So my mom called me last night about 10:30 b/c her cousin (elderly lady who lives alone) called and said water was coming through her ceiling. I go over and her pan is full and overflowing and the drain was clogged. There was a wire running directly over the float keeping it from rising to make contact to shut off the unit. She had a handyman type service come work on her AC 2-3 weeks ago. I find it hard to believe anyone with any knowledge would accidentally leave a wire running through the pan on top of the float. Needless to say, it did quite a bit of damage. I cleared the drain pipe and drained the pan and the AC works fine. Has anyone ever seen someone intentionally pin down the float to sabotage a homeowner / get recurring call outs?
Pan float sabotage?
Scott Campbell
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So my mom called me last night about 10:30 b/c her cousin (elderly lady who lives alone) called and said water was coming through her ceiling. I go over and her pan is full and overflowing and the drain was clogged. There was a wire running directly over the float keeping it from rising to make contact to shut off the unit. She had a handyman type service come work on her AC 2-3 weeks ago. I find it hard to believe anyone with any knowledge would accidentally leave a wire running through the pan on top of the float. Needless to say, it did quite a bit of damage. I cleared the drain pipe and drained the pan and the AC works fine. Has anyone ever seen someone intentionally pin down the float to sabotage a homeowner / get recurring call outs?
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5,350 Posts
If there is a safety device designed to shut something down in case of a problem, someone somewhere will figure out a way to bypass it.
Here's the reason that thare unit aint running! Lets see if i can find a piece of wire or something to jam in there. There ya go, all fixed, Maaam! You have yourself a nice day now!
Just be glad she didn't call the guy for help with something such as a leaking relief valve on her water heater. :eek2:
Here's the reason that thare unit aint running! Lets see if i can find a piece of wire or something to jam in there. There ya go, all fixed, Maaam! You have yourself a nice day now!
Just be glad she didn't call the guy for help with something such as a leaking relief valve on her water heater. :eek2:
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Or, she could have called that there "expert" guy. I would call that guy and explain what happened to your Mom's cousin AC, ceiling,mess and see what he has to say. Then you can politely remind him that he was there recently.
I knew a Refrigeration guy who was cheap so he got cheap customers,and he didn't fix freon leaks very well, but he got paid cash from his customers every 3-4-6 months, like clock work for putting in freon. His vehicles were better than mine, his vacations were more frequent than mine, Oh, well. Yea, its possible he's a skunk.
I knew a Refrigeration guy who was cheap so he got cheap customers,and he didn't fix freon leaks very well, but he got paid cash from his customers every 3-4-6 months, like clock work for putting in freon. His vehicles were better than mine, his vacations were more frequent than mine, Oh, well. Yea, its possible he's a skunk.
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Me, I would go talk to the nice lady and with her standing next to you call the handyman service asking for the name of their insurance carrier (policy number) because she wants to file a claim against their negligent work. That usually gets their attention. The good companies will send a real sheet-rocker, carpenter, painter to fix. Pretty surprising how fast some of them get there to fix the problem. If they do not respond favorably, file the claim and sic the Insurance and Licensing authorities on them. Then you or the nice lady does not have to be the heavy. Best way I know of to get the untrained and hacks out of the business.
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Thanks for all the replys. I don't know exactly what the "handy man " service did recently but my mother thought it was because the pan was full. Last night I drained the pan Using my shop vac, And it was almost 10 gallons (I poured from vac into 5 gallon bucket and filled it twice). I'm definitely no A/C guy or one of you guys who knows a lot about a lot. More like I know a little about little, but I'll try to help someone if I can. I'm curious how long it would take a 10 gallon overflow pan to fill up? I'm sure there are many variables with this. But my thinking is, they came out b/c the a/c shut off due to pan being full and the float did its job. They drained the pan but didn't unclog the drain pipe. Then, ran the wire over the float so it couldn't shut down the unit. A/c would run great but soon a water leak would warrant a 2nd call out for them. They then have an easy fix for leak, plus additional work, Sheetrock repair, etc...
Does this sound about right?
Thanks again.
Does this sound about right?
Thanks again.
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Yep, Take pictures, pictures and more pictures. As for how long it would take to fill the pan. There are several variables but it does not take very long collect 10 gallons in warm humid conditions. Less than a week more like a day
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3,779 Posts
2 gallons an hour. Sounds like she got what she paid for
I see same thing in my biz , during summer HVAC gets call to hot , finds that the duct detectors has activated and shut unit down they bypass it to get AC working again, , we never get the call to check and repair . once in awhile there is a real fire and HVAC moves smoke and flames through out building
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