A couple months ago I detailed the travels of Harold the Helicopter’s journey to the bottom of our guest bathroom toilet, and the subsequent DIY plumbing project I undertook to rescue him. It wasn’t exactly a fun project, but I did learn more than I ever wanted to know about the anatomy of a residential commode, and I saved a ton of money I would have had to find a plumber for the effort. When a suspicious drip formed above our back door I knew it was again time to channel my “Tim the Toolman” skills and get to the bottom of it, without searching Angie’s List for an air conditioner repairman.  I soon found myself in the attic staring at a nearly-overflowing air conditioner drain pan. If you have a portable air conditioner then you probably will not have to worry about this drainage issue, but if you have central air then take note. I suspected a problem with the air conditioner drain since when the drip started it had not rained in a few days. I checked the main air conditioner drain pipe which comes out of the side or our home and noticed it was draining, but not with as much volume as it typically did.

In fact, a small puddle had formed in the past and I added a piece of 1″ PVC pipe to extend the drain away from our foundation. I accessed our attic via the garage and found the air conditioner’s main evaporator unit. The pan underneath the unit was nearly full of water, which I knew was a problem. The source of the drip was a secondary drain pipe connected near the top of the pan and running to the back of our house with an exit just above our back door. I was thankful the builder and air conditioner installer put the secondary drain’s exit in a high-visibility spot so homeowners would know there was a problem. I’d been wanting to pick up a small, inexpensive wet/dry vac for small garage spills, and fortunately a local home improvement store had one on sale. I picked up a Stinger-Vac (just a mini Shop Vac) for under $30 and returned home to put it to use. Lucky for me, the Stinger’s hose attached perfectly to the 1″ PVC drain pipe and began to immediately suck out water and sludge that had accumulated inside the pipe.

As it filled I simply dumped the water in our yard, reattached the vacuum and started it up again. After a few cycles I assumed I had made a dent in the amount of water from the pan and returned to the attic to view my progress. This time I carried a container of household bleach with me. If I had taken this step earlier in the spring I could have probably avoided this near-disaster, but better late than never. heat pump ac unit pricesI accessed the air conditioner’s drain by removing a PVC cap on the top of drain pipe by hand. air conditioning units fan not workingIf the pipe was properly installed, this cap should only be tightened by hand and can easily be removed and replaced without any tools. new ac unit for condoI added a little bleach to the drain pipe to clear away any accumulated algae and mildew.

Going forward, I will make this part of my checklist to prepare our home for summer. My total material costs for the project was $32.09 for the Stinger Shop Vac. We had bleach on hand so I didn’t factor this into the cost. The whole process of unclogging the air conditioner drain took about an hour, and saved me from having to make a $50 service call to our air conditioner repairman. For a net savings of roughly $20 I am now the proud owner of a mini shop vac. If all attempts to unclog the drain fail, it may be necessary to contact a plumber or air conditioner service professional. I recommend checking out Angie’s List to find reviews of service professionals in your area.I am an air conditioner repair tech (20+yrs). Describe your problem and I will employ my ancient majiks to ascertain the solution. HomeImprovement)submitted by It's hot. We HVAC companies are expensive. If you are handy, and comfortable checking a few things, you might get away with an easy fix. If it does require a professional, I can at least arm you with knowledge so you don't get taken advantage of.

For those of you EXPERIENCED with meters, voltage that can inconvenience your children with funeral costs, and a firm acceptance that you might cause some serious $$$s in repair, HERE (corrected) is a diagnosis flow chart for newby HVAC techs. Note, some base knowledge is assumed, and it does not address refrigerant (freon) diagnosis. Also, the box talking about checking compressor terminals for "open" should be clarified that meter set to Ohms If you have a question please help me out: tell me if your system is anything other than a standard central HVAC system with a furnace or electric heater inside (or under house/attic) with ductwork coming off and an air conditioner outside. let me know if it is a heat pump5yr old, 10yr old, 73yr old when was the last time it worked well EDIT: I will answer your question, may just take a bit. Even if this thread is months old. I was getting, and answering a couple questions a week all year from the last time I did a post like this.

If you have a multi-level/story house with one system, and have temperature balance issues, read all the posts from your fellow sufferers here. If you dont see what you need in these comments, check the questions I answered in 2015 π Rendered by PID 11966 on app-553 at 2016-09-30 17:44:51.490056+00:00 running 9b22fbe country code: US.Homes make strange noises. They’re built of many different materials — glass, concrete, wood — that expand and contract at different rates. But still, “The most noise your house should make is a popping sound, like your knuckles cracking, and only once in a while,” says Bill Richardson, former president of the American Society of Home Inspectors and owner of Responsive Inspections in Bosque Farms, N.M. If your home is making noises that rival the best of Metallica, then it may be sending you signals that there’s a problem. We asked the experts to catalogue some of the more worrisome pops, hisses, groans, creaks, and knocks, and to tell us what they mean and how they can be remedied.

