Two weeks after the Tomoka went down, the supply vents smelled like river mud. Seven steps so that never happens again.
Much of Ormond Beach sits about three feet above sea level. On the river streets, where the equipment sits is as important as what it is.
The smell that came two weeks late
The river crested, the water sat in the yard for a day, and then it drained. The outdoor unit had been in a foot of it. The owner, in Tomoka Oaks after Ian, reset the breaker and the system ran. Two weeks later, on the first warm afternoon, the air coming out of the supply vents smelled like the bottom of the river.
What had happened was ordinary. Silt and bacteria had settled into the bottom of the condenser cabinet and onto the coil fins, where a warm wet coil cultured them. In the garage, the air handler’s secondary drain pan had filled with floodwater and was still evaporating into the return air. Neither problem was dramatic. Both were avoidable with the equipment a few feet higher, and that is what this guide is about.
Step one: find the water line
Every flood leaves a record. On stucco and block it is a faint brown line; on a garage wall it is a tide mark; on the inside of the condenser cabinet it is a silt line in the control compartment. Ian in 2022 pushed the Tomoka and the Halifax into Tomoka Oaks, along John Anderson Drive and onto Wilmette Avenue; Milton in 2024 reached the same streets. Find the highest line on your property and on your closest neighbors’, photograph it, and measure it from the slab.
Step two: decide the height, with margin
The outdoor unit’s vulnerable parts are the contactor, capacitor and wiring in the control compartment, which sit a few inches above the base, and the compressor’s electrical terminals above those. The stand needs to put the base of the cabinet above the highest observed water line, plus a margin of a foot or more on the river streets. If you have an elevation certificate with the base flood elevation for the parcel, that number governs. If not, the observed line with margin is the practical standard.
Step three: choose the stand and the pad
A welded aluminum or galvanized stand bolted to a concrete pad, rated for the unit’s weight with hurricane-code tie-downs, is what we install. The pad itself should sit on compacted base, because a stand on a pad that heaves or settles stresses the line set. The height determined in step two sets the stand; the stand does not set the height.
Step four: lift the disconnect and the whistle
The electrical disconnect box is mounted above the stand height, never at the old eye level that happened to be below the flood. The refrigerant line set is re-run or extended so it does not loop downward into the flood zone before rising to the unit, and the wall penetration is sealed. The condensate from a heat pump’s defrost cycle drains away from the stand footing.
Step five: the air handler
In the garages of the river streets, the air handler sits on the slab or on a few inches of block, and the garage floods first. Raise it on a sealed platform to the step-two height, extend the duct connections, re-slope the primary drain, and install a float switch in the secondary pan so a flood, or a clog, shuts the system off before it circulates what is in the pan. Where the garage cannot accommodate the height, moving the air handler to an interior closet with a proper drain is the next option.
Step six: protect what cannot be lifted
Ductwork under the floor of a raised house or in a crawlspace, and thermostat wiring that runs low in a wall, are in the flood zone whether you like it or not. Flex duct that has been submerged is replaced. Low-voltage wiring is rerouted higher where possible. A whole-system surge protector is added, because floods and the storms that bring them also bring the lightning the Daytona area is known for.
Step seven: after the next flood
Even with everything elevated, a system that has been through a river flood gets inspected before it runs for the season: control compartment opened and checked for moisture, coil rinsed, drain pans emptied and cleaned, electrical connections tested under load. The equipment survives; the inspection confirms it.
The lot checklist
Walk your own property with this list before you call.
- Highest water line found and measured from the slab: ______
- Elevation certificate on hand with base flood elevation: yes / no
- Outdoor unit base height today: ______
- Disconnect box height today: ______
- Air handler location: garage slab / raised / closet / attic
- Float switch in the secondary pan: yes / no / unknown
- Line set enters the wall: above / below the water line
- Flex duct anywhere below the water line: yes / no
- Surge protector on the system: yes / no
Bring the answers to the call and the placement survey takes half the time. Replacement equipment installed this way can still take FPL’s instant rebate for qualifying high-efficiency models; the stand changes where it sits, not what it earns.
Flood-street questions
Does elevating the outdoor unit affect how well it works?
Not meaningfully, within the heights we use. A stand of two or three feet changes nothing about airflow across the coil, and a longer line set is accounted for in the charge. What changes is that the control compartment stays out of the next flood.
My insurance adjuster asked whether the equipment was 'elevated to base flood elevation.' What does that mean?
FEMA’s base flood elevation is the height the mapped hundred-year flood is expected to reach at your parcel, and some policies and local codes reference it for mechanical equipment. We can set stands to a surveyed height when you have the elevation certificate; without one, we work from observed water lines with margin.
Is there anything to do about ductwork that got wet?
Flex duct that was submerged is replaced, not dried; the insulation holds water and the inner liner holds silt. Rigid metal duct that got wet can sometimes be cleaned and re-insulated. We inspect before we recommend.
Can an air handler be moved out of the garage entirely?
Into the attic, sometimes, though attics bring their own problems in Florida. More often we raise it on a platform in the garage or move it to a closet on the main floor with a proper drain. The right answer depends on the house, and we’ll lay out the options.
Set it above the next flood
Call for a placement survey on your river-street lot.