Hi everyone,

My house has the inside A/C unit in the hallway with the drain pipe
going down into the foundation where it comes out on the side of the
house for drainage. There's an overflow tub which the ho****er heater
sits in (next to inside A/C unit) and the drainage pipe splits off and
goes into this tub in-case the hot water heater leaks... it can also
use the drainage line.

Problem is I think the drainage pipe is clogged somewhere down the
line. This morning I woke-up and stepped into quite a puddle of water
in the hallway. The overflow tub under the waterheater was full of
water and overflowing.

Problem #1 -- if the line is clogged, how would I unstop it? There's
a 90 degree angle from the overflow tub so not sure how to get into
that with a snake or whatever.

Problem #2 -- whoever installed this setup (prior home owner I think)
they didn't put any angle in the pipe that goes from the A/C drainage
line to the overflow tank, so as the water runs down the pipe from A/C
some always flows back into the overflow tank. See below for some
pics. On days when I run the A/C quite a bit, this is causing water
to really backup in the overflow tank and starting to rust the bottom
of hot waterheater. I try to keep the overflow tank drained with
towels or whatever, but does no good.

- Side view of overflow tank with pipe. Pipe from top goes up to A/C
and down into the foundation where it runs out the side of house.
There's no angle in the lateral line to force water from the A/C to go
down the pipe. Instead it often goes back into the overflow tub --
http:// 24.162.137.108/~rlangly/pics/pipe1.jpg

-- Entire shot of A/C and water heater with pipe --
http:// 24.162.137.108/~rlangly/pics/pipe2.jpg

So.. if the pipe needs to be professionally unclogged or reworked
even, who would I call?? An A/C guy or plumber? Right now the A/C is
turned off (luckily we're in a cooler spell here in Central Texas) and
I have a fan on the area under the closet to dry-up the water.

Any ideas? Should I snake-out the line from the outside of the house
inward? Should I have someone rework the inside pipeing so the A/C
drains better without running into the overflow tub? Is this even
piped properly?? I understand the theory behind the overflow tub for
the hot waterheater, but if the A/C pipe is draining back into this
tub, causes more problems then fixes.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions. Oh, and incase someone is
thinking the water is from the hot water heater... it's not. The A/C
has been off for about 2 hours now and I sucked all water out of the
overflow tub under the hot water heater. It's dry now with no water
recollecting. Only collects when the A/C is running.

Take care,

- Ringo -

Take your garden hose and blast it a couple of times until it flows
freely.....

"Ringo Langly" wrote in message
om...
Hi everyone,

My house has the inside A/C unit in the hallway with the drain pipe
going down into the foundation where it comes out on the side of the
house for drainage. There's an overflow tub which the ho****er heater
sits in (next to inside A/C unit) and the drainage pipe splits off and
goes into this tub in-case the hot water heater leaks... it can also
use the drainage line.

Problem is I think the drainage pipe is clogged somewhere down the
line. This morning I woke-up and stepped into quite a puddle of water
in the hallway. The overflow tub under the waterheater was full of
water and overflowing.

Problem #1 -- if the line is clogged, how would I unstop it? There's
a 90 degree angle from the overflow tub so not sure how to get into
that with a snake or whatever.

Problem #2 -- whoever installed this setup (prior home owner I think)
they didn't put any angle in the pipe that goes from the A/C drainage
line to the overflow tank, so as the water runs down the pipe from A/C
some always flows back into the overflow tank. See below for some
pics. On days when I run the A/C quite a bit, this is causing water
to really backup in the overflow tank and starting to rust the bottom
of hot waterheater. I try to keep the overflow tank drained with
towels or whatever, but does no good.

- Side view of overflow tank with pipe. Pipe from top goes up to A/C
and down into the foundation where it runs out the side of house.
There's no angle in the lateral line to force water from the A/C to go
down the pipe. Instead it often goes back into the overflow tub --
http:// 24.162.137.108/~rlangly/pics/pipe1.jpg

-- Entire shot of A/C and water heater with pipe --
http:// 24.162.137.108/~rlangly/pics/pipe2.jpg

So.. if the pipe needs to be professionally unclogged or reworked
even, who would I call?? An A/C guy or plumber? Right now the A/C is
turned off (luckily we're in a cooler spell here in Central Texas) and
I have a fan on the area under the closet to dry-up the water.

Any ideas? Should I snake-out the line from the outside of the house
inward? Should I have someone rework the inside pipeing so the A/C
drains better without running into the overflow tub? Is this even
piped properly?? I understand the theory behind the overflow tub for
the hot waterheater, but if the A/C pipe is draining back into this
tub, causes more problems then fixes.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions. Oh, and incase someone is
thinking the water is from the hot water heater... it's not. The A/C
has been off for about 2 hours now and I sucked all water out of the
overflow tub under the hot water heater. It's dry now with no water
recollecting. Only collects when the A/C is running.

Take care,

- Ringo -

Hi...

Thanks for the replies thus far. The pic links for some reason had a
space in them, so they should be:
http://24.162.137.108/~rlangly/pics/pipe1.jpg
http://24.162.137.108/~rlangly/pics/pipe2.jpg
(slow upstream connection, but should download in a few seconds)

I'll try to blow some water and bleach through the pipes this
afternoon and maybe that'll work. Thanks for that suggestion.

