"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 -

As per some of the other posts--I have cleared the clog two ways. 1. Back
flushed with a hose. Creates a mess and water every where but it worked.
2. Put a mixture of bleach and water in the drain pan. Let it sit, even
overnight, if nothing comes out of the drain. To prevent the problem from
occurring I now put about 2 qt. of the bleach/water mixture in the pan
before every cooling season.
MLD