Condensate pump pan?

[trader4]

Does anyone know if there is a pan made to fit under a typical HVAC condensate pump? I have a condensate pump in the basement for the furnace and AC that pumps the water outside. I'd like to put a pan that's maybe 16 x 8 or so under the pump. I'd then have the secondary drain (overflow) from the AC coil and the furnace going into the pan as well. The pan should have a fitting so I can hook up a hose and go from there to the french drain. That way if the pump fails or the primary lines clog, the water would go to the french drain instead of the basement floor. I'd also put one of the small battery water alarms in the pan.

I can find big ones made to go under entire furnaces for attics, etc, but nothing small enough for just the condensate pump itself.

[RBM]

Why not just put a float switch on the condensate tank, to shut down the system if it's full?

[hrhofmann]

Go to your local hardware store and look around. There are all sorts of dish washing containers, and zillions of other things packed in plastic that can be used for your 8 x 16" pan.

[John Grabowski]

*You can have a sheet metal shop make one to your specifications.

[Art Todesco]

Actually, many condensate pump units have a normally closed contact which opens if the pump fails to empty the tank. This is then wired in series with the hot wire going to the thermostat. Everything shuts down if the pump doesn't pump. My condensate pump has shut down the furnace 2 times because the hose, going outside, froze. I now have it going where it can't freeze.

[MLD]

If you happen to be away e.g. on vacation---what's your choice, a shut down of the furnace or condensate on the floor? When my pump was wired I made sure that a malfunction would not shut down the furnace. I'm gone for a month in the winter and a furnace shutdown could be disastrous. MLD

[RBM]

You connect the float switch to interrupt the air-conditioning system only

[The Daring Dufas]

That's not the case with high efficiency condensing furnaces. A lot of water comes out of the furnace during operation because so much heat is extracted from the burning of the fuel. I prefer a good floor drain if I can get it for an AC or high efficiency furnace. It's easy to address the possibility of a frozen drain for a furnace with electric heat tape on the vulnerable section of drain pipe. I've had to use it on lines going to an outdoor wall mounted NG fired instant water heater.

TDD

[RBM]

True dat

[aemeijers]

Sam's club has the gray plastic bus-boy boxes that would be perfect for this. I think a 2-pack is about 12 bucks. I keep 2 in the back of my van to hold grocery bags, and the local airport uses them (and the non-skid dogfood bowls) for the x-ray machines. Nothing like adaptive repurposing. The gray plastic is also easy machinable, if you want to add a drain line.

Dumb question- if you have a french drain (and presumably a sump pit it leads to), why are you using a pump? Back in the stone age, we put the sump pit 6 feet from the furnace and WH, and just ran the drain pipes across the floor.

-- aem sends...

[trader4]

Yeah, if the sump pit was near the furnace, that would be my first choice, but it's far across the basement. And there is no sump pump because my basement has been dry. From what I understand, the code guys are OK with it being routed to a sump pit, but not into a french drain with no sump pump. Plus, I'm not sure about running that water into the french drain for two reasons:

1 - While most of it's going into the ground, it probably adds some to the basement moisture. 2 - The condensate from the furnace is acidic and I wonder if it could damage footings, etc over time.

I found an old aluminum cake pan that is the right size. I just have to figure out how to attach a barbed fitting for a hose. Probably just epoxy it in? It's not super critical that it be 100% leak proof. As far as code goes, I could just end the secondary overflow drain right on the basement floor.

[hrhofmann]

not epoxy - too rigid. High quality silicone rubber

[Evan]

+1 to this idea, having one made to exactly what you want is probbaly the best solution here as it won't look gerry-rigged...

~~ Evan

[ransley]

I would think make one from plastic ware, on another issue what if a water pipe or the hose to the washer broke, how would the water get out.

[trader4]

In my case, the water would go from the overflow pan under the furnace condesate pump to the french drain. In the case of a washer pan you obviously either have to have one that has a drain that you could route somewhere, or else it's usefullness is limited to catching only what the pan can hold. That combined with a battery powered water alarm could still give some reasonable amount of protection, but not enough for burst hose.

[trader4]

Thanks for the link. They do have a good variety of plastic pans. Right now I found an old aluminum bake pan that I think will work. It's the perfect size. I just have to drill a hole and fit in a barbed hose fitting using some silicone sealer and it should work fine.