Air Conditioning - AC Drain Pipe

As part of maintenance I put bleach(1 part of bleach for 16 parts of water) into the "vent tee" of the drain pipe in the attic. I did not see any water coming from the pipe which is outside of the house. I was expecting to see the water drip from the outside. Should I be alarmed? The house is built in 2006.

Did it drain OK before?

You could put a shop vac to the outside and see if it pulls anything out. Something may have flushed out of the drain pan and blocked the pipe.

I saw wasps going into mine back in VA before it was A/C season, had to ream it out and flush it.

THis is the first time I am trying to do maintenance on it since it is less than 18 month old house. There are 2 drain pipes - one connected to the pan and then there is secondary which has "vent tee". This is where I put the bleach. I was expecting to see the water come out of the pipe located near the condenser located outside the house. But I did not see that happening.

Yes, you should see something if you poured water in. Like I said, try the shopvac on the outside, you should feel some suction on the vent. Prob not a lot since it connects inside the unit to the primary pan, but some.

Have you seen water dripping when the A/C is running?

Hold on...only 1 pipe outside? That may be just your secondary pan. Pour some water in there and see if it flows out. Seem to remember that primarys are plumbed to drain to the house drain system now. You may find that if you trace the lines a little further.

Should have said before, not an A/C Pro here, just an avid Do It All Myselfer.

Gungay is correct, your primary drain will go in to your plumbing system (for most houses built after year 2000), you won't see the water. You should not see water anywhere. If you see water come out from a pipe, in pan, or dripping from a tube at the top of a window, then you have a problem..

Gungay is correct, your primary drain will go in to your plumbing system (for most houses built after year 2000), you won't see the water. You should not see water anywhere. If you see water come out from a pipe, in pan, or dripping from a tube at the top of a window, then you have a problem..

I have exactly the TWO problems that you mentioned. I have water coming out of the AC unit and dripping into a pan right next to the unit, AND I have water dripping (actually a little stream) from a tube outside the house at the top of the window. I was told that I needed to unclog the pipe that comes out of the AC unit using an air compressor, and at the same time cap or place my hand on top of a pipe that has a T shape in order to fix that problem. Is that true?

EV2008, Your primary drain is plugged. That is why the water go into the pan which is the secondary drain and then go out of the window. The way to fix this problem is to use strong air presure to blow the drain pipe open like someone told you. cover the opening of the T pipe while you blow the pipe, so the air can blow down to the drain pipe, not out of the T. Do not cap the T opening after it is fixed. I assume you have another opening(serve for overflow) you can hook up the air compressor. If you don't have an air compressor, you need to call an AC tech, won't cost much, take 1 minute to fix this problem., most time it only needs one blow. Once it is open, then water should all go into primary drain. and remember pour a bottle of bleach into the T pipe opening every season(after the season) to prevent this from happening again.