Here are the top seven problem noises and how they can be solved. 1. WHAT IS THAT CLANKING SOUND WHEN I TURN ON THE HEAT? The Problem: When most homeowners first turn on their heating system in the fall, they’ll often hear a little moaning and groaning as the heating system expands and rubs against the frame of the house, says Mike Kuhn, the New Jersey owner of a HouseMaster inspection service and coauthor of The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Home Inspections. With a baseboard hot-water system, you can also expect “normal clinking and knocking,” says Kuhn. The circulator pump or pumps to the system, however, “should be silent when they run,” says Kuhn. If you hear knocking or clanking, typically located at the boiler itself, it might be a sign of impending failure of the circulator pump, he says. The Solution: Get a repairman out to check on it, pronto. 2. THERE’S A STRANGE SCRATCHING SOUND COMING FROM BEHIND THE WALLS. The Problem: If you hear strange noises like scratching and possibly chittering coming from places where no one lives in the house, you could have mice, squirrels, raccoons, or even bats sharing your quarters, says Richardson.

“Any kind of wild critter could be up in the attic,” he says. And these freeloaders aren’t just a nuisance: Bats can carry deadly rabies. In the Southwest, the droppings of mice can spread hantavirus. Some animals will tear up insulation to nest, or chew through siding or even electrical wires, causing fires. The Solution: As soon as you suspect an intruder, get on it: Set traps. (Call in a pro if the animal is stubborn or large.) Finally, prevent the problem from reoccurring by sealing up the entrances to your house with steel wool, metal sheeting, caulk, and/or hardware cloth. To keep raccoons away, put garbage in sealed, secured metal cans that can’t be tipped. Bring pet food inside. After pests have been removed, make sure vents and chimneys are securely covered with mesh or a grille, so those spaces can still breathe. 3. THERE’S NO ONE IN THE HOUSE AND I CAN STILL HEAR RUNNING WATER. HOW CAN THAT BE? The Problem: “You definitely don’t want to hear water running if nobody’s using anything,” says Richardson.

The sound could indicate many things — a busted pipe in a wall, under the floor, or even in the irrigation system. If you hear running water when you shouldn’t, “Shut the main off and see if the noise goes away. If it does, you’ve got a leak somewhere,” says Richardson — and a problem in need of fixing. The Solution: Unless you’re really handy and ready to do surgery on your home, call in a plumber. 4. I HEAR A BUBBLING (OR CRACKING) SOUND COMING FROM THE WATER HEATER. The Problem: A gas-fired hot water heater works pretty much like boiling a pot of water: A fire is lit and the water inside is heated until it’s ready for use. “A lot of sediment builds up at the bottom of a hot water tank, and that sediment works like an insulator,” forcing the burner to work harder, Kuhn says. The strange noise you hear is the bubbling sediment — and a sign that the tank is probably experiencing fatigue and may be facing premature failure, says Kuhn. The Solution: Ideally, you should flush out your hot water tank every few months, using the drain valve near bottom of the floor.

“However, nobody does it,” says Kuhn, because it can be a pain to do. If your water heater is already making these noises, draining it might help. “It could (work) a little bit longer, it could go a lot longer,” but the damage is probably done, says Kuhn. 5. MY FURNACE IS MAKING A WHISTLING (SUCKING) SOUND THAT IT’S NEVER MADE BEFORE. IS IT GOING TO NEED TO BE REPLACED? The Problem: “What that can connote is that your filter hasn’t been changed,” says Richardson. “And your furnace is trying to pull in air from around it.” And that’s not good, he says. The furnace is working too hard. “What it will do is start sucking exhaust gasses from the furnace into the house.” The Solution: Install clean filters regularly — “anywhere from three months to monthly, depending on atmospheric conditions,” says Richardson. 6. I HEAR A SWITCH TURNING ON AND OFF REGULARLY, BUT CAN’T SEEM TO ISOLATE WHERE IT’S COMING FROM. The Problem: If you’ve got a well for your water, you’ve got a well pump — either in the house or above the well in your yard.

“If you are sitting in your house and hearing the pump switch click on and off, you may have a problem,” says Kuhn. The pump pulls water from the well and into a holding tank, where it’s stored for your use. If you’re hearing it when you, say, turn on the faucet, something may be wrong. The pump “should not operate every time there is a call for water. The wear and tear would cause the pump to fail prematurely,” he says. It’s likely that you have a leak in the system. “The leak is either going to be in the well equipment itself, or in a fixture” — for example, a leaky toilet — that is causing the holding tank to drain, says Kuhn. The Solution: First, check your fixtures for leaks. Then, if needed, call a plumber familiar with well systems. 7. WHAT’S THAT HISSING SOUND? The Problem: If your home has gas, a strange noise that sounds like hissing could indicate a gas leak, says Richardson. Sometimes you can hear a hissing outside at the gas meter, or at a home’s outdoor gas light post—places where the line could have corroded, he says.