I still have a concern with the way the lateral pipe going to the
overflow tub from A/C drain pipe has no angle. This causes the
drainage water from A/C to often flow into the overflow tub instead of
down the drain pipe. My 'solution' to this after I moved in last year
was stuffing a rag into the pipe since the water was starting to rust
the bults and bottom of my waterheater.

But for now the main focus is getting the drainage line cleared out.

Thanks and take care. Oh, and sorry for the double-post -- Google was
acting up something fierce this morning.

- Ringo -


"Red Neckerson" wrote in message ...
Take your garden hose and blast it a couple of times until it flows
freely.....

"Ringo Langly" wrote in message
om...
Hi everyone,

My house has the inside A/C unit in the hallway with the drain pipe
going down into the foundation where it comes out on the side of the
house for drainage. There's an overflow tub which the ho****er heater
sits in (next to inside A/C unit) and the drainage pipe splits off and
goes into this tub in-case the hot water heater leaks... it can also
use the drainage line.
-- snip --

Hi...

Thanks for the replies thus far. The pic links for some reason had a
space in them, so they should be:
http://24.162.137.108/~rlangly/pics/pipe1.jpg
http://24.162.137.108/~rlangly/pics/pipe2.jpg
(slow upstream connection, but should download in a few seconds)

I'll try to blow some water and bleach through the pipes this
afternoon and maybe that'll work. Thanks for that suggestion.

I still have a concern with the way the lateral pipe going to the
overflow tub from A/C drain pipe has no angle. This causes the
drainage water from A/C to often flow into the overflow tub instead of
down the drain pipe. My 'solution' to this after I moved in last year
was stuffing a rag into the pipe since the water was starting to rust
the bults and bottom of my waterheater.

But for now the main focus is getting the drainage line cleared out.

Thanks and take care. Oh, and sorry for the double-post -- Google was
acting up something fierce this morning.

- Ringo -

BTW, once again Google is acting-up , so sorry if this pukes or does a
double-post.

"Red Neckerson" wrote in message ...
Take your garden hose and blast it a couple of times until it flows
freely.....

"Ringo Langly" wrote in message
om...
Hi everyone,

My house has the inside A/C unit in the hallway with the drain pipe
going down into the foundation where it comes out on the side of the
house for drainage. There's an overflow tub which the ho****er heater
sits in (next to inside A/C unit) and the drainage pipe splits off and
goes into this tub in-case the hot water heater leaks... it can also
use the drainage line.
-- snip --

Find the pipe on the outside of the house and and use a shop vac to suck
everything out of the pipe. You would be surprised what kinda crap ends
up in your vac. I have a small adapter that attachs to my hose that will
fit inside of the pipe but you can always rig something or just place
the entire hose over the pipe and use some duct tape or something to get
a tight seal.

On 17 Aug 2004 09:33:50 -0700, Ringo Langly wrote:

I'll try to blow some water and bleach through the pipes this
afternoon and maybe that'll work. Thanks for that suggestion.

I personally wouldn't put bleach in until I had the clog out - particularly
if using compressed air or water pressure to clear the clog. Bleach is not
good for the skin or eyes and you just might wind up splashing things around
a bit with either of the above two methods of clearing the clog.

I still have a concern with the way the lateral pipe going to the
overflow tub from A/C drain pipe has no angle. This causes the
drainage water from A/C to often flow into the overflow tub instead of
down the drain pipe. My 'solution' to this after I moved in last year
was stuffing a rag into the pipe since the water was starting to rust
the bults and bottom of my waterheater.

Putting bleach into the drain line will cause the rusting to happen faster if
it gets into the water heater pan and onto the water heater, so fixing this
backflow problem should be a fairly high priority after the clog removal.

But for now the main focus is getting the drainage line cleared out.

After clearing the clog, I'd suggest that you go ahead and see what you can
do to the water heater pan to keep the AC water from flowing into it. Be sure
to turn the water heater off before draining it if you plan to raise it.

Looks to me like the 3/4 inch plywood underneath the pan suggestion would
work fine, just make sure that the T fitting isn't raised the full amount
above the floor when you raise the pan - it the line is thin wall PVC, it'll
bend a fair amount and give some slope between the pan and T. If the T
fitting wants to raise the same amount as the pan when you raise it, you can
push the T downward and put some weight on that end of the short line to keep
it that way, or get the line between the pan and T hot. With the weight, the
pipe will eventually keep the downward slope on it's own, or you can speed
the process with heat - I used a hair dryer on high heat to get a small
amount of bend into some thin wall PVC a while back.

The fella that installed my AC unit recommended pouring a cup of bleach down
the evaporator coil drain every fall after I'm through using the AC for the
year, not in the spring as was suggested in another post. Dunno if it really
matters, but , to my way of thinking, the gunk that accumulates in the pipe
would be softer and thus easier to dissolve and flush away in the fall before
it dries out completely over the winter. That's not what I've been told, just
the reasoning I figure for the instructions the AC man gave me.

Also, if you decide to use the option offered in an earlier post of cutting
the drain line and putting in a coupling, I'd suggest that you glue the
bottom side of the coupling, but not the top. That way there should be no
possibility of leakage as the water flows down the line. With no glue to seal
the lower connection, there is a possibility of leakage since the coupling
fits over the lower pipe instead of inside it - a small chance admittedly,
but I believe in taking Murphy's Law into account.

Later, Mike
(substitute strickland in the obvious location to reply directly)
-----------------------------------


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