I recently noticed a large pool of water near the air handler for my A/C. This happened when I moved into my house a few years ago and I poured draino down the drain pipe and the problem went away. This time it didn't work. So after some online reading I hooked my shopvac to the outside drain tube and sucked all the gunk and water out of the line. Then I sucked 7 gallons of water that was sitting in the bottom of the air handler. I checked it late last night and all seemed dry in the basement and the water was dripping outside as expected. This morning everything was wet again. Anyone have any ideas on something I can check for inside the air handler that would be causing the back up?

If I can't fix it myself over the weekend I will have to break down and call someone in but its really against my nature to do that

 

Did you take a look at the cooling coils? Mine will sometimes get clogged right at the drip pan under the coils.

 

The coils look good as far as I can tell. If im looking at the coils the left side of the drip pan under them connects to the drain tube and is now draining. Its the right side of the pan under the right side of the coils that filling up. Its like that side of the pan isn't connecting with the other side where the drain is

 

check the drain line for any obstructions by first cleaning up all the water and then pouring some fresh water directly into the drain. See how long it takes to stop taking water and you've got an answer.

You can use a plumbing snake to help get rid of the obstruction vs. draino. As well in the future you should pour a 1/2 cup of bleach and a gallon of water down the tube every time you change the filter to help keep mold and stuff from growing in the line and clogging it up.

 

Its 100 degrees outside right now so for the next day or two im just going to deal with the water. Then this weekend i'm gong to shut the system down and clean it out as you have suggested. My other fear is that the initial drip pan is rusted out. If I end up having someone come out i'm going to have them also quote replacing the system since it is 20 years old

 

I understand, I was in the same predicament about 2 years ago. The unit in the house was from 1989 and it wasn't running at all. I called up the A/C company that did the servicing on it and they said that the pan was rusty and the unit was leaking freon and as well had other things that needed to be done and it would be close to 1800 dollars to repair it. They suggested a new unit which had a rebate that put it at 3500 installed. I went for it and my electric bill dropped 100 dollars from what it used to be!

 

Pm sent

 

update?