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Did I Mess Up?

birdman253 | Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on August 7, 2006 04:45am

Long time lurker, sometimes poster here.  Just a DIY’er that does all his own home repairs/remodel projects, and gets lots of great help from the posters here.

My question is, yesterday afternoon, I found that the drain line from my central AC unit (in the attic) was plugged. The drip pan was full, and water was draining from the “emergency” drain line into a shower.  When investigating the situation, I found that when the unit was installed, about 3 years ago, none of the fittings on the 3/4″ PVC drain line were glued.  Every fitting was just stuck together.  I cleared the drain line, got it flowing again, and then put the line back together. 

My question is this.  When I put the line back together, I glued everything. After thinking about it, I began to wonder, did I mess up?  Should this line not be glued, or did my installer skip something?  If it should not be glued, it will be an easy fix to just cut out the section with the fittings, and re-run pipe with no glue.  What do I need to do, leave it glued up, or take it out, and replace with fittings just stuck together?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

 

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Replies

  1. User avater
    IMERC | Aug 07, 2006 04:50pm | #1

    you did good....

    Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

    WOW!!! What a Ride!

    Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!

  2. K1500 | Aug 07, 2006 05:49pm | #2

    You must use the same HVAC guy that did my house.  New AC unit, and I'm running it quite a bit when I notice the walls and tile seem damp.  Then I feel around for the carpet and it too is damp.  He didn't glue the drain and it came apart (outside of the drip pan), slowly irrigating the inside of the walls and carpet pad.  Carpet and pad needed to be replaced, and walls needed to be painted.  Mold could have been an issue (but thank goodness wasn't).  All for a little glue!  I am sure it was an honest mistake, but it can be a really big problem. 

    Glue it and check the entire run, if there was no glue in one place, there may be no glue in other joints.  You got lucky it didn't come apart someplace away from the drip pan.



    Edited 8/7/2006 10:51 am ET by K1500

  3. junkhound | Aug 07, 2006 06:07pm | #3

    There is one other consideration, and that deals with spiders, critter, moths, slugs, etc.

    Case history, actually at son's house this summer, A/C installed (I did it) 3 years ago:

    Indoor air-handler in Seattle area, many weeks no AC needed, but there is still moisture in the drain vent to outside, approx 4 feet long.  Can be dry yet not over 70F, so no AC on.  However, there is some moisture inthe vent, and the slugs and spiders go for the moisture.

    Guess what, dead dried slug plus spider and moth residue, plugged up the drain vent, and air handler condensation tray overflowed.

    This was anticipated, as the vent on son's house is a 3/4 hose with a hose bib on the air handler, so he could just unscrew it and blow the hose out with water pressure. 

    You may do well to have some disconnect means (add a union to pvc at the air handler) so you can blow the critters out of the vent pipe.

    EDIT PS:  What had plugged your drain line??? 



    Edited 8/7/2006 11:09 am ET by junkhound

    1. User avater
      BillHartmann | Aug 07, 2006 06:37pm | #4

      How if you had been really smart you would have used a brush and attached it to this invention,http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=77079.1So that it would have automatic cleaning.

    2. birdman253 | Aug 07, 2006 06:52pm | #5

      Mud dauber nest at end of line.

       

  4. davem | Aug 07, 2006 06:55pm | #6

    i had the exact same situation with my father's 13 year old house 2 weeks ago.  i noticed a ceiling stain, investigated and found a leaky L in the evaporater drain line.  it acted like it had never been glued, but i wondered if maybe the connection did not fail in the heat.  any ideas?

    also, this drain line had a U made up of 3/4 pvc in the middle of the run, then it dropped into a 1 1/2" P trap where it tied into a vent stack.  the end of the 3/4 is submerged in the P trap.  any idea why there would be U in the line? 

  5. Shacko | Aug 07, 2006 07:22pm | #7

    They should be glued, they also should have clean-outs in them. They should be checked once a season to make sure every thing is working. Just about all A.C. lines will slime up. Luck.

  6. Mooney | Aug 07, 2006 07:55pm | #8

    You did right except somthing you didnt mention which is critical to future care of the line . If you do this it will be easy to address the next time ;

    An upside down  T needs to be installed for bleach insertion and routing that also provides an air gap for venting. This would be installed at the 90 retuning to the ground. Or a sweep on the horizontal that would let it be routed and to let pure bleach be ran in the line to clear slime. Some pans can be easily routed but can not be used to insert direct bleach with out filling the pan with it .

    One cup of bleach does a number one cleaning job on 3/4 pvc drain line .

    Ive got a T on all mine running through the closet area and its a twice per year schedule on my rentals .

    As an inspector I saw both systems fail and ruin floors . Insulation was the culprit. On one unit the joints werent glued and it actually caused the damage preventing a pump from working at near over flow . So I guess on that one the pump wasnt given the chance to work.

    What you are talking about is a very serious deal.

    Tim

     

  7. birdman253 | Aug 08, 2006 02:25am | #9

    Thanks so much for all your replies, and for settling my unease.  I really thought it should have been glued, but after I did it, I began to doubt myself.  I couldn't think of a good reason to not glue it, but after all, the job was done by a reputable HVAC company, and you would have thought that they would have gotten it right.

    But, I suppose, no harm, no foul.  It is repaired now, and all is well.

    Once again, thanks so much for your help, and if I can ever help any of you all on Breaktime, just give me a shout.

     

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