need advice on central ac's secondary pan drips

[boyet516]

Hello,My 1st time here in the forum.
I recently noticed that my secondary pan is dripping & not the primary pan(not a drop), I know this is not normal. I used watervac(vaccum) to suck out anything in the primary pipe,I thought maybe its clogged,but its not. does anyone can pin point the problem & what has to done? thanks

its a 3.5 tons unit by TRANE, & its working great.I always change my filter.

[Grady]

There could be a clog right at the drain connection inside the air handler. Also the primary pan could be rusted out or broken.

[boyet516]

I follow your advice, I tried to snake the line at the air handler primary outlet but there's no space because of the cooling coil blocking. so what I did is just tap & shake the drainpipe from air handler connection to the p-trap & so on. & it works,water just went through,thanks for the info.

As I mention before,I used the wet vac at the primary pipedrain outside the house, & water cameout & I didnt stop until the last drop. I dont understand why its still clogged until I did the tapping & shaking? By vaccumming the system is not always reliable?

Is it the p-trap giving me this problem? this is not the 1st time happen to me,I remember last year too, I used wetvac.

Can I just remove the 3/4" p-trap & replace w/a straight pipe?

There's also a lot of water in the secondary pan, do I have to suck all the water out or can I just leave them in the pan? thanks again

[Grady]

Do NOT remove the trap except to clean it. There should be a vent tee downstream of the trap. If it was not sealed off while using the vac, that is why you could not clear the whole drain. I often install a union on each side of the trap for easy removal & cleaning.
Emptying the secondary pan would be preferable but not absolutely needed.

[boyet516]

There's no vent tee in the piping, is it necessary? I could put a tee if this is important,I might as well put a union before the trap, just like you said.

Can I just use a regular 3/4" pvc(white) pipe & union? cause right now its dark gray or black color pipe up there.thx

[boyet516]

maybe because there's no vent tee which causing the improper drainage? do I have to install the vent after or before the trap? thx

[Grady]

There should be some kind of marking on the pipe. I may be ABS. If it is, PVC should be the same size. If it is polyethylene, you would probably have to replace the whole pipe or use a thread to barb connection. You can't glue to poly. The tee should go downstream of the trap. The unions should be on both sides of the trap. The unions make removal & replacement after cleaning super easy.

[Ed Imeduc]

There's also a lot of water in the secondary pan, do I have to suck all the water out or can I just leave them in the pan? thanks again


If you have a wet shop vac for sure suck up any water in that over flow pan. After all of this might check its drain pipe and make sure water from the pan can flow outside so you can see it.

ED ;)

[boyet516]

it clogged again, it doesnt dripped on the primary drain, I have to go back to the attic & shake the pipe, I heard there is a condensation cleaner for the drain pipe? do I need a vent tee? Im sure that I will put a union in,would home depot carry same materials for the ac?

[Grady]

Any home improvement store should have the materials you need. A vent tee should be installed downstream of the trap. I usually blow or suck out the condensate lines, flush out the trap under hot running water, & dump some household bleach into the vent tee.