the (lucky) joy of home ownership

[dja4260]

I love my home. However, it keeps me on my toes.

I was watching a show with me wife and stepped outside on the raised porch. I heard water hitting the ground. I have a walk out basement and a 25 yr old h20 heater in the garage. I thought it was the the overflow pipe from the h20 basin out the side of the garage. It wasn't, I looked up and h2o was pouring out the sofit about 45 feet above the ground. I ran upstairs, turned off AC, moved daughter from bedroom, and climbed up in the attic. The upstairs furnace coil drain is blocked. The water luckily flowed into the pan and out of the evergency overflow. I have two issues with this set up.

#1 the overflow 3/4 PVC drain needs to run outside of the soffit, not dump onto it and drain through it. #2 the overfill shut off sensor needs to work as the AC pan is full to the top. It failed to kick on.

It's clear that the 3/4 PVC consinsate drain line is blocked. I'm on a septic and hesitant to pour bleach down the line. I'm going to drag my air compressor up into the attic and blow some compressed air through it tomorrow when Home Depot is open and I can get some pvc material as I need to cut the PVC.


Any ideas? Am I correct?

 

[NO2]

You should think about replace the water heater soon, that it lasted 25yrs is pretty amazing. An on-demand heater should last longer without the risk of a leaking tank if your venting works.

 

[eljefino]

Bleach in small amounts is fine for the septic. It breaks down into salt water pretty quickly.

 

[AZjeff]

Sounds like you've got #1 & #2 figured out.

 

[PimTac]

As long as you have enough down slope angle on the drain pipe to reach the soffit then it shouldn't be too hard to add a extension and run than down the side of the house.

If ants or other bugs are clogging the pipe then putting some screen at the end will stop that.

 

[Cujet]

As always, it's good to maintain the AC evaporator drain system. Don't be afraid to hook a shop vac to it and suck out any debris/slime.

Chlorine treatment will help kill the slime, it can promote corrosion of evaporator coils and associated structures. It won't be a problem with your septic.

 

[vwmaniaman]

Harbor Freight sell some fiberglass fish tape lines that may be easier than the compressor job. you can put some small pieces of rags on the end and push the snot out of the line. Ask me how i know.

 

[pandus13]

Would a plumber snake (the manual type) fit?
And use gently?

P.S. I don't understand why in the South, a furnace/AC has to be in the attic, while the attic access is a tiny bitty ladder. I don't get it how do you handle replacement time with a tiny ceiling opening.
I wonder if a space/closet in the garage or next to it would have worked better?
I mean, most of the water heaters, electric or gas are already in garage space...

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by pandus13
Would a plumber snake (the manual type) fit?
And use gently?

P.S. I don't understand why in the South, a furnace/AC has to be in the attic, while the attic access is a tiny bitty ladder. I don't get it how do you handle replacement time with a tiny ceiling opening.
I wonder if a space/closet in the garage or next to it would have worked better?
I mean, most of the water heaters, electric or gas are already in garage space...


Basic physics. Cold air drops, hot air rises.