Man rents Airbnb in Texas and finds a ‘river’ running through all the AC vents, ‘That’s Legionnaires disease waiting to happen’

A man discovered a rather bizarre feature in the Airbnb he was renting; some might call it a water feature. However, as cool as a water feature could be, what the man found wasn’t exactly ideal, and some viewers on TikTok warned him it may even be hazardous to his health.

The clip, which was posted by TikToker Zack Hall, shows the interior of the Airbnb he was renting in Texas, near Toledo Bend Lake. “So we rented an Airbnb on Toledo,” Zack says, before panning the camera down to show an AC vent on the floor. While a regular AC vent should be empty to allow air through, this one was full of running water. 

All kinds of weird Airbnb experiences have been shared on TikTok, but this is certainly up there in terms of strangeness. As a matter of fact, the Airbnb looked like it had an entire river running underneath the floor as Zack showed two more AC vents also filled with water. However, while Zack notes that it looks like a “river,” it is actually condensation. When he contacted the Airbnb host, she allegedly told him, “It’s fine to run it with all that condensation in there.”

It is not fine to run the AC with condensation inside

Despite the host’s claims, it is actually not advisable to run the AC with condensation; some even claimed this Airbnb might have been hazardous to Zack’s health. Viewers on TikTok pointed out that doing so would run the risk of Zack catching Legionnaires’ disease. “Oh hell no!” One person wrote, “I would leave and ask for my money back. That’s legionaries [sic] disease waiting to happen.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, Legionnaires ‘ disease is a “severe form of a lung infection” caused by the Legionella bacterium. The bacterium can be found in soil and water but can also survive on the condensation created by air conditioners. Symptoms of the sickness can include headaches, muscle aches, and high fever, among other symptoms. Elderly and people with weakened immune systems are more at risk, and it can be fatal.

Others who viewed Zack’s video questioned why there was so much water, claiming it was far too much to be condensation alone: “An air conditioner condensation won’t do that. That’s something else?” One viewer wondered, “Maybe there’s a data center in the basement?”

Zack’s video went viral, amassing almost 15 million views. In a later update, he claimed that Airbnb reached out on TikTok to get more information before offering him a $200 coupon. One viewer claimed that the “$200 credit that means they are liable for a HELL of alot more.” Zack revealed he had been in contact with another guest who had the same issue at the location and had scheduled a call with the Airbnb Senior Case Manager.