My air handler overflowed today. New unit installed two months ago. I vacuumed out the condensate line (and there was some gunk in there). How often do I need to do this? Does it help to pour in some vinegar every month? I'm in Florida, where it's 1000 degrees, if that figures in. Thank you!
How often should you vacuum out condensate line?
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masscom
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On yours The trap will be under the slab which isn't a good design but I hear it's very common in florida. Do you see any way to run a drain line to the outside possibly that it could be sloped properly?
vstech,
I put a Shopvac on the drain outside and vacuumed it. A bunch of gunk came out. Then I poured a cup of vinegar into the drain line (through the T that has the cap on it), let it sit a few minutes, then turned the Shopvac back on and ran it while I poured about a quart of water through it. More gunk came out.
I'm looking at it, and I don't see a trap, which I would assume is like a P-trap on a drain. I'd post a photo, but I don't see how to do that.
When I call the installer today, I will ask about the enzyme treatment. And the new line, although that seems like it would be complicated, getting behind a lot of walls.
I put a Shopvac on the drain outside and vacuumed it. A bunch of gunk came out. Then I poured a cup of vinegar into the drain line (through the T that has the cap on it), let it sit a few minutes, then turned the Shopvac back on and ran it while I poured about a quart of water through it. More gunk came out.
I'm looking at it, and I don't see a trap, which I would assume is like a P-trap on a drain. I'd post a photo, but I don't see how to do that.
When I call the installer today, I will ask about the enzyme treatment. And the new line, although that seems like it would be complicated, getting behind a lot of walls.
R600a, my air handler isn't on an outside wall. It looks like the line would have to go behind two walls, taking two right-angle turns. And I'm assuming the work would have to be done from the other side, which means cutting into a bathroom wall.
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Dear Masscom; while your condensate line makes absolutely no sense it still may be true. I just cant see why, the original installer is punching holes thru the wall for refrigerant lines, what's one more for the condensate.?
keep in touch and let us know of your progress. the people on this site have a collective of thousands of years of experience and work with quality contractors.
i installed an A/C system in an old house that i bought in 1988, when i sold it in 2021 i had never had to clean the condensate drain or add refrigerant.
keep in touch and let us know of your progress. the people on this site have a collective of thousands of years of experience and work with quality contractors.
i installed an A/C system in an old house that i bought in 1988, when i sold it in 2021 i had never had to clean the condensate drain or add refrigerant.
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My understanding is they run the condensate and line set under the slab. It's a horrible mess for many reasons but supposedly very common down there.
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I was just beginning to think that he had an A-coil box sitting right on the slab with no hope of running a condensate line like we do in Chicago where the drain line is four feet above finished floor. welcome to florida i guess.
To masscom: at least you have a tee available to blow compressed air and add cleansers, at this point i could only say to try bleach and put some kind of pan or paint tray under the pipe so you dont kill the grass.
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Bleach won't hurt the grass if it's diluted a bit but it can possibly run back into the line sets and cause them to leak.
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I would pour bleach in it, let it sit, dont flush it out, spend days or weeks until it comes out clean; after that you can probably neglect it for a decade but better to keep it clean.
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I've told you a million times not to exaggerate. :grin2:
Thanks, Stumpdigger and everyone else who's weighed in! The installer is sending a technician out tomorrow to clean the line with some stuff made for that purpose and also check out if the air handler is level, why the float switch didn't turn off the system, if the drain line is sloped, if anything is going on with the drain pan, etc. He took my concern seriously. He said to allow an hour, because he really wanted him to look into it. He also said, "Those drain lines under slabs are the bane of my existence."
All the great input from this group helped me tremendously in talking to him. I will definitely post what happens.
All the great input from this group helped me tremendously in talking to him. I will definitely post what happens.
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No bleach , no vinegar , no drain opener either. All of them are not suitable for AC drain treatment or clogging remedies. All of them are corrosive especially to copper.
Pushing with nitrogen some times is disastrous with old thin wall pvc. or installer miss a joint with no glue on it .Sucked with shop vac is the safest and worked for me every time,and don't forget to prime the p trap if any/sarcastic/ but seen them missing at all.Give yor customer few extra pan treatment tabs and recommend to drop one in the pan when they replacing their air filter. Today even they can buy tablets at home depot.
Pushing with nitrogen some times is disastrous with old thin wall pvc. or installer miss a joint with no glue on it .Sucked with shop vac is the safest and worked for me every time,and don't forget to prime the p trap if any/sarcastic/ but seen them missing at all.Give yor customer few extra pan treatment tabs and recommend to drop one in the pan when they replacing their air filter. Today even they can buy tablets at home depot.
THIS!!!
I AM APPALLED AT THE RESPONSES ON THIS FORUM RECOMMENDING CHEMICALS
Yeah... vinegar likely wouldn't hurt the equipment, but it wouldn't clear the line either...
Bleach... no... just no. So bad for equipment.
NEVER use drain cleaner chemicals...
Specific condensate treatment solutions are best to keep a line clear, but they won't do much for an existing clog.
Gotta vacuum it out with a shop vac...
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I’m APPALLED that Fla allows this BS!
Yeah... it is idiotic...
I would install a quality UV light, and make certain the air filter is perfection... do all you can to keep microbes from growing in there...
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I try not to recommend chemicals unless I'm standing in front of the system and can verify that it won't be a problem.
Good morning majority of the drain lines here run outside away from the air conditioner and totally separate from the line sets and as long as the cleanout is reasonably far enough downstream from the evaporator coil I have no problem dumping bleach in it although I've pretty much moved away from using bleach because too many customers are scared of it and nowadays I almost exclusively use viper drain and pan spray because I and a big fan of refrigeration technologies and that product works good. It's rated for use around food and it won't hurt your skin or corrode metals.
Oh, absolutely, condensate line treatments are great.
Bleach or aluminum hydroxide based chemicals (plumbing drain cleaners) are an absolute NONO…
The technician came out today and put some product in the line, let it sit for 20 minutes, then added a bunch of hot water and vacuumed it out. He said there was no way to see if the line was sloped correctly since it was under the slab. He checked the float valve and said it was working fine, so he wasn't sure why it didn't turn off the system. I suggested he adjust the line going to it so it sloped down, which he did. He said he couldn't see the drain pan. He said the air handler was level. Apparently, this is a really common problem in Florida -- buried drain lines that get clogged. Maybe this cleaning and putting in vinegar once a month and continuing with my twice-yearly maintenance will mean no more problems. If not, he said since the air handler has a bathroom between it and the outside, putting in a new line would be a major deal. What they usually do is install a pump. He wasn't suggesting that, since that's another piece of equipment to deal with. I kind of feel like I didn't get anything more than what I could have done myself, especially since he had to use my Shopvac. He did spend quite a while looking over everything. Maybe that's all there is to do. Anyway, I said I'd post an update, so here it is.
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