air conditioning condensate drain

Personally, I'd make sure that the tube enters the drainpipe at a point a good foot below the air conditioner if at all possible.

I suspect that the condensate drain pipe is merely connected to a tray under the conderser and has no anti return mechanism and could flood if you get heavy rainfall.

You could bet it drain on the floor but these things can produce quite a flow of water in humid conditions.

sponix

sponix

Stick a small plastic box on the bottom to catch the water..

put a small aquarium pump in the box and pump the water over the condenser heat exchanger.

This saves electricity and makes the unit more efficient.

I am surprised it doesn't do this already... it does claim to be A for efficiency.

PS You can collect the condensate and use it in your iron to keep it clean.

There should be a trap to stop drain smells, but they dry out in winter.

Don't do that. Usually the coils have copper tube and aluminium fins, adding an electrolyte starts off galvanic corrosion. Soon coils have copper tube and no fins. Yes, the evaporator may go first.

not for long.

So you can't put the external unit out in the rain then?

Its a bit silly having an outside unit that isn't water proof.

My portable unit pumps the condensate over the fins to recover wasted energy.

Are you saying the B&Q units have a design fault and are unsuitable for our climate? I haven't looked at one so they may have.

I asked about this on a refrigeration forum and it didn't get the thumbs up...:

Still if the AC is a heat pump type the outdoor unit will be able to cope with condensate too, and have provision for collecting and draining it making the above easier to try out.

cheers, Pete.

Yes, but it's a major cause of the demise of air-cooled water chillers, probably after 5 or 6 years life, outside the warranty, so the makers don't care. Quality coils have copper tubes expanded into copper fins & then tinned. They're expensive, so ali fins are a cheap substitute. I have little experience of DX split systems, but the same theory applies.

Not a problem with quality coils. Not many purchasers would read the specification, all would read the price tag.

Excellent.

They're designed to a price & designed to sell. They sell.