Call bacteria, zooglea . Mostly caused by these new aluminum coils. Even ultraviolet lights can’t help it go back to copper coils stupid manufacturers.
I also live in florida and have to deal with this so called drain snot that clogs my AC drain line pipe, doing some research I found that a 50 50 water bleach to flush it and then maintain with AC drain tablets is the solution.
Pour about a Quarter Cup of the Cheapest Plain Table Salt into the the drain “Tee” above the P-Trap once a month. It will kill any algae or Bacteria, through the Osmotic Process.
I have a new home in St. Augustine, but don't live there full time. The best I can do is perform this maintenance every 2, sometimes every 3 months. Will I expect issues down the road with that interval?
@@Mr.Martini549 look into an automatic drip system like this. acdrainflo.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1qO0BhDwARIsANfnkv-vgB14-_fzPkQaVxywOvsaxU4ian7OTOi5QGvrT1jc2gxhvVBP0ZkaAoayEALw_wcB
My issues reversed, no idea what to do. My main line clogged a few days ago, I did what I always to, stick my finger in the drain hole and snake a straw from a compressed air can into that hole. Clogged cleared! However the other line is now clogged, which should only occur if the main is backed up, which it's not....so wtf is going on here lol
My central ac line doesn’t have a p trap or access spot on the line. wtf. Who installs these things? My drain line goes out to the gutter and drains in that. I have no way of getting a vaccum on the end of the drain ljne. Not climbing to the second story of the house. I think these ac companies install these without clean outs on purpose.
I don’t know why these morons that have designed these unit put their refrigerant lines and the drain lines in the same place. I guess this is the way they’ve always done it and we can’t get a free thinking mind to make it reasonable to locate the refrigerant lines away from the drain lines. WTF? I guess that the engineer and designer has never spent a day in the field. Same with the condenser access ports. All of the electronics can’t be reduced so we have access to the service ports? The problem is that is status quo and don’t have the fortitude to do the right thing. Piss on the service technician that has to deal with the poor design of the equipment.
Trane air handler 2nd floor attic, when algae gets in the pvc drain line,I simply give the p-trap a short blast of water from the hose outside which forces water upwards and the weight of the water forces the pipe to clear itself.
My drain pan stays filled with water. I pour water and vinegar down the drain line and goes outside fine. Over all AC works gine and cools the house. I do i clean the very beginning of the 2 drain lines? One with the switch and one without
I would not pour any more vinegar down until you figure out why water is backing up into the bottom pan. You don't have to worry about the line with the switch. I would move onto the second and third video I reference in the description to actually clear the blockage from the drain line.
@@Phone-sh7jg Good question and it made me research Pan treatment tablets. Those are indented to keep your bottom pans sanitized if your pans are frequently wet. Which if our primary drain float switch does the job, our pans should remain dry. But I see that some of these tabs can be used in the drain line (not with switch side) for a slow release. That has some potential and I'll research further.
Can a clogged drain make my A/C stop cooling the house. Like it is on, fans are running but inside the house is not cold at all and the thermostat is set to 75 but it is actually 81 inside
A clogged drain cause the backed up water to trip the overflow switch. When that happens, the AC is shutoff. No Fan, no nothing is running even through the control panel is showing as on Cool mode is on. If your fan is still running, then may be time to call the HVAC expert.
What air filters are you using and how often are you changing? I have a DR home and am starting to get into my normal AC cleaning groove and wanted to know what you had experience with.
Well finally, a unit that looks a lot more like mine. I have a TRANE. It's rather newish. It's clogged. My mini shop vac sucked about a teaspoon of grey slimey gunk from the dip line outside, but that was all. Still no AC. I checked the overflow unit. Maybe a couple of drops of water was in it. The floaty wasn't in the up position. I saw one horrific video saying to cut the pvc pipe, after of course I go buy a couple of hose clamps and a piece of tubing slighting larger than the pvc, so the next time you only undo that and rine the line ot RIGHT. I wans't about to do that. It went out during a 120 degree hot spell. I have an elderly terminally ill husband at home. I called the company we bought it from and installed it. They said try to unclog it myself. Ya..I've tried. It's not working. I realize I need a much stronger HP shop vac. A mini just doesn't do the job. My debate is..repair man can't get here until the following tuesday. No time given. This happened on a Wed. so I've got a ways to do. I'm thinking ...do I just go buy a high powered shop vac, see if that works and if so it's cheaper than the repairman. However, what if that doesn't work. I clean up and return the shop vac? lol. Thing is, this happened last yr too. The gentleman dropped by on his way home from work (instead of keeping the appointment the following day) he pulled his shop vac out and viola. A nice bunch of gunk came out and the AC returned working. He showed me the float, and said I could do this myself and same some money. He did NOT charge me. Thing is, what's wrong with these things that they clog so often? I paid out of my pocket to have a new central heat and air installed. Twice in two yrs this now, this clogging has happened. When we got the new unit. OH..the old unit never had a clog once. The motor went out twice, replace it once. The second time the personal friend HVAC guy, said he could fix it, but it's going to do the the same thing a few months down the line and then you're going to be made at me, b/c it will then cost you a lot of money. I'd just look for a new unit NOW. So we did. Not knowing a darn thing about this HVAC stuff (learning after owning this home for 30 plus yrs) THe man literally told old....it's computerized. It there's ever a problem we can stuff hook it to this machine and it will read out the what the failure or problem is. He said you have to do NOTHING. Just use the thermostat inside the house to turn it from heat to AC. That was supposed to be ALL WE HAD TO DO. Sounded good at the time. There was no service agreement offered to come inspect it yrly. No one said anything about clogs, what to do about them, how to prevent them. Like I said, our previous unit never had that prob, so I just don't get it, I guess I just wanted to rant, b/c I didn't see you flush anything out. Yours was already nice and clean. It was merely an explanation, which all video's give that. Guess I'm going to go buy a higher powered shop vac and see if that clears the problem. One problem. The little bent part of overflow arm, where the clopp most likely is located. right in it' There's no way to open it. It's sealed with that blue thread plumbers seal.
