DIY Project 2: Unclogging an Air Conditioner Drain
A couple months ago I detailed the travels of Harold the Helicopter’s journey to the bottom of our guest bathroom toilet, and the subsequent DIY plumbing project I undertook to rescue him. It wasn’t exactly a fun project, but I did learn more than I ever wanted to know about the anatomy of a residential commode, and I saved a ton of money I would have had to pay a plumber for the effort. When a suspicious drip formed above our back door I knew it was again time to channel my “Tim the Toolman” skills and get to the bottom of it.
Gain Some Altitude
I suspected a problem with the air conditioner since when the drip started it had not rained in a few days. I checked the main air conditioner drain pipe which comes out of the side or our home and noticed it was draining, but not with as much volume as it typically did. In fact, a small puddle had formed in the past and I added a piece of 1″ PVC pipe to extend the drain away from our foundation. I accessed our attic via the garage and found the air conditioner’s main evaporator unit. The pan underneath the unit was nearly full of water, which I knew was a problem. The source of the drip was a secondary drain pipe connected near the top of the pan and running to the back of our house with an exit just above our back door. I was thankful the builder and air conditioner installer put the secondary drain’s exit in a high-visibility spot so homeowners would know there was a problem.
Shop Vac to the Rescue!
I’d been wanting to pick up a small, inexpensive wet/dry vac for small garage spills, and fortunately a local home improvement store had one on sale. I picked up a Stinger-Vac (just a mini Shop Vac) for under $30 and returned home to put it to use. Lucky for me, the Stinger’s hose attached perfectly to the 1″ PVC drain pipe and began to immediately suck out water and sludge that had accumulated inside the pipe. As it filled I simply dumped the water in our yard, reattached the vacuum and started it up again. After a few cycles I assumed I had made a dent in the amount of water from the pan and returned to the attic to view my progress. This time I carried a container of household bleach with me.
Preventive Maintenance
If I had taken this step earlier in the spring I could have probably avoided this near-disaster, but better late than never. I accessed the air conditioner’s drain by removing a PVC cap on the top of drain pipe by hand. If the pipe was properly installed, this cap should only be tightened by hand and can easily be removed and replaced without any tools. I added a little bleach to the drain pipe to clear away any accumulated algae and mildew. Going forward, I will make this part of my checklist to prepare our home for summer.
My total material costs for the project was $32.09 for the Stinger Shop Vac. We had bleach on hand so I didn’t factor this into the cost. The whole process took about an hour, and saved me from having to make a $50 service call to our air conditioner repairman. For a net savings of roughly $20 I am now the proud owner of a mini shop vac.
What household projects have you recently taken on to avoid paying a repair bill?
Get daily updates for free by RSS feed or email delivery. Sign up today and also receive my free eBook, The 7-Day Turnaround!
Great job! My husband is um…not so handy, but he is brilliant on the computer. We instead befriend handy people and I offer food in exchange for services. I am a crazy lady in the kitchen and I pick people who have wives that don’t cook
Total win-win situation 
My husband of 37 years has always been extremely handy, changing the oil on the cars and doing all car repairs, fixing the washing machine & the dryer, which are over 30 years old and running fine. It’s a great way to save money also a lot of personal satisfaction in a job well done.
The last project I tackled was putting in grout after our ‘professional’ tiler/handyman forgot to do it. Before that I repainted the living room and will probably tackle the stairs this summer. I’ve also re-caulked and weatherstripped the windows. Like Amy, my husband is stellar on the computer, no so much with other stuff.
Our recent projects (my wife usually helps out) have included repainting the entire inside of our house (it was a hideous pale pepto-bismol pink when we moved in <shudder); installing replacement flush and fill valves in the toilets, and swapping out the guts but not the shell of the fan in one bathroom. We probably saved several hundred dollars over the last year doing this sort of thing ourselves. Next up, re-sealing the shower stall in the guest bath (poorly done by the prior owner and now peeling from the walls).
I and several friends of mine have a handyman circle. We all tired of paying such high fees to plumbers, electricians, and the like several years ago. However, some projects, such as any plumbing that involves copper pipe, require specialized skill and tools that are often not as cheap as $30. When one of us learns that skill, we become the trainer for the next project that requires it; once any of us has purchased a tool, we all know it has been purchased and now have it in the common pool of tools we have available. Worth doing with your neighbors, I believe!
Our a/c unit began backing up into the house. We used our bissell steam carpet cleaner to suck out the drain. We used a wire hanger to clear it out and sucked away.
We were elated that we were able to figure out the problem.
We plan on suctioning twice a year from now on.
Great post.
I had the exact same problem last summer, but my clog was in the attic as the drain from the A/C runs into a vent pipe. I wish I had thought of using a shop vac! I ended up using a piece of tubing to siphon the water out of the pan and then removed the horizontal run of PVC to clean it out. Thanks for the tip @ the shop vac and reminding me I need to put some bleach in the drain pipe.
Very impressive! Just a pointer for you (since I have worked for my family a/c company since I was about 10)…the unit it the attic is not the condensing coil, but rather the evaporator coil. The condensing coil is the large one outside.
One more thing…it is ok drain run off to be close to your foundation, in fact it is good for it. It will help prevent foundation cracking.
Another reason the drain can clog up is that the main house plumbing can be clogged also (depending on how it was installed) and that can be as easy as cramming salt, baking soda and vinegar into the bathroom sink attached to the main drain and flushing the line out like that.
Great post. I love hearing about DIY projects. And I love the pictures.
Not sure this counts as a DIY project, but lately I’ve been darning my socks and fixing other clothing items that need repair. I think I’m addicted now though. I keep looking around for other things to fix. LOL
Be sure to install a float switch in that pan below the evaporator so that if the drain clogs, overflowing into the pan, the float switch shuts off the compressor before the pan fills and overflows onto your ceiling.
In my case, the evaporator was in the basement next to the water heater.
When the drain clogged and pudled water on the conrete floor, I thought the water heater was leaking, and so paid to have it replaced!
Carnival Of Tips - June 7, 2008…
Welcome to the June 7, 2008 edition of Carnival of Tips. We had over 60 great entries this week on:
Business & Career:
Mark Riffey presents The fine line between personal and business posted at Business is Personal.
Raymond presents Work From H…