100% of water needs to be caught then a secondary means of capture such as a drip pan might need to be used which is common in the air conditioning industry.

My pool is losing water.

• the water level is actually getting lower, this is completely normal and has nothing to do with water condensation. Evaporation losses causes water level to drop down every day, it is expected for around 1% of water level to evaporate daily.
• Evaporation losses do not mean that water is boiling and evaporating, evaporation losses have to do with wind, sun, ambient temperature and many other factors that contribute to the lower water levels.