HVAC Help - Water Coming from Secondary Drain

Our house was built in 2016 (Northern California, not humid) and this is the first time this has happened that i we know of. I noticed earlier today that water was dripping out of the secondary drain line that is under the eves of our second story. I checked our main drain that is at the ground level at the side of the house and water was dripping out of it at about 1 drip per second. The secondary is probably drippings faster than that, but almost in spurts/waves.

I went up in the attic and thought i would find some water in the pans, but they are dusty with some cob webs and bone dry. No evidence that water has ever touched the pans.

I hooked my shop vac up to the outlet of the primary and ran it for a min, nothing really happened. I grabbed a piece of 1-1/4" clear tube i had and hooked that up to the outlet of the primary and had the shop vac on the other side of the tube so i could see if anything was happening. I only saw the 1 drop per second worth of water getting sucked out by the vac, nothing really else.

This is what i'm working with. I've highlighted yellow for the primary and red the secondary? Is that correct?



I pulled the cap on the highest part of the primary and pushed my plumbers snake down through the curved trap down to the elbow. It wouldn't go any further. the snake came out a little wet, but no algae blob or anything else. Its still dripping out of the secondary.

I cant see anywhere where the primary and secondary are plumbed together, so is it possible that its just coming out of the secondary directly from the unit in the attic (where the yellow/red pipes are coming out of the metal box)?

What else could i try? Thanks!

 

Your pan is probably plugged right at the unit. The one next to the p trap is your secondary overflow. If pans were dry, it’s probably coming out of that secondary right at the unit; which most places have that secondary plumbed to a float switch to shut down the unit. My guess is it’s right at the bulkhead/in the pan inside the evap. See if you can open the evap section. Or cut your p trap and be ready to watch the water come out

 

In the bulkhead meaning where it comes out of the metal box?

 

Yes. If your drains aren’t attached to anything else down the line, it sounds like the main pan in the unit is clogged right at the metal box. So it sounds like most of your condensation water is coming out of that line next to the one with the p trap on it, which is also attached to the secondary metal pans below the unit; if those are dry, it has to be coming from the one going into the metal box(evap section)

 

Gotcha. Thanks.
Guess another trip into the attic. Probably gonna wait till the morning when it's not so hot.

Hopefullu there is a removable panel on the other side of the box. The side with the traps on it doesn't look removable.

 

Yeah it doesn’t. It might be good to just get a 3/4 pvc coupling, cut it between the T vent and the unit, my guess is it will waterfall from there.

 

Being a bucket up there to keep from making a mess lol

 

That's a good idea. I'll grab a T in the morning and cut it right before that T.

So if nothing comes out, then the blockage would be inside on the internal pan?

 

Good call!

 

I would grab a coupling and a T just in case. But your clog is probably right at your p trap. So if you cut it in between the t and the unit, water will flow because the clog is downstream of where you cut. If nothing comes out, yes it’s inside your unit, but you’d be able to suck with your vac and probably clear it. Why you didn’t get anything with your vac downstairs is because it branches off to that other drain which is probably vented, so it didn’t actually pull thru that p trap.
I’m not sure if homies sells it but supply houses have a “unit” called the EZtrap, it’s clear so you can see when it’s clogged, and has multiple fittings to preform cleanings on it.

$17 Rectorseal 83113 EZ 113 Trap, 3/4"

https://www.amazon.com/Rectorseal-83113-113-Trap-4-Inch/dp/B00BMV6QU4


I bet if you look down the vent where the p trap is, you’ll see water; trap is clogged

 

Might as well have him install a drain alert on that secondary since he'll be tearing it all apart right? My guess is spot on with French, can't tell you how many times I've opened the clog and then inspected the coil and found it was in dire need of cleaning as well.

 

Dang i didn't even think of looking down that vertical pipe with the removable cap. I thought that if the clog was at the trap the flexible snake i shoved down it would have broke it loose.

The EZtrap looks cool. do you even need to glue those on since there's not really any pressure? I'm going to see if i can find a hvac supply place locally that has that. Might just throw one of those in for future proofing. Amazon says i can get it tomorrow, but with my luck it will come at 9pm.

Is it fine to put a shop vac on both sides after i cut it at the T?

 

Yeah glue it all together just to be safe. You'd hate for that to come apart one day with no warning. And yeah hooking the vac up both ways won't hurt anything.

 

dang, making me wonder if i should call out the pro's. Bummer thing is i just had a local hvac company come out and do a tune up, everything was good to go except the cap was getting a little weak but still within spec, so i went ahead and ordered a new one to swap after summer.

 

You can definitely handle it yourself, but if you don't feel comfortable then yeah call someone in. Good call on the cap, they tend to go out during the summer so having one on hand will help get you back up and running quickly.

 

Ok. I found a local hvac supply place down the street, hopefully they sell to the public. I like the idea of that EZtrap.

 

How do you tell if the coils are due for cleaning? I'm assuming they are right above where the drains come out? It looks like a kind of sealed system? Do you have to cut the metal and re-seal it?
And what about the Drain Alert you were talking about? If thats something you guys recommend, i'll just install it now while i'm up there.

 

Not sure why there is a cap on the ptrap primary. Water doesn’t flow up hill. But since it is. Just blow some air up from outside and see if it will clear. Others are right though… the evap coil probably needs some cleaning!

On the other hand, having water coming out the secondary won’t hurt anything so it’s not an emergency but does need to be looked at.

 

I'm no expert, but i'd assume its there to be able to remove it (its not glued) so you can clean it. The cap also has a bunch of holes drilled it in so possibly for venting purposes.

 

Yeah when we install new units we cap the first side and put a 90 on the other end, both not glued. That way they can be taken off and scoped if needed. As for the coil you should be able to see the fins and they should still be somewhat Shiny with no residue or dirt built on them. Here is a coil I recently inspected. You can clearly see it needs to be cleaned.

 

I can't tell from the picture but there has to be an access point for that coil. Maybe @FrenchToasty can chime in.

 

My HVAC was replaced a few years ago

The installer told me to pull the cap off the p trap and pour 1/2 a cup of bleach down the tube every 3 months to keep blockages from forming

As far as servicing the coil goes,you should be able to remove a panel on the metal box somewhere and access it. It may have the screws hidden behind aluminum foil tape

 

Is the coil usually closer to the side that the unit intakes air from the register or the other side? The middle?

 

The coil is connected to those copper pipes. It's right behind that metal.

 

the pvc pipes?

 

Sorry, the pvc is connected to the pan under the coil. The copper or aluminum pipes running outside to the condenser are attached to the coil. Unless you have a package unit in which case there won't be metal pipes so best bet would be to open up behind pvc.

 

Ok, i'll get the clog handled first and then i'll see if i can get to the coil. Im going to go to a hvac supply place and see if they have one of the EZtraps and a flexible brush, is there a tool i should grab to clean the coil or a paint brush and a shop vac?

 

They have a no-rinse foam that works really well. Spray it on and the condensation will rinse it off. If there are larger pieces that need to be pulled out I'd get a coil fin comb and brush them out softly. Pulling to hard will rip the fins out.

$27 Yellow Jacket 61158 FinFix Fin Comb Set 6 Combs

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006UJPEVK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_E5519KM7PM5MK45YJW1T?_encoding=UTF8

 

Ok, i'll see what they have.

 

Here is the cleaner I like to use