The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: les snyder on September 17, 2019, 06:19:12 PM
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a reminder... if your A/C goes out, and you don't have power to the thermostat, check that your drain line is not clogged, and that the float switch is not the culprit that shut it down....shop vac on a ground fault circuit does a good job of pulling junk out of the line....
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I think I need a technology lesson.....
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Solus... not sure where you live, but on the west coast of Florida, the humidity is very high in the summer, and air conditioners may run 24/7 intermittently ...many Floridians have their air handler (squirrel cage blower fan) and evaporator core (where liquid refrigerant expands to a gas inside a closed tube core, this expansioin absorbs heat from surrounding air, and cools it.... this cooled air is pumped into the house by fan pressure... in doing so, the water vapor in the previously warm air is dropped below its dew point and becomes liquid water droplets... this water is collected below the air handler in a drip pan... typically a PVC drain line provides a release of this water... to protect the ceiling below the air handler, if this drain line should fail, there is a float switch that shuts off the system if the water approaches the top of the drip pan...a shop vac attached to the bottom of the drain line can un-plug the line, where typically mold has built up, clogging the line.. I have a yearly service that routinely cleans the line... it has been brutally hot the last couple of months, and the build up since the service in May caused a shut down Friday...I need to build a better adapter to attach my shop vac to the line.... Les
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My old house in Glendale that we just sold had 2 A/C drains. An upper and a lower drain. When we purchased the house new from the builder back in 1997, he informed us on our walk through that you should only see water dripping out of the lower drain when the A/C was running. And only then if the humidity was up.
If for any reason you saw water dripping out of the upper drain, it meant the lower drain was clogged. And to get it checked immediately. Failure to do so meant that if the same thing happened to the upper drain as well, the drain pan would overflow and damage the ceiling, drywall, and insulation.
That happened to my next door neighbor. I pointed it out to him, but he ignored it. A few weeks later he had a water damage restoration company van parked outside his house.
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billt... my house is an old frame structure (1928, additions after WWII) and was not designed for central heat and air...it has 27 "streetcar" windows (that drop into the wall to open up) that at one time could all be opened up for cooling... I also installed a second drain line on the drip pan for overflow as you commented...water coming out the overflow line was the tip off that the float switch was the problem, as was the lack of power to the thermostat
I need to be more vigilant with periodic maintenance of the primary drain line... regards
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A quart or so of bleach down the drain monthly during the a/c season SHOULD keep the drain line clear of growth and slimy stuff.
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We added a tee at an elbow and then put a valve on top of that. You can pour a little vinegar down it to keep the mold down as recommended or...and I prefer this....but a 1/2 a cup of bleach down it to really get a good kill on mold. You just can't let the bleach drain back and contact anything metal in the A/C unit.
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Pathfinder, Rastus... I would and should be move vigilant, but to access the air handler I have to climb up to the kitchen roof, and remove a siding panel on the gable end of the siding to access the drain...when the yearly service is done, the A/C guy, blocks the drain outlet, adds a an algae killer and allows the solution stand while he runs his checks, then uses the shop vac to clear the line
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I forgot about the units in the attic thing back down south.