Got Lucky!

[BarryBobPosthole]

well, that too. But this would have cost me money. My main floorAC started short cycling and shutting itself off right at 3:30 in the heat of the day. The outside unit was in the direct sun and was reading 108, so the first thing I did was put an outdoor umbrella up. But that wasn’t it. Every time it shut off you have to throw the breakers for ten minutes and then restart the whole deal. Next stop was the filters and found one pretty dirty one right at the air handler. Changed that and it stillshort cycled. My last visit up to the attic room where the air handlers/furnaces are I shined a light down into the condesation drain, which drains all three units. Full almost to the top and had submerged the end of the drain pipe so it was mind of vapor locked with scum. Poured a cup of beach down her and swished it around with a dowel and boom, fixed.
Only took about three hours of cussing, head scratching, and running between garage and attic and outside pad.
But it was worth it! Cool calm and collected today!

BKb

[Thumper]

Yep, been there, done that many times. 90% of the time, I can cheat and shortcut the hassle. I'll take the hose from my air-compressor, stuff it in the outside drain, seal it off the best I can and blast away. Once I remove the air hose, it'll take a few seconds for the drain to refill and begin draining again. Most times, a big glob of slimy algae-snot will flow out with it (that was the plug). It doesn't always turn out being that easy, but well worth the effort as it USUALLY works. If you have decent access to your upstairs air-handler drains, there's some a/c drain line cleaner you can buy commercially and it doesn't hurt to pour that into your drain pan to clean that stuff up. If you can dump it straight down the drain line (PVC), just regular bleach will clear the line also.

Something similar to this, but there are a bazillion products that do the same thing.

12770

[Chicken Dinner]

I typically put a little bleach in mine 3-4 times a year just to keep it clear. I do have a similar thing in the winter. When we don’t get above freezing for a couple of days, my drain pipe freezes up where it goes out of the house and the system shuts down. Luckily, there’s not much condensation when I’m in not running the heater and I just have to that’s it and drain into a 5 gallon bucket in the house until the cold snap passes.


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[Thumper]

My drain pan is metal, so I avoid the bleach. On my old unit, I could pour it straight down the drain tube, but after replacement a few years back, I have to pour the commercial stuff into the pan itself. Getting to the opening to the the tube itself is a PITA on this particular unit.

[Bwana]

Good problem solving Posty!

[quercus alba]

well, that too. But this would have cost me money. Only took about three hours of cussing, head scratching, and running between garage and attic and outside pad. But it was worth it! BKb

sounds a lot like canoodling but a lot less expensive