A couple months ago I detailed the travels of Harold the Helicopter’s journey to the bottom of our guest bathroom toilet, and the subsequent DIY plumbing project I undertook to rescue him. It wasn’t exactly a fun project, but I did learn more than I ever wanted to know about the anatomy of a residential commode, and I saved a ton of money I would have had to find a plumber for the effort. When a suspicious drip formed above our back door I knew it was again time to channel my “Tim the Toolman” skills and get to the bottom of it, without searching Angie’s List for an air conditioner repairman.  I soon found myself in the attic staring at a nearly-overflowing air conditioner drain pan. If you have a portable air conditioner then you probably will not have to worry about this drainage issue, but if you have central air then take note. I suspected a problem with the air conditioner drain since when the drip started it had not rained in a few days. I checked the main air conditioner drain pipe which comes out of the side or our home and noticed it was draining, but not with as much volume as it typically did.

In fact, a small puddle had formed in the past and I added a piece of 1″ PVC pipe to extend the drain away from our foundation. I accessed our attic via the garage and found the air conditioner’s main evaporator unit. The pan underneath the unit was nearly full of water, which I knew was a problem. The source of the drip was a secondary drain pipe connected near the top of the pan and running to the back of our house with an exit just above our back door. home air conditioning repair tulsaI was thankful the builder and air conditioner installer put the secondary drain’s exit in a high-visibility spot so homeowners would know there was a problem.lg ac repair gurgaon I’d been wanting to pick up a small, inexpensive wet/dry vac for small garage spills, and fortunately a local home improvement store had one on sale. wine cellar cooling units slimline

I picked up a Stinger-Vac (just a mini Shop Vac) for under $30 and returned home to put it to use. Lucky for me, the Stinger’s hose attached perfectly to the 1″ PVC drain pipe and began to immediately suck out water and sludge that had accumulated inside the pipe. As it filled I simply dumped the water in our yard, reattached the vacuum and started it up again. After a few cycles I assumed I had made a dent in the amount of water from the pan and returned to the attic to view my progress. This time I carried a container of household bleach with me. If I had taken this step earlier in the spring I could have probably avoided this near-disaster, but better late than never. I accessed the air conditioner’s drain by removing a PVC cap on the top of drain pipe by hand. If the pipe was properly installed, this cap should only be tightened by hand and can easily be removed and replaced without any tools. I added a little bleach to the drain pipe to clear away any accumulated algae and mildew.

Going forward, I will make this part of my checklist to prepare our home for summer. My total material costs for the project was $32.09 for the Stinger Shop Vac. We had bleach on hand so I didn’t factor this into the cost. The whole process of unclogging the air conditioner drain took about an hour, and saved me from having to make a $50 service call to our air conditioner repairman. For a net savings of roughly $20 I am now the proud owner of a mini shop vac. If all attempts to unclog the drain fail, it may be necessary to contact a plumber or air conditioner service professional. I recommend checking out Angie’s List to find reviews of service professionals in your area.Like with any building codes, check with your local building department if any or all of the following requirements apply in your jurisdiction. Even if you don’t like rules, make that attic air conditioner drip pan installation a part of your warm season house maintenance procedures before it will start leaking, and damage the ceiling.

The following industry standards apply to locations where accumulating / not draining properly condensate would damage building components, and the attic air conditioner drip pan installation fits right under those standards. The rules listed below are based on 2006 IRC – International Residential Code [….], and 2006 UMC – Uniform Mechanical Code{….}: Protection is required if condensate stoppage would damage building components[IRC] {UMC} : • Secondary AC condensate drain to a conspicuous point of disposal – you need to have a main drain from the coil catch pan located inside the coil compartment and a secondary drain in case the first one gets clogged [IRC] {UMC}. Both AC condensate drains should discharge in different locations and that secondary drain to some easily accessible / conspicuous location so you can monitor it (code requirement). If you notice condensate dripping from the secondary discharge pipe, it means that the main condensate drain pipe stopped functioning for some reason.

The attic air conditioner drip pan installation installers are sometimes tying together both – the primary and the secondary drains, which installation negates the secondary drain purpose. Just think for a moment, if the primary and the secondary pipe discharges in the attic, will you ever go there and check on them? The areas that people install AC condensate secondary discharge pipe: above the kitchen window / through the roof soffit (not over or into the public way), sinks, toilet bowls (if you have some pictures and don’t mind emailing me them for posting online, please let me know). This particular requirement also applies to the down-flow type units (blower motor installed on top / blowing down) with no secondary drain and no means of installing auxiliary drip pan A central air conditioner condensate trap purpose is to prevent air from being discharged from or sucked back into the “A” coil compartment or air handler during system operation. For the attic air conditioner drip pan installation, a missing trap on the primary AC condensate discharge pipe compromises system’s efficiency.

It may also be responsible for condensate drainage problems, internal leaks, mold contamination of the coil compartment wall liner. The next step in the attic air conditioner drip pan installation is to find a place to drain the primary discharge line and the secondary drip pan under the coil. This is often a challenge for HVAC contractors, especially when dealing with remodeling projects, additions, alterations of the existing property. There are a few, constantly broken rules that apply to the attic air conditioner drip pan installation and the condensate discharge pipe / its terminations in general; There are two very important concerns associated with a direct connection of the attic air conditioner’s condensate discharge pipe to the plumbing system waste or vent pipe; AC condensate might drain indirectly into the waste pipe – an example would be the tub overflow, the sink tailpiece, laundry drain. However, in all those examples, discharge pipe must be connected above the p-trap on the sink side, bathtub overflow side, laundry machine discharge pipe connection side – such connection is called “indirect” waste pipe connection.

Here are some of the other locations the AC condensate can discharge to, but under one condition – the lowest point of the condensation drain line must remain at least 2″ above the highest flood level rim of the indirect waste receptor; What is that “indirect liquid waste receptor” – it is a plumbing fixture (like a sink) with a p-trap installed on its drain line that separates it from the sewer / waste system, and makes the connection indirect. With the attic air conditioner drip pan installation you can try to use the plumbing vent chase or other vertical space between the attic and the lowest level to drop the condensate carrying drain pipes down and discharge them to any of the listed locations. Just make sure that you seal the penetrations on both ends – at the attic floor and at the bottom – for example basement ceiling. Very bad choices for the attic air conditioner drip pan installation and and any other central AC systems condensate discharge pipe terminations;