I was told that I have a clogged pipe on my central air unit...HELP?

Question

What can I do to unclog that pipe.It is leakin water everywhere and its located where the condenser is. Every plumber wants to charge 200.00 and then the ac guys try to sell me a new unit I brought this one last year. This problem is driving me BATTY!!!!!! What tooll do I use or rent to fix this headache??? First answer that directs me in the right direction gets 10 points.Answer must be complete.I tried the clorex method.It didn't help ....I have to blow air into the pipe to unclog it but it needs to be pressurized and I dont know what tool to use other than taking the d**n thing apart.Please help me.No OI dont have a man to help.

Answer 1

hello. i would like to help you but if the condensation pipe is clogged you will need a experienced HVAC tech for the job because doing this job yourself can cause a crack in the condensation line with would not be good

Answer 2

Vinegar works best. If you have easy access to the drain back tube (should have a tee at the top), pour some down there and let it do the work. You should also do this as routine maintenance at least twice a year.

Answer 3

If your condensation line is leaking all over the place, you may have a leak in your freon line somewhere that is causing the condenser to freeze up. If not than you might have insulation or something in it from when they installed it. The only thing I can suggest is go to home depot and rent a snake and run it through the pipe. That is really the only way to unclog it if that is the problem. Good luck. You don't need a tech to do that for you.

Answer 4

If your unit is in the attic, sometimes insulation with get in the overflow pan and clog the line.  I have used a water hose with a pressure nozzle to clean out the pipe (that has worked for me).   The pipe connection (if it is pvc plastic) is cemented to the fitting on the air handler.  You would need to cut the pipe (with the air handler off and circuit breaker off) get a coupler from your home supply store and some pvc cement.   Clean out the pipe and check for water flow.  When clean, cement the two ends back together to rejoin the cut ends.  This should fix your problem without paying the rediculous $200.00 fee for an HVAC service tech.  They are very expensive, and you may need to go that route later, but I would suggest DIY first.

Answer 5

u need proffesional hvac tech

Answer 6

You say the clog is located where the condenser is ? How do you know that its there? and I'm assuming this is a condensate pipe that is clogged, if so you will need a wet vac, if you dont have one rent one, then go outside and vacuum out the condensate line where the water drips out, then go inside and vacuum from the inside, another thing to help to prevent clogs is grapefruit juice, i swear it works.

Answer 7

Go to Home Depot or Lowes and go to the electrical dept and buy a 25-50 foot fish tape and when you get back home, just go to the central unit and look for the white PVC pipe that comes out of it and look for the open tube, you then insert the fish tape into the pipe and feed the fish tape thru it until it comes out outside of your house, once it does, you go outside and at the loop on the end of the fish tape at the end of the pipe you put a small cloth on it; sort of like a patch for cleaning the bore of a gun barrel, and then retract the fish tape until the end comes back to you, you might have to do this 2-3 times until the line is cleared, then pour some bleach into the PVC pipe to kill any algae left in the pipe.

Over time, the stuff builds up in the line and clogs the line, the A/C guys won't tell you about it, because it's a quick fix and they don't make any money on it. If you ever have your outstide unit not turn on, it's almost always a good bet to go and check out your coil inside the unit for dead ants, I've been called out to check out systems and found enought dead ants to keep a coil from working, you just turn off the power (at the breaker) and then you can get a can of 'Contact cleaner' and a small wire brush; to brush them off the contacts, from the local hardware store and fix it. Ants seem to be drawn to electricial stuff and the contacter coil is one of the places they are drawn to. Could save you some money to check out first. Just be sure to turn off the power before you go opening up the unit first, you could get a h**l of a shock if you don't.