The AC

When it comes to an AC unit, they use a lot of juice, and make a lot of noise, and make your home very comfortable during any season. When the AC stops working what a night mare, all of a sudden this thing that made your home comfortable, is a ball of stress, and where the heck is the money going to come from to fix this beast. First thought, well there didn't used to be AC units, I will just tough it out for awhile. Well after a day of that you wish you would have called the AC guy a week before it broke down so there was no down time. Ok so the broken AC wasn't really that bad, we didn't have to actually go with out this year. But the thought of having to relive last year quickly came to mind. Then the reality of what was really wrong, a plugged drain line. My first thought was ok where is the drain-o. Good thing we didn't have any on hand, or I probably would have used it. So my next thought was call Kevin (the AC guy) who is also a friend of ours so I went a head and put our friendship on the line and called a professional to help me fix our AC unit with out having him come over, or paying him. Just simple information that I sort of found on the internet later on. I am thankful I did talk to him before turning to the internet, that would have made life really interesting. Anyway His first words were you didn't use drain-o did you? He knows me too well. he went on to say simple get your shop vac and just put it on the other end of the drain and let it suck it out, if it doesn't come out call me back. I figured if it didn't come out I would get Chad up in the attic with the air compressor and I would be at the other end with the shop vac. Well it really didn't need anymore than the shop vac, and it came right out. Now for our next problem. Because AC drain lines are known to get plugged they have a drip pan under them, to try to prevent them from having them bust in the ceiling of the room it is over. (This really did happen in AZ very funny story) Well our drip pan was set in so the water would run away from the back up drain and not to the drain, so there was a drip pan full of water that wasn't draining in the attic, do we just let it evaporate. or do we get the shop vac up there and clean it out. We cleaned it out. Nasty! then we followed the directions we found on the internet. dump bleach down the drain, and then clean water, that really made a difference in the clear part of the drain that we could see. Anyway here is the list of common AC yearly maintenance I found on the internet stuff anyone can do, as long as they own a shop vac. (If you don't already own a shop vac, go get one, once you've had one for a year, living with out one would be like living with out a toilet.) With notes on how we did it.

Locate the drain line. It runs from the furnace and will go to a nearby floor drain.

Step2

Visually look for clogs, debris, mold or mildew. ( there wasn't much of the drain you could see, and the actual drain from the AC unit was harder to get to than the drain at the other end)

Step3

Disconnect the line and remove any clogs by blowing air with an air compressor, running hot water through it, or blowing forcefully through one end. (Do this if using a shop vac on the other end doesn't work)

Step4

Run a solution of half-water, half-bleach through the line to kill mold or mildew. Rinse thoroughly with clean water to remove all bleach from the line. (we used full strength bleach, but we did rinse thoroughly)

Step5

Reconnect the drain line. Make sure the line drains in a straight downward line. This will help prevent clogs from occurring. (never disconnected ours, I guess we could have if we really needed to but we didn't)

Step6

Clean the drain pan clean to remove any debris, mold or mildew. Your drip pan is located above the heat exchange on your furnace. It is critical to keep this cleaned and properly functioning to avoid water invading the heat exchange. Rust holes in your heat exchange means the furnace needs to be replaced.

Step7

Perform this maintenance on your condensation line annually and any time you see water coming from the drain pan.