AC Condensation Drain Advice

[Duckologist]

I had a new install done on my house about a year ago and the installer frowned upon bleach. He said the fumes from the bleach is bad for your unit and will eat it up much quicker. He says he only uses hot water about twice a year to keep the drain open. Said if you want to put something other than hot water you can mix some vinegar in with the water but bleach is too corrosive

[DedDuk]

I had a new install done on my house about a year ago and the installer frowned upon bleach. He said the fumes from the bleach is bad for your unit and will eat it up much quicker. He says he only uses hot water about twice a year to keep the drain open. Said if you want to put something other than hot water you can mix some vinegar in with the water but bleach is too corrosive

Fumes wont get past the pee trap

[Duckologist]

Fumes wont get past the pee trap

I don't argue with professionals lol.

[savin yours]

Mine looked exactly like OP’s. When I had a different company come out to work on it, I asked them if we could cap it because it was blowing cold air into my attic. He capped it and it’s been like that for years. Should I take it off?


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[Electrican]

So I ended up raising the vent riser 12” which is way above the drain entry. For extra assurance would capping it cause any problems with drainage? After seeing my ceiling damage now, I’m thinking I should eliminate any possibilities of water to come out of that open pipe. In other words force it to go into overflow pan and to outside drain if it ever clogs again.

[TeamAmerica]

You should install a switch! See pic. This will shut unit off via thermostat thus notifying you have a clog. You still want it at the right height for this to work.

[Russ26]

A safety cut off switch on the pvc opening would kill the thermostat instead of keeping the unit running to continue overflowing. In addition to the periodic bleach, can hook up a shop vac on the outflow to suck out debris

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[JFFB]

Switch

Well the inevitable happened this evening with a clogged AC condensation line. Came in and living room ceiling was soaked and dripping water. The drain ties in at the bathroom ptrap. Was able to get the clog free and water flowing again by taking it apart under sink and snaking it. The leak was coming from the pipe that appears to be a clean out pipe circled in pic. Is this a normal install as there is no cap or anything stopping the water? It was basically overflowing from the pipe. Could I put a removable cap to seal this so it overflows into pan if it happens again? Just can’t believe there wouldn’t be a cap on this. Thanks.

There is suppose to be a float switch in the pan.

[JFFB]

Correct

We had the same thing happen. Our A/C guy installed a pan with a shut-off switch, so that if it ever overflowed again, it would shut the unit off before the pan overflowed onto our ceiling.

We have winner. I have switch on mine to prevent this from happening.

[DedDuk]

We have winner. I have switch on mine to prevent this from happening.

The issue in this case is the water wasnt going into the pan, it was coming out of the pipe. Float switch in the pan wouldnt fix this problem.

[glen]

Your overflow is not working. Blow out or clean both lines. Make sure your trap has enough angle on it. But capping it does nothing. You need to be able to access that. I had caps on mine but never glued them

[bowhntrmatt]

Tough to be sure by the pic, but it looks like you have a furnace setup so your drain is under positive air pressure. If so, that vent that leaked is positioned incorrectly. It should be upstream of the p trap and left open with a stack taller than the drain pan. This prevents the furnace from blowing the water out of the trap and making your sink gurgle in the winter. (Technically that setup doesn’t even need the trap but that’s a different conversation).

Definitely invest in a safety float switch to prevent this from happening again. And don’t listed to the guy that says you should have water dripping out over your window all the time. That’s wrong.

[Palmetto]

Tough to be sure by the pic, but it looks like you have a furnace setup so your drain is under positive air pressure. If so, that vent that leaked is positioned incorrectly. It should be upstream of the p trap and left open with a stack taller than the drain pan. This prevents the furnace from blowing the water out of the trap and making your sink gurgle in the winter. (Technically that setup doesn’t even need the trap but that’s a different conversation).

Definitely invest in a safety float switch to prevent this from happening again. And don’t listed to the guy that says you should have water dripping out over your window all the time. That’s wrong.

There’s two completely different types/scenarios of drain applications.
Positive side of evaporator requires one set up...negative side of evaporator requires totally different set up.
And if if you don’t know the difference...stop

These guys are on the right track! Educate yourself on positive vs negative, and go from there.

I have a negative pressure system, and the clowns installed it like a positive pressure. It took me awhile to figure it out why it was overflowing the internal pan and leaking thru the sheet metal into the galvanized overflow. If you have a negative pressure system, then both the primary & secondary drains need to have a p-trap in order to drain correctly. If left open to atmosphere, it will create a vacuum and not let the condensate drain.

Also, I like to have my inspection port on the upstream side of the trap so that my bleach has to go thru the trap too.

[JFFB]

The issue in this case is the water wasnt going into the pan, it was coming out of the pipe. Float switch in the pan wouldnt fix this problem.

Exactly I did not say it would. But it would stop the problem till the drain was fixed. Thanks


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[Electrican]

Tough to be sure by the pic, but it looks like you have a furnace setup so your drain is under positive air pressure. If so, that vent that leaked is positioned incorrectly. It should be upstream of the p trap and left open with a stack taller than the drain pan. This prevents the furnace from blowing the water out of the trap and making your sink gurgle in the winter. (Technically that setup doesn’t even need the trap but that’s a different conversation).

Definitely invest in a safety float switch to prevent this from happening again. And don’t listed to the guy that says you should have water dripping out over your window all the time. That’s wrong.

Yes it is a gas furnace setup. We’ve been here 9+ years and this is first problem ever. Never noticed any gurgling or other issues in winter time. It was simply clogged up at the ptrap under sink and backing up through the vent pipe that isn’t capped. I’m going to look into these safety shutoffs as I don’t want to deal with this again. Big area of sheet rock ruined in living room.