Sorry to hear you are having these issues. I will tell you thought, clogged drain lines happen, and they happen repeatedly. So investing in a good shop vax will do the trick. And make sure you watch my part 3 video (link in description) that goes into more detail on sucking the clog out. I do need to do a better video on that. As to the reason why you get the drain clogs, it's a combination of age, moisture, temperature, and inconsistent air filter replacement that leads to the perfect storm of debris, fungus and such collecting and then growing like a science project petri dish growing out of control in your drain line. This video I show how to do a monthly maintenance to help prevent the blocks, but it's not full proof. One last important note I need to stress in the next video, when you are outside sucking the drain line, make sure the cap on the inside drain line maintenance is in place. This will help the process to suck the clog from the drain line. Good luck.
If you are saying water is coming out of the right side overflow arm, and the float switch is wet, then your primary drain line is blocked. You need to unblock your primary drain. My part 2 and 3 videos in the description cover this.
Hey there, I have a “new build” DR Horton home that I have some AC issues. I’m not quite sure how to go about fixing or finding the right company to look at it since not he companies that came out could t find a problem/didn’t happen when they were here. I have a touch or Honeywell thermostat that around 5/6 pm will start to read 2-3 degrees higher in the house and then the ac stays on for the the rest of the night until the sun goes down. Ac doesn’t shut off, just runs constantly until later in the evening. I’ve had the thermostat replaced already, seemed to be fine for the longest time but its back to acting up again. Pretty much same time every night, goes up 2-3 degrees and stays running for a long period of time. I don’t know what is causing this or who to call out because they just end up sitting in the hallways and watch the ac run and do nothing. Any thoughts/hep/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
If it's backed up, the advice is to address the blockage and don't pour anything in for reason you cited. But if the drain isn't backed up, then it's fine.
My intention was not to show you up but to make a correction, if you’re going to name a component you have to be correct so as not to mislead your viewers, it does matter what you say
You’ll can end up sucking water back to the tray from the p trap if your fan is pulling the correct CFM . That drain will always be at negative pressure, that’s why you need a vent just after the p trap.
Also, that sensor should be right out of the coil tray drain, not with a sloping pipe that can accidentally be pushed down to lower than the tray bottom.
There is no copper in new coils. Therefore no antibacterial. They sell a string thats wicked in copper and silver. Im thinking about just tossing a sanded cooper pipe in my coil area in a nook. And you need to move your clean out higher. Just cut a longer pipe or couple it. And never leave important documentation in your pan. Thats a designated wet spot and should be treated as such at all times even dry. And you need a condensate trap. Youre losing air.
@@TomHirt Glad you were able to make the video and help others. Take that literature out of the drain pain, you dont want soggy literature when you might need it. Take care man.
After you shop vac the pipe outside to remove the water, should the system turn back on by itself? It’s not for me and I even turned the circuit breaker on and off. Pretty sure that’s what the HVAC guy did last time??
If your AC has turned off because your drain is backing up, that means one of the two overflow switches (not necessary a circuit breaker) has been tripped. So make sure the switch located on the overflow drain pipe is reset and then check the overflow switch down below in the pan.
It's not really that strict a rule, as long as you put in a cup of vinegar once a month is the important part. If you can flush it with 4 cups that is more than enough.
I pour a 16oz. bottle of vinegar to the air handler drain every month. This drainpipe exits the air handler to outside drain. As this drainpipe is more than likely PVC material it is not wise to use bleach. Bleach can erode the PVC glue causing the pipe to separate at the joints.
Tom, thanks so much for doing this! We are building next to Kathe on Cresswind Terrace (2nd to last house currently there) and your drone shots are the only pictures we see most of the time. Please keep them coming and once we get moved in we will figure out a way to thank you for sure!
I suspect DR Horton referenced the following. Current IRC and Florida code (M1411. 3) does not require a p-trap in the condensate drain line. It only specifies a minimum 1/8” per foot slope for the line, and that the condensate "shall not discharge into a street, alley or other areas where it would cause a nuisance.”
@@vladekvladinov5753 Thanks. So in layman terms, are you saying that since the drain line has no trap, that when the blower is on, that can channel in outside air, which can exacerbate the clogging problem, and cause inefficacies with the AC performance? And can I ask, are you located in Florida?
@@vladekvladinov5753 I think I see your confusion. First, thanks for trying to help and assist. But things are done a little differently here in this Florida DR Horton community. There is no need for a p trap because the the drain line goes under the foundation for a few feet, with the starting point 2 ft above ground and the terminating end 12 inches above ground.
Funny you ask. If you asked me last week I would say yearly. But my drain just backed up again and it's only been 3 months. Now granted, I got busy with real life and forgot to flush the drain with Vinegar. So over the summer, appears we need to flush monthly if we want to avoid a blockage.
A little hint, it is a good idea to have the trap as close as possible to the unit, with the clean out directly above the trap, so a brush can clean out the trap debris.
The way the builder/HVAC contractor setup the drain lines, the traps are outside. Setting up a P trap closer to unit would be a second p trap and not recommended.
