Heat Pump guys: dripping evaporator coil

[Tractor Seabee]

Mac,

I guarantee that trap is inadequate in depth of water seal. I wondered when I saw them on the shelf at Lowes where in the world they would be useful.

Ron

 

[boggen]

looking at picture better, after seeing "ron" reply. i am on Ron side as well.

you don't need to buy a specific P trap. just some 90's some lengths of pipe. and call it done.

the only thing an actual bending pipe formed into a P trap is good for. is in running a "drain snake" down, to clear out a clog. you already have a 90 and a "tee" before the P trap. so getting a drain snake down is going to be ugly.

see attached picture


to make your life easier. i tend to use 1 or 2 "rubber fittings" name brand "fernco" just a short radiator looking like hose less than 6 inches long with a pipe clamp on each end. they are meant to be a "repair" thing. but i tend to use them a little bit more to make it easier to pull stuff apart, and to reduce some vibrations going into the system. another area i use them on. is when things are just so close but need to pull stuff around for a good fit.

 

[MacLawn]

Thanks again! Couple of 90° elbows, eh? I actually thought of that, I already have some, and PVC pipe. I always keep all kinds of stuff in my shop. Think I'll try that.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

my old upstairs hvac unit dripped like that every summer, would drip down into the return box. fortunately I had a pan under it with a drain.

 

[MacLawn]

I still haven't gotten around to installing a proper P trap, but, look what I found:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s1ZWHgoYTNA

That old boy did a great job explains my problem! Now, my question is how/why the owner of company I talked to last week does not get this? I still think they are responsible for all my mess every summer because of wrong P trap... I'll let y'all know how it works when I put it on tomorrow. I'll give it a couple of days.

 

[boggen]

not much to a P trap! but are essential!

 

[MacLawn]

I finally get'er done today, and so far, nary a drip! Usually by this time after drying it off, it's already started dripping.

 

[boggen]

I finally get'er done today, and so far, nary a drip! Usually by this time after drying it off, it's already started dripping.

awesome! i like the better P trap now!

it would seem this year my home and my mom's both had issues with a clogged drain line. something to keep in mind, if you start getting water again!

 

[MacLawn]

Thanks boggen! I finally feel certain that this fixed my problem. After 12 summers of leaking, many different heat pump technicians coming out, replacing evaporator coil one time (cost me over $500!), cleaning, spraying coil, etc., FINALLY somebody told me P trap was too shallow, just like installation manual says! Whew. I'm amazed that so few heat pump boys couldn't figure this out! Even YouTube has good information on this problem!

Well, I just hope this might help someone else here sometime if they have this issue. Thanks to all here who helped me!!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I had an hvac guy come to the house and tell me my compressor was locked up and wanted $$$$$ to replace it. had a different guy look at it, was just a wire loose, he charged me $40 for the house call.