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Draiman
Let me see those devil horns in the sky
join:2012-06-01
Kill Devil Hills, NC

Draiman to marti

Member

to marti

Re: Result of AC drip pan overflow -- cracked ceiling

I lived in Florida for over 25 years and never heard anyone advocate cleaning the drain more then once or twice a year. That includes my step-dad who owns an A/C company and has been installing them all over the state for decades. The most common thing I hear is pour warm bleach down the drain once or twice a year.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

said by Draiman:

I lived in Florida for over 25 years and never heard anyone advocate cleaning the drain more then once or twice a year. That includes my step-dad who owns an A/C company and has been installing them all over the state for decades. The most common thing I hear is pour warm bleach down the drain once or twice a year.

+1 That's what my AC service company does twice/year. The use enough to clean the interior and drip pan. Looks like new when they finish.

My new air handling unit should be even easier to keep clean as it's made like a Refrigerator interior.
boaterbob
Premium Member
join:2005-08-01
Moncks Corner, SC

boaterbob

Premium Member

I also had a secondary/emergency drip pan issue. Initially I was getting a full pan (up to the external drain height) - it would then drain to the outside. Presently the pan only gets wet when condensation drips from the bottom of the air handler - the end where the fan is located. The whole bottom of the cabinet has water droplets and they drip into the drain pan in the day when the humidity in the attic is around 35% but the air temp reaches 120+ degrees. The drain pan has so much rust in the area under the fan section of the air handler cabinet that it has rusted enough that I felt I might end up with a pin hole developing and doing the same thing to the ceiling (below the attic space) that happened to you. Today I wired brushed that section of the drain pan and painted on RustOleum 'Rust kill' - turns the rust to black oxide. Tomorrow I will spray RustOleum 'rubber coating' to waterproof that section of the pan. Come winter when it cools down I will replace the drain pan - approx 5 1/2' x 2 1/2' in size made of sheet steel. I'm debating between a new sheet metal pan or a fiberglass pan. A knowledgeable A/C tech tells me there have been problems with the fiberglass pans (but at least they don't rust).

Nick_L
Premium Member
join:2003-01-22
Pittsburgh, PA

Nick_L to Draiman

Premium Member

to Draiman
said by Draiman:

The most common thing I hear is pour warm bleach down the drain once or twice a year.

Perhaps this is a stupid question, but why WARM bleach?
tomupnorth
join:2005-01-14
UpperMidwest

tomupnorth

Member

said by Nick_L:

why WARM bleach?

Probably just because it would have a slightly greater "washdown" effect, i.e. the bleach kills the algae/mildew and the warmer it is the better job it does of carrying away the dirt in the line(s).

My bleach bottles are in an outside Rubbermaid storage unit, so my bleach is already VERY warm (it's 100deg here all summer)!
tomupnorth

tomupnorth to Nick_L

Member

to Nick_L
I would only add that "contact time" is important to chlorine's ability to disinfect. So if a clog is in a drain line's P-trap you only need to add enough bleach to fill the P-trap. Then let it sit for a while so it has some time to work. Longer is better.