Air Conditioning Drip Pan Problem

Maybe these guys can send you the info you need.

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Reply to
G Henslee
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It would be normal for the condensate pan to be piped either to a drain or, preferably, outdoors. The condensate drain can become blocked by algae. It may be necessary to blow or flush out the drain line and treat the system with bleach or other algaecide.

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Reply to
DanG

Find out where the drain line goes. Use a wet/dry vac to vacuum the drain from outside. This way all the water and slime and crap is pulled out. Then treat the drain pan with a little Clorox. I usually spray coil cleaner on the coil, Greased Lightning would work reasonably well. Mix the cleaner with water per the directions. Don't use anything corrosive, it will eat the coil.

Stretch

Reply to
Stretch

Hi Folks,

I wonder is anybody can help with this problem a friend of mine in Florida has?

She has a GrandAire GB3BM-042K-B-10A air conditioning unit in her garage. One day, a few weeks ago, when she got home from work her garage floor was flooded with water from the unit.

She called the A/C guy who tinkered with the system, told her it was a crap system, said the coils where rusting, charged her quite a few dollars and went away.

Whilst I was on vacation there, she asked me to have a look at it but I have to admit that A/C is new to me as I live in quite a cool climate. When I took the cover off, I could see smallish brown pipes (the coils?). The brown appeared to be a protective coating of paint or plastic and these did not look rusted to me. Under the pipes was a tray, with turned up sides, that had about an inch and a half of water in it. She told me that she has to keep emptying this on a daily basis. Part of the unit's metal body protrudes into the tray and this has become rusty, probably by the water rising to that level on occasions.

I am assuming that this tray is a drip tray to catch condensating (sp?) water off the coils. Should the drip tray have some sort of a drain from it or would the water be expected to evaporate naturally into the air? Is this amount of water, or condensation, normal?

I don't know if she has big time problems or if the A/C guy was trying to get a new A/C unit sale out of her.

I have tried to find details of this unit with an internet search but to no avail.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

QJ

Reply to
QuangoJango

I forgot to tell you, rinse the coil with water after you spray the greased lightning on it.

Stretch

Reply to
Stretch

That would be condensation. Normal for an AC

Never saw a rusted coil. They are made from copper tubing nad aluminum fins in 99% of the cases. Never made from steel or a corrosive material of that type.

If the tray is steel, it will rust and can contaminate the coile, but as tated above, the coil is not rusted.

There is usually a drain. Could be copper or pvc tubing that goes to either a floor drain or outside.

He is a hack. Never call him again.

Is the unit cooling otherwise? If so, don't get overly concerned about it (although a service check is a good idea) but get the water drained. It is also common for these drains to get plugged with an accumulation of dust, dirt, and other gunk that builds up in the pan over time. In most cases, it can easily be blown out or cleared by running a wire down the drain. Clean it with a bleach solution and wash it out well. Repeat as needed, but at least once a year.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I wonder is anybody can help with this problem a friend of mine in Florida has?

She has a GrandAire GB3BM-042K-B-10A air conditioning unit in her garage. One day, a few weeks ago, when she got home from work her garage floor was flooded with water from the unit.

She called the A/C guy who tinkered with the system, told her it was a crap system, said the coils where rusting, charged her quite a few dollars and went away.

Whilst I was on vacation there, she asked me to have a look at it but I have to admit that A/C is new to me as I live in quite a cool climate. When I took the cover off, I could see smallish brown pipes (the coils?). The brown appeared to be a protective coating of paint or plastic and these did not look rusted to me. Under the pipes was a tray, with turned up sides, that had about an inch and a half of water in it. She told me that she has to keep emptying this on a daily basis. Part of the unit's metal body protrudes into the tray and this has become rusty, probably by the water rising to that level on occasions.

I am assuming that this tray is a drip tray to catch condensating (sp?) water off the coils. Should the drip tray have some sort of a drain from it or would the water be expected to evaporate naturally into the air? Is this amount of water, or condensation, normal?

I don't know if she has big time problems or if the A/C guy was trying to get a new A/C unit sale out of her.

I have tried to find details of this unit with an internet search but to no avail.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

QJ

Reply to
stevie

There SHOULD be a drain pipe coming from the pan, to some where like a drain, or out of the house. Go back and look for it. Sometimes you can blow the dirt out of the drain pipe with compressed air. Or as Stretch suggests, vacuum the lin eout with a wet vac.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Not exactly. Condensate from the coils should drain away, unseen by human eyes. There are TWO drains.

Only if the primary drain is clogged should water appear in the external drip-pan.

In other words, the visible drip-pan is the fail-safe mechanism. If you can see water, the primary drain is clogged. Then, of course, when the external pan's drain gets clogged, water overflows into the house, garage, or wherever.

So, then:

  1. Find the primary drain and unclog it (blow (hard) into it).
  2. Find the access port to the primary condensate collection area and put a cup of bleach in the collected water. This will kill the alge that's the original cause of the clog.
  3. Un-clog the external drip-pan's drain.
  4. Pour a cup of bleach down the external drip-pan's drain.
Reply to
HeyBub

G Henslee wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

Thanks for the URL but I keep getting "The page cannot be displayed"

Even cutting the URL down to

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still gives me the same error.

Can you actually access the site?

OJ

Reply to
QuangoJango

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specs

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instructions

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parts

These aren't exactly your model, but they might be close enough. Try right clicking on the above links, and save the documents.

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

QJ They are still selling it in my area and I accessed the web site just now with no problem. Maybe you need a new browser or ISP.

Stretch

Reply to
Stretch

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in news:nkGXe.108504$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.nyroc.rr.com:

Again, many thanks for the URLs but I get "Page cannot be displayed" when I try the all.

OJ

Reply to
QuangoJango

Many thanks to those who responded. She is trying the bleach method so hopefully that might work.

I don't know if GrandAire have gone out of business but I cannot access any of their web sites that have been quoted

OJ

Reply to
QuangoJango

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