Got a clogged primary a/c drain line.

[Rick Lee]

I've tried everything. I cut out the p-trap after the a/c inspection guy told me that's alway the culprit. And it was pretty clogged. Before replacing I decided to pour some water down there and have Mrs. Lee watch outside. Nothing came out. Then I tried a two litre bottle of seltzer water. Nothing. I read that mold can cause the clog and bleach can cure it. Poured some bleach down there. Nothing. Then I dragged my air compressor 50' hose up into the attic, got a good fitting for the pvc and hit it with 140 psi. Nothing. The I tried a coat hanger up the outside end. It came out wet, but nothing dripped out of the drain pipe. Joeaksa gave me a 3' piece of bailing wire. Came out wet on the end, but no drainage. Today I got a 15' 1/4" snake and ran it up both end of the pipe. It came out pretty wet, but, again no drainage. I have a board under the outside pipe drain so I can see if even a drop of water hits it. Nothing. How the hell can this clog be in the very middle of what looks to be about a 40' pipe? Now I need to grab a 50' snake, but don't know if they make one in 1/4". WTF is going on here?

[MBAtarga]

You could try an electricians tape as well - if a plumbing snake isn't available.

[Brian 162]

Maybe there is more than one path the drain takes.

[Baz]

I'm surprised you couldn't blast it out with air......did you have air coming out the other end or no?

Pouring the bleach in I think is a good idea.

I'm not a plumber so take my comments with a salt lick.

[Rick Lee]

No air came out the other end. Mrs. Lee stood there with her phone and earpiece and I had my phone and earpiece in the attic. She couldn't even hear anything coming out and was standing right there. By contrast, I hit the secondary line with air and she heard it right away. I poured some water in the there and it came right out the other end.

I don't know where the line could go other than to the lower drain at the side of the house. And if it were draining somewhere else, then the secondary drain line wouldn't be spewing water when the a/c runs in high humidity in the summer. The pan fills up and drains out the secondary pipe, so the primary is definitely clogged and backing up to the pan.

[Por_sha911]

Try putting air pressure going up from the outlet end? Just be aware that you may get a face full of bleach that you poured down the other end.

[Rick Lee]

Thought about that, but the outside drain pipe is too close to the ground for me to get my air attachment onto it. I'd have to get really creative with some rubber hose and, if successful, it'd blow everything into my attic.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Thought about that, but the outside drain pipe is too close to the ground for me to get my air attachment onto it. I'd have to get really creative with some rubber hose and, if successful, it'd blow everything into my attic.

This is the next step I would do - figure out a way to use the airgun into the outlet as well as some kind of bucket inside a plastic garbage bag tied at the top to capture any junk that came out.

[cstreit]

It's PVC? Just be darned sure you don't blow up the pipe in your face with too much air pressure too... No happy times there.

[look 171]

is the drain exposed outside? If so, cut a few inches from the house and shove your snake through. this way, you cut out 20' or so. Then run the snake from the other end. It will have to clear it. Reconnection is easy with PVC.

[Rick Lee]

The drain is only exposed about 3-4" on the outside. In the attic I'd have to really do some crawling around in the insulation to cut some length out of the pipe and I don't want to do that.

[E38Driver]

Not sure if I read it right but, usually, the condenser drain is tied to plumbing drain and the pan overflow is set to drain outside, that way you know that the condenser drain is plugged.

When you put compressed air to the con. drain did it flow air?

Dave

[GWN7]

50 ft. Compact Electric Drain Cleaner

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by E38Driver

Not sure if I read it right but, usually, the condenser drain is tied to plumbing drain and the pan overflow is set to drain outside, that way you know that the condenser drain is plugged.

When you put compressed air to the con. drain did it flow air?

Dave

There are two drain lines, both go outer side of the house. The primary line drains a few inches above the ground. The secondary, the one that goes from the pan when the primary is clogged, drains from about 20' above the ground, but also just a few inches outside the outer wall. When you see the high drain dripping, you know the primary one is clogged. Pretty sure it doesn't go into any plumbing pipe in the house.

[A930Rocket]

Not to sound stupid, but are you looking at the right pipes? Could you be looking at the hot water heater expansion pipe? All that water is going somewhere, so either you have a big leak some where or the wroing pipe?

[Rick Lee]

No, hot water heater is in the garage and the pipes there are copper and way below the a/c air handler. I have this right from the a/c inspector's mouth. He and I went up to the air handler in the attic and looked this over. He was sure the clog was in the p-trap. And it was clogged. But it's much worse further down that line. And I don't think that water is going anywhere because the a/c hasn't run in over six mos. and the snake is coming out of the pipe very wet. So that has to be the water, bleach, etc. I poured in there myself last week and today.

[look 171]

Rick, looks like you got some crawling to do. Hiow hot is it in AZ now?

[Rick Lee]

It's not too bad, mid-70's today. I'm not going to make a big project out of this. I can replace the p-trap and let the secondary line handle it, as it works perfectly. I'd just need to keep an eye on it. If the primary line weren't cemented into the side of the house, it'd probably be no problem to remove and replace. But I'm not cutting drywall and digging out stucco for this.

[flipper35]

We had a clog in our kitchen sink drain. Turned out to be a mouse past the clean out which was down in the basement. It was a lovely smell pulling that out with the snake. Hope yours isn't similar.

[Rick Lee]

I suspect a calcium clog. The snake end does smell very mildewy, but then there is also vinegar and bleach down there. I'm sure it's not a dead mouse, or else, if it is, it's been mummified for a while.