70 Gallon water leak!!!!

PaysonHVAC · Aug 30, 2006

This may not be 100% shame material, but I got some cool pictures to post and this is always the best place!

Went to a NO COOL. Actually, take that back. It was a COD 2 unit maintenance. Another tech and I laugh, because every time someone lately has called in for a "Maintenance" after the peak of summer has past, it is really a NO COOL when we get there!!!

So this one unit has like ZERO air flow. I can here the blower starve like mad and whistle, remove the panel for the EAC and it gasps for all the air!

So I think, HMM???

Must have a return restriction.
The indoor grill has no filter. So now I have to go look in the attic.

Typical Phoenix area ductwork all on top of another and crammed in the attic.

But I crawled all the way down this attic and find nothing wrong as far as crushed flex goes.

And I start to notice that the flex doesn't even sound like it's sucking a vacuum anyway....

So I come back down and pull the EAC and look down for where I think there couldn't posibly be anything to cause a restriction in an open return plenum.

Uh oh!

Water was FULL to the bottom of the furnace base. When it was dark, I could not see the water before.

The plenum under the furnace is insulated metal and must have had TIGHT pitsburgs!
Only a DROP coming from the baseboard, not enough to alert the customer!

This was all I had to remove water. A 6 gallon wet vac

after a while the water level started to drop.

We counted 11 + times we dumped the 6 gallon shop vac!!!

That was enough water to fill a bath tub!

Anyway. I cleared his drains really good with the DrainBlaster2000

That was a weird call. I never would have thought. These plenums always leak through the baseboard with an inch of water, yet alone 20 inches!!!

mayguy · Aug 30, 2006

I bet that is going to start smelling down the road!

backbeatkeeper · Aug 30, 2006

I had a call years ago when we had a deluge of rain in So. Calif. and at a retirement home the tenant heard a gurgling noise when the heat was on. Come to find out that the return air was in the slab with an upflow FAU and the combination of the rain and the constant watering of the property (when it was raining!) caused the water to seep in the slab somewhere. We emptied over 100 gallons of water out of that return air chamber, and man it was humid like a son of a gun in the middle of January in that house!!

tpa-fl · Aug 30, 2006

I still think it's worthy of HoS -- the evap coil boxes don't fit right and they didn't put a float switch in the plenum.

razorback · Aug 30, 2006

so where did all the water come from? surely it's not all from a stopped up drain.

coolperfect · Aug 30, 2006

We had a large computer room at one time,maybe 10 Liebert units raised floor ramp by door. The floor was so tight that we dident know we had a leak untill we saw water at the ramp.By that time it took many a wet vac and men. and most times it was only a drip.

PaysonHVAC · Aug 30, 2006

razorback said:
so where did all the water come from? surely it's not all from a stopped up drain.

Yes. All of it came form a stopped up condensate drain.
The duct is sealed, so I KNOW that it didn't come from the water heater. Especially since the other return on the other furnace was dry.

The customer was gone on vacation. One of the units wasn't working correctly so they called to have their two units "Maintenanced". I am sure the unit was iced up by time they got home. It was off when I got there so I didn't see the ice.

tpa-fl said:
I still think it's worthy of HoS -- the evap coil boxes don't fit right and they didn't put a float switch in the plenum.

That's right! Those installers need to install a safety float switch in these plenums! LOL!!! How dare they ignore the importance of a return plenum safetly float switch!

andserco · Aug 31, 2006

I have had that happen on trailer houses, it would fill up that crossover duct .......

amd · Aug 31, 2006

I thought phoenix was very dry - how the hell did so much condensate accumulate?

timmay · Aug 31, 2006

I had that same problem once. Couldn't see the water but could tell the unit was starving for air. Coil frozen solid.
Of cousre I'm not as nice as you, i just drilled a hole in the bottom and watcjed it pour out. Also it wasn't encase like that, justthe duct, but no water dripping from the outside.

absrbrtek · Aug 31, 2006

I had one of those calls once. A 20 ton AHU in a basement. The call was the ducts were making a watery noise. The ductwork 24" spiral went into the basement floor then ran about 80' and then up a wall. I cut into the duct and saw about 20"s of water. No problem, drop the sump pump down and pump it out over night.

Next day water is at same level. The water table had risen up to the water level in the duct. Gave customer option of running the ductwork over head or leave it till the water table drops. They left it.

smilies · Aug 31, 2006

amd said:
I thought phoenix was very dry - how the hell did so much condensate accumulate?

It's a swamp here July and August. Our rainy saeson. Each of my 4 tonners drip about 4-5 gallons a day.

qssfl · Sep 1, 2006

I got the same wet-vac... hehehe Got it at Lowes cheap!!! Have had it for 5 years... has lasted the lomgest than any other. Fits behind the right shelf in the van perfectly.

They don't make them anymore...

ralphtheplumber · Sep 1, 2006

PaysonHVAC said:
Yes. All of it came form a stopped up condensate drain.

Whew! I thought this one was getting blamed on the plumber for sure.

phaedo · Sep 2, 2006

When you have a lot of water like that it's sometimes easier to drop one end of a hose in the water and use your vac to start a siphon on the other end of the hose outside or by a drain.

I've always wanted to make a pvc cut-out in the bottom of my vac to have it capable of draining as it runs, but never got around to seeing if the internal pressure of the vac would make this possible.. I assume it would be positive in there, but never took one apart or really examined it.

rubberduck · Sep 5, 2006

mayguy said:
I bet that is going to start smelling down the road!

smells like tuna tastes like chicken

mayguy · Sep 5, 2006

phaedo said:
I've always wanted to make a pvc cut-out in the bottom of my vac to have it capable of draining as it runs, but never got around to seeing if the internal pressure of the vac would make this possible.. I assume it would be positive in there, but never took one apart or really examined it.

The ideal won't work, cuz the vac can is under negative pressure.

karl k · Sep 6, 2006

What if a trap was installed on the outlet?

It would, of course, need to be deep enough to keep the water from sucking back.

Maybe something to try someday on an old vac?

thegoodhumorman · Sep 6, 2006

All the ol' (restaurant name here

)in so. cal had open ceilings and for returns used outside window ledge grill which dropped beneath floor to a huge return duct, like 3- 4 ft dia if not larger. Since below ground would fill with water if and when sump pump died or (doh) got unplugged-
call out water truck, remove 2000 gal to get rid of the swamp effect in dining room, not to mention the thunder of the waves in the duct. Still plenty out there but no longer servicing- the good ol days.

hvac hero · Sep 6, 2006

PaysonHVAC said:
Another tech and I laugh, because every time someone lately has called in for a "Maintenance" after the peak of summer has past, it is really a NO COOL when we get there!!!

Yep, they must think it wont be as expensive if they tell you they just want it checked. In another month or 2, we'll be getting the heat checks & while we're there can we just check the air too (for no additional cost of course)

70 Gallon water leak!!!!

PaysonHVAC

mayguy

backbeatkeeper

tpa-fl

razorback

coolperfect

PaysonHVAC

andserco

amd

timmay

absrbrtek

smilies

qssfl

ralphtheplumber

phaedo

rubberduck

mayguy

karl k

thegoodhumorman

hvac hero

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