Condensation not draining from A/C

[email4matt]

I have a question. The other day, I went into my basement, and found water all over my floor. After doing some detective work, I figured out that all of the water condensing from my A/C unit wasn't draining to the primary PVC tube coming from the front of my unit. There is a cap a few feet away from the unit near the elbow, so I looked in there.

There was water just laying in the tube so obviously, it's not drainig. I purchased a snake, and ran it into the tube, and waited a few days to see if it helped. It did not. The tube runs right into the

concrete floor in my basement (we don't have a floating basement). So,

for right now, I pulled the plug where the secondary drain would be, and I have it draining into a bucket.

Before I call (translation: PAY) someone to come out, does anyone have any other ideas was to what I can try? Thank you!!

[Dave]

Pour bleach into the drain line to kill the slime buildup.

[email4matt]

Thanks, I will give that a shot. But, since the water is just laying in the tube, how will the bleach work it's way down to my drain? When the technician installed our system (the house is only 3 years old), they didn't put any downward angles into the drain. There are 4 right angles, and a trap. I can see into the top of the trap, so that's where I'll put the water.

[Travis Jordan]

You need to blow the drain line out to remove the bioslime that is clogging it. There are a number of ways to do this. The link below will give you some ideas.

I've had success with connecting a water hose (even hand tight) at the drain where it leaves the air handler, then gently turning on the water to force the slime out of the line. You can even try connecting the hose to the OUTLET of the drain and force some water up the line to break the slime loose. But be careful or you'll end up with water everywhere if you are too enthusiastic.

[PrecisionMachinisT]

If your line is clear then the problem is probly that you don't have a proper condensate trap installed at the air handler unit.

Right now, your bucket is acting as a trap....note that if you start with a completely empty bucket there will be vacuum at drain the tube and so the unit won't actually begin draining properly until the unit cycles one (or more) times.

This is because your condensate collects in an area that is at a negative pressure compared to atmospheric ( the area between the evap coil and the fan )

A proper setup works kinda like the air-locks that home-brewers use, except that your pressures are reversed.

HTH

[ds549]

i have to flush my ac drain out with a water hose every few years.sometimes that drain pan under the evaporator (thats the part that gets cold) rusts or gets lint in it to so i vacume it and hose it also.. lucas

[email4matt]

I would like to try to suck the clog out, if that's the problem...but I don't have access to the other end, it goes into my concrete floor.

At this point, I think I will try cutting the pipe just above the floor, and making sure it's clear until that point. If so, I'll see if I can fish a snake down into the floor, and see if its clogged down there. If it isn't -- or if I can't tell -- how would I go about creating a proper condensate trap? Should it be a closed loop, to create a vacuum? If not, how would the water get around the turns and past the trap in the PVC?

Thanks again for everyones help!

[MLD]

Lots of good answers--The first time mine clogged and I had water all over the floor and I fixed it the hard way. Flushed the drain line with a garden hose from the outside. It cleaned the drains system out but as you can guess, water everywhere. After that, yearly, at the beginning of the AC season for us, I mix a solution of water and bleach (1 gal) and run it into the evaporator pan. No drain problems since I started doing this. This mixture will open up a clogged system too. MLD

[Nick Hull]

I had a similiar problem, too many right angles and some upward slopes. I tore out the complete drain line and put in a straight pipe with lots of slope, and put in a cross between the air handler and the trap. You have to plug the unused ports, but it's EZ to run a fish tape down the trap or to look up inside the air handler drain & clean it.