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Hey fellas I noticed today water draining from my 11 year old ac system. I noticed my system has two drains. One of the drains with a j trap or at least they tried to make one, lol goes to a drain in my bathroom. Every year I would add 50% bleach and 50% water. The water draining to the outside has no j trap. Is it normal for water to drain out? There's no water in the pan.



Thanks


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Of course. The draining water is condensation off the cooling coil. When operating the cooling coil is cold, maybe 40*F. The room air being forced through the cooling coil has moisture. If the dew point of the room air is greater than the cooling coil temperature, then moisture will condense on the coil, run off into the collection pan and down the drain. If the cold beer you remove from the refrigerator gets moisture on the outside of the bottle, then the room air dew point is above the temperature of the bottle. Look for the dew point on the weather channel report.
 
The pipe on the left coming out of the evaporator coil looks to be the main drain, that should (at least in Florida drains to outside) be drain to the exterior of the building. The pipe on the right tied in with the emergency pan is your overflow, if this is the one leaking your main line is clogged.
 
We have hot humid summers here in Ontario and there is a good stream coming out of our drain anytime the A/C is running. It looks like tap that you have left on slightly with a solid stream. I can take a picture of it if you want to see how much is coming out.
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Originally Posted by FSully1
The pipe on the left coming out of the evaporator coil looks to be the main drain, that should (at least in Florida drains to outside) be drain to the exterior of the building. The pipe on the right tied in with the emergency pan is your overflow, if this is the one leaking your main line is clogged.

The pipe going down would be my back up drain. That's the drain I pour bleach down. The pan drain is tied into the primary going outside, correct?
 
My drain is in a weird spot at the front of my house. I put a 5 gallon bucket under it, and it fills a 5 gallon bucket up in less than 2 days. I used the water to water my plants on the porch. Ever wonder why its called "air conditioning"? Because it doesn't just cool the air down, it also removes the humidity from the air.
 
Originally Posted by bubbatime
My drain is in a weird spot at the front of my house. I put a 5 gallon bucket under it, and it fills a 5 gallon bucket up in less than 2 days. I used the water to water my plants on the porch. Ever wonder why its called "air conditioning"? Because it doesn't just cool the air down, it also removes the humidity from the air.

That's a good idea. My outside drain is above my sons bedroom window.
 
The line tied in with the overflow pan is your secondary drain. Its only purpose is to drain the water if the main drain is plugged. If your getting water out the secondary drain you need to make sure the primary is open.
 
Originally Posted by CDX825
The line tied in with the overflow pan is your secondary drain. Its only purpose is to drain the water if the main drain is plugged. If your getting water out the secondary drain you need to make sure the primary is open.

I may have to look into my bathroom sink. I'll look today to see if water is coming out of the backup drain. Thanks.
 
Originally Posted by ARB1977


The pipe going down would be my back up drain. That's the drain I pour bleach down. The pan drain is tied into the primary going outside, correct?


The easiest way to tell primary drain line from emergency line is to look at the pvc going into he coil. The openings are offset, the primary is always the lowest opening. Main drain lines usually drain outside of the house. Emergency drain lines usually drain to a visible location (ie draining above a window) or have a safety pan switch to shut off the unit.
 
My primary drain connects to the drain pipe under my guest bathroom sink. Due to poor plumbing practices during installation it clogged constantly for the first two years I owned the house (bought the house new). I re-plumbed the connection and it's been trouble free since 1998. But, yes, as the others have said, if you see water dripping out of the visible drain you likely need to unclog the primary.
 
Originally Posted by DBMaster
My primary drain connects to the drain pipe under my guest bathroom sink. Due to poor plumbing practices during installation it clogged constantly for the first two years I owned the house (bought the house new). I re-plumbed the connection and it's been trouble free since 1998. But, yes, as the others have said, if you see water dripping out of the visible drain you likely need to unclog the primary.


Have you considered getting some condensate tablets to help with your blockage? I purchased these but my system is different (I use a condensate pump) that I add every 3 months. They stop the goop/sludge from forming and keep everything flowing freely.

Lots of Youtube vids to watch for each system/application. Just Google your problem(s).
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B008A3UCYS/ref=pe_3034960_233709270_TE_item

P.S. Thanks for posting this. It reminded me I had to add another 4 tablets to my pump.
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(The Simer condensate pumps are junk. I would not recommend one to those that need/use one. This brand new one was replaced less than a week after it was installed. Our furnace area was flooded after a weeks vacation.
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Pump may be junk, but you had the flood because the float switch wires weren't hooked up. They should go to the thermostat circuit to shut down the A/C before the tank on the pump can overflow.
 
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Originally Posted by FSully1
Originally Posted by ARB1977


The pipe going down would be my back up drain. That's the drain I pour bleach down. The pan drain is tied into the primary going outside, correct?


The easiest way to tell primary drain line from emergency line is to look at the pvc going into he coil. The openings are offset, the primary is always the lowest opening. Main drain lines usually drain outside of the house. Emergency drain lines usually drain to a visible location (ie draining above a window) or have a safety pan switch to shut off the unit.

Looks like my primary drain is in fact the the one without the cap installed since it's the lowest point on the furnace. I may add some more bleach. It maybe clogged with hair or something since it ties to the sink.
 
It should not be teed into a sewer pipe.

They should run outside or end over a floor drain or standpipe (like a washing machine has) with an air gap.
 
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Originally Posted by mk378
Pump may be junk, but you had the flood because the float switch wires weren't hooked up. They should go to the thermostat circuit to shut down the A/C before the tank on the pump can overflow.


I forget what those wires are for exactly but IIRC they are an alternate way of hooking up a condensate pump. The prior pump to this one in the pic and my new one both have these wires and neither one was ever hooked up.
The 2 previous ones were directly wired to the furnace but since I had to replace the last pos that lasted a week with another new one, I decided just to plug it into a socket instead.
The previous ones I cut the plug off and hard wired them directly to the furnace.

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The two small wires should be a normally closed switch that opens if the tank is becoming overfull because of a problem with the pump. It's for the 24 volt control circuit.

Those live wires that are now dead ended should be taped or capped off.
 
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Originally Posted by mk378
The two small wires should be a normally closed switch that opens if the tank is becoming overfull because of a problem with the pump. It's for the 24 volt control circuit.

Those live wires that are now dead ended should be taped or capped off.


They are, like the previous two, taped off.
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Saw no water coming out of the backup drain yesterday. Hopefully the bleach helped the primary drain. Thanks fellas.
 
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