Keeping condensate moving away from air conditioning equipment and draining properly has always been important, but it’s even more so today in this era of mold awareness. Here are a few simple ways to keep your customers’ systems draining the way they should. When you turn on an air conditioner for the first time, it may be necessary to prime the trap. You can do this by pouring water into it. You can also run the air conditioner long enough to make enough condensate to fill the trap. Try to avoid using the continuous fan setting until the trap is primed. Continuous fan may not allow the condensate to flow into the trap because it is sucking air back up the drain line. If your indoor coil or indoor unit is above a ceiling, put an emergency drain pan under the coil or unit to protect the ceiling. Run a separate drain line outside to terminate in a conspicuous location. That way, if anyone sees water dripping out of the emergency drain line, they know that there’s a problem before the ceiling comes down.

It’s also a good idea to put a float switch in the emergency drain pan as insurance. Even packaged units should have a trap. If there’s no trap on the unit, water will accumulate in the bottom of the cabinet while the blower is running, rusting the cabinet and shortening the life of the unit. Make sure that the drain pan outlet is on the low side of the pan. I’ve been called out on drain problems where the coil was installed with the drain outlet installed pitched upwards. If the unit is installed without proper supports, it’s possible for the unit to sag, as well. Then, the water overflows the drain pan inside the unit and rusts out the bottom of the unit cabinet as well as the emergency drain pan. Be careful that you don’t get the main drain outlet and overflow outlet mixed up on the coil. The overflow outlet is usually higher and has a dam or restriction installed inside the drain outlet. Gas furnaces usually have the cooling coil installed on the positive pressure side of the blower.

While these units seem less likely to clog, they still have their share of problems. I’ve seen such units installed in basements and crawlspaces with no trap installed. This allows cold or hot supply air to blow out into unconditioned spaces through the condensate drain. home air conditioner compressor motorWhen you go on a service call for a clogged drain line, the first thing I recommend you do is vacuum the line from the termination end with a wet/dry vacuum. how to replace in-wall ac unitI know some contractors who blow the line out with reasonable success, but that blows the clog back into the drain pan. how much do commercial ac units costIf you vacuum the drain line, all the algae, slime, dirt, rust and other debris in the drain line and near the outlet in the drain pan are removed from the drain system.

The nice thing about vacuuming from outside is that you don’t have to carry the vacuum sweeper through the customer’s house. This reduces the chance that you might spill dirty, slimy water on their clean carpet. If you blow the line from the outside, that stuff all ends up in the drain pan where it can flow out into the drain line again, causing another clog. Then you have to clean it out again (for free), or maybe lose a customer. You can also install a cleanout between the drain pan and the trap and blow the line out from there, but that doesn’t clean anything out of the drain pan. If you blow the line out with a high-pressure gas such as nitrogen, the advantage is that you should get even the most difficult clogs. Sometimes a vacuum sweeper isn’t powerful enough for really tough clogs. Remember to always cap or plug the cleanout when you’re not servicing the drain. The next thing to do is replace the trap. During the winter, any debris in the bottom of the trap can dry out and harden.

This leaves a smaller opening in the trap for condensate to flow through. Replacing the trap restores it to full diameter. After you’ve cleared the line, add an algaecide. I commonly use 10 pan pills for a clogged drain service call on residential size units. For preventive maintenance calls, two to four pan pills is usually enough. Some companies make large volume or long-lasting pan treatments. These are useful if the drain pan is large enough to hold them. In extreme cases, I have used plumber’s drain cleaner on callbacks. Be careful that the discharge is diluted at the outlet so that children or pets don’t get burns. I’ve also tried bleach as a way to kill algae growing in drain lines, but it doesn’t work as well as slow-dissolving tablets. Finally, explain to your customers that they need to call you if they see water dripping out of the emergency drain line. This way, you can handle the problem before the customer has a wet ceiling and is unhappy with you. Kevin V. O’Neill is the owner of O’Neill Cooling & Heating, Myrtle Beach, SC.

He can be reached at 843/385-2220. How did yesterday's political debate affect your opinions of the two presidential candidates? Have you or someone you know well been affected in the recent years about the rising costs of an EpiPen? What do you think will be the long-term effects of the new U.S. military aid deal with Israel? How do you teach children who weren't alive for 9/11/2001 the importance of the changes of these attacks? What is your opinion of the purchase of Yahoo for $4.8 Billion by Verizon?Please Select Username to appear on public areas of the site like community and recipe comments.Tomato sprouts growing with AC water: waste not want not!Another hot summer is now upon us and most people in the Middle East that have them are running their air conditioning units at full blast. Many people may not realize that their AC units are also producing large amounts of “run off” water that can be used to flush their toilets, mop their floors, and be used as a source of fresh water for house plants and gardens.

Don’t let it go down the drain or evaporate in the sand!The resulting water from air cons is very similar to rain water, which is produced by evaporation of water from the earth’s surface and later returned to earth when the water vapor forms into clouds that later turns to rain.Buckets of fresh water from one small AC unit!The cleanliness of AC water depends on whether it runs off directly when created, via a drainage hose; or allowed to collect underneath an older window type of unit that allows harmful bacteria to grow. The idea of creating water from the air is being studied by a number of people, including the military, where devices are now being used to utilize the run off water of air conditioners in military vehicles in places like Afghanistan.The technology behind devices used for creating needed water for field troops is now being developed for devices that can be used for non-military uses as well.I personally obtain as much as 10 to 12 liters a day from a small 1 hp AC unit, and use this water for plants as well as mopping the floor.