# Carrier AC drip pan help



## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

My upstairs AC unit is leaking water from the bottom of the unit into the drip pan. I am guessing there is an internal drip pan and it must have a leak or the line to the drain line has a leak.

The unit is only 2 years old, new home construction build and house is, well, 2 years old.

I looked in the drain line from the unit to the sewer line and water is flowing down this line. 

In one picture, first picture, I actualy captured a water drop falling from the silicon into the drain pan.

Anyone have any advise if there is an interna drain pan and what it takes to change it out?

You can see the floor is wet because some water was leaking out of the bottom drain pan near the drain line, but I think I fixed that problem.


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## gedavis2 (Oct 17, 2006)

Ok A/C guys feel free to correct me.

You should have a drain and pan on your evaporator which is most likely piped to one of the vent lines in your attic, the big PVC pipe in your picture. Under the evaporator you should have a pan that is most likely to be piped out to the eave of your house ( the smaller PVC pipe) that way you know the other pan is not draining because water is dripping out side. Now your problem maybe just some accumulated algae or trash in your main drain that you need to clean out and everything is lovely. But as in my case my house has settled and my evaporator is lower than my drain to the vent so all my condensate goes out side. If I were you I would just try to clean out the line and maybe the pan, if it's clear I would check the slope of the line going to you vent/drain.

GED

Hope this helps!!


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## ripleyb (Mar 20, 2006)

My primary drain is piped up to my p trap in the master bath sink. About 2 or 3 time a year I have to disconnect it and clean out all the gunk that collects in it. While the line is open to a bucket, I go back in the attic and run some bleach through the drain line to clean it out. This has always done the trick for me. The pan under the unit is a secondary drain that takes the condensate outside under an eave, as was stated earlier. 

Hopefully this is all that is happening to you and you don't have a more serious internal leak.


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## scruffiest1 (Nov 7, 2005)

i am no a/c guy but ,yes there is a internal pan /drain .the pan under the unit is an emergency drain pan to catch and drain condensation when the primary pan has drain problems .it doesn't look like much dripping though ,if you see water dripping from the drain hose outside the house better get it fixed . the outside drain is usually some black roll pipe goes from the pan to side of the house or from the soffit and drips on the ground .you may want to have it looked at before it gets worse .could be a good coil cleaning is needed.hope this helps .


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

wow, there's so many things wrong in that picture, it's hard to believe.


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## gedavis2 (Oct 17, 2006)

Mont said:


> wow, there's so many things wrong in that picture, it's hard to believe.


Yes it's called Profit over Pride!! From all the post I've read you still work in the Pride section. If you won't let me do it right then I'm not doing it at all!!!

GED


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## scruffiest1 (Nov 7, 2005)

since Monts' post i looked again whats the plaster of paris looking stuff at the sheetmetal joints? my a/c guy uses this thick silver sticky as allget out tape for that.


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## BlueWaveEd (Jan 3, 2007)

I like the piece of landscape timber supporting the gas line. My favorite though is the drain line from the overflow pan. 4 90 elbows in three feet or so. I am not an A/C guy and I would not install one like that. The white stuf is a sealant for the joints. I have seen a lot of that.


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## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

Well, I put the landscaping block in because the gas line was laying on the drain line causing pressure on the line and pushing it down. The gas line is now resting on the block instead of the drain line.

There are two drain lines. One coming from the lower drip pan (emergency/back up drip pan) that is pictured and yes, enough water is going into the emergency pan that it is dripping out side. I noticed it today while mowing today.

The line to the sewer is clear because I can see water running thru it from the top. So the internal pan or something internal is not working properly.

So, for some reason, water is dripping into the lower drip pan (emergency/back up drip pan) from the unit instead of running iternally to the sewer drain line.

Don't fault me for the build. Meritage built home.


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## J Ipock (Nov 5, 2006)

Just a quick question for the experts. Why do they use tin on the drain pan instead of stainless, fiberglass, plastic or something that does rust? I guess someone might, just never had a house with anything but tin.


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## TxDuSlayer (Jun 24, 2006)

J Ipock said:


> Just a quick question for the experts. Why do they use tin on the drain pan instead of stainless, fiberglass, plastic or something that does rust? I guess someone might, just never had a house with anything but tin.


Most of the new units have plastic drain pans. To answer your question profit, the cheaper they can make the unit the more profit they make.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

I am not shure you have a leak or if its just sweating. If the drain in the unit is clear then its sweating which happens all the time for several reasons I wont go into.. but one is its usually not insulated well enough.

Charlie


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## Timemachine (Nov 25, 2008)

ripleyb said:


> My primary drain is piped up to my p trap in the master bath sink. About 2 or 3 time a year I have to disconnect it and clean out all the gunk that collects in it. While the line is open to a bucket, I go back in the attic and run some bleach through the drain line to clean it out. This has always done the trick for me. The pan under the unit is a secondary drain that takes the condensate outside under an eave, as was stated earlier.
> 
> Hopefully this is all that is happening to you and you don't have a more serious internal leak.


Exact same here.


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## Timemachine (Nov 25, 2008)

TxDuSlayer said:


> Most of the new units have plastic drain pans. To answer your question profit, the cheaper they can make the unit the more profit they make.


Nail on the head. Stainless would cut into profits!


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## BlueWaveEd (Jan 3, 2007)

HC - I was not picking on you for the build! I just can't believe an A/C company would install it that way.


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## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

BlueWaveEd said:


> HC - I was not picking on you for the build! I just can't believe an A/C company would install it that way.


I did not think you were. I was rather amazed when I went up there today and looked at the work. Been up there lots of time, but I never had a reason to look that close before.


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

TxDuSlayer said:


> Most of the new units have plastic drain pans. To answer your question profit, the cheaper they can make the unit the more profit they make.


IMO, the plastic ones are worse than metal. They crack and break and it's not always some where it's obvious. A properly installed and sloped evaporator coil will not hold any water in the pan and the pan will last the normal 12-15 years like it's supposed to. We honestly have more trouble getting them to hold freon than water.

But, running the backup drain into the pan like is shown in the pic, along with not trapping the main drain is a recipe for a mess. Even the tee that's shown plugged should be left open. That's a mechanical integrity issue that needs to be addressed first, if you ever want that coil to work correctly again. The gas line is also not done correctly, the way it's trapped isn't the way it needs to be done and there appears to be a huge air leak around the liquid line going into the coil.


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## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

Well Mont, I guess that may sum it up. I need to get a qualified AC person to the house to correct what is wrong.

Thanks for the help.


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## Old Whaler (Sep 6, 2005)

It still should be under warranty. Most gppd, reputable a/c contractors don't like to do new construction work for production builders because it's all about price and not quality installation and performance.


HC said:


> Well Mont, I guess that may sum it up. I need to get a qualified AC person to the house to correct what is wrong.
> 
> Thanks for the help.


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## nightgigger (Oct 13, 2008)

I would check the Warranty first, but I think the main drain is just clogged. This happened in my last house, it got clogged with insulation. There should be a way to get into the main drain and clean it out. If there is not it might be worth adding some sort of cleanout to the PVC.


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