Comments on: Keeping Your Condensate Line Clean HVAC Training

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:07:54 +0000

Carmen and Lisa – your line could be clean, you may have a cracked drain pan….which would have to be replaced.

Dan make sure that your pvc clean out is capped. If you have a P-trap you can add a vent AFTER it and make sure the vent pipe is ABOVE the the drain pan….usually helps with condensation flow.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:02:27 +0000

Hello,

My condensate line has been clogging regularly. I did the bleach and gallo gun, but it seems to have clogged again. The line drains into a crawl space that is difficult to access. Are there any stronger liquids than drain-o that I could use?

By: Carmen

Carmen — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 02:36:25 +0000

We’ve had the upstairs line back up on us four times this year – and it’s in the attic, so our upstairs ceiling looks horrific. I found this page with a Google search and wondered if you have any thoughts on why the line might keep backing up. We’ve thoroughly flushed it each time and yet, about 3 weeks later – the ceiling starts to drip and it’s clogged.

By: DAN

DAN — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:59:19 +0000

Is it possible that a neglected air filter could become so dirty that the air handler begins to leak from the condensate line?

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 06:16:14 +0000

I don’t know if it is just me but this year I seem to be really having a problem with the slime mold in the a/c condensation drain line. Even the family car a/c drain has backed up and flooded the passenger side. Years ago I cut the PVC line and added a twist together joint as to allow access with the garden hose. About once a year I would have to blast it out from the garage. Outside it always looked like an elephant snoted along side the house. This summer I have done it twice. Now I added another PVC fitting to allow for bleach to be added. I’m wondering if it will help or just flush through. I may have to do it monthly, along with the regular filter change. It’s been really hot and humid this year in Florida. I was wondering your thoughts. –Dan

By: Lisa Young

Lisa Young — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:28:38 +0000

I have a manufactured home, half the vents in house was working and the other half wasn’t. we went under the house and the duct connecting the main unit to the run on the half not working, was full of water. (5 gallons if i could guess) we replaced the line and it is working fine now. my concern is the condensation will fill it up again. Also, it is warping my door and flooring by the unit inside my laundry room. its wet. Help! I had HVAC guys come out and they filled the r-22 in unit. said condensation was normal. 5 gallons?? why is it in the duct? plastic pipe is underneath to drain water. Worried

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:15:00 +0000

Jonathan, that is a tough question to answer, if the evap coil is on the negative side, they are needed as air bubbles could occur if not and mess up the way the line is draining, if the evap coil is on the positive side, the trap helps keep the air from escaping the unit.

Many AC techs may have different answers, but they are almost always needed….why? Because the installation manual for every system I’ve seen says they do

By: Jonathan Martinez

Jonathan Martinez — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 08:17:13 +0000

I have one question to ask, ” What is the purpose of a P-trap on the condenser drain line?

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:54:48 +0000

Hi,

First, I’d like to say that I find this information very useful, but unfortunately, I’m still having problems. I recently started noticing water dripping, well more like running, from a pipe I’ve never seen it drip from before. So I started doing some research and learned that it was the back up drain line for my Air Conditioner condensate. I read different methods of clearing the line. First, I tried to access the clean out on the primary drain pipe to pour some bleach down it. Unfortunately for me, who ever installed the AC in my house didn’t put a clean out on it. So I tried another method, the shopvac. This was ineffective. So, my brother is a plumber and I thought I’d have him look at it and maybe put a cleanout on it for me so I could pour some bleach down the drain. When he cut the pipe to do so, we realized the drain pipe wasn’t even clogged. It seems to be clogged before the condensate p-trap. Like maybe in the unit itself. I’ve tried to see what I can do to fix this and I’m not finding anything online. Is there anything I can try to do before I pay someone for a service call?? Thank you for your time!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:22:57 +0000

Bob, call a local HVAC company and set up a maintenance, most companies will come out twice a year and clean your drain line, along with checking the overall efficiency of your complete HVAC system. That will run you 150 bucks and up a year, much cheaper than a service call to get someone out to clean it for you. About the PVC, it MAY help, but I also do not know how your system is set up and may be more expensive over all to do that, regular maintenance should keep it clean, shop vacuums taking suction on a drain line while hot water is being poured in the drain pan does wonders. Hint Hint.

Missy I have never heard of that before. They do not design them to make the filter access hard to get to. If you have dirty air handler coils, that can only be accessed by taking the air handler apart to clean them, that is a different story, but I can almost assure you there is no filter inside the unit that makes it so hard to get to that you have to charge 500 dollars, aside from some rare commercial type units.