My A/C unit is in the hall way of my 2nd floor – not in the attic. The condensation catch pan has a shut-off float switch to prevent overflow. There is currently no secondary drain hose as a back up. Over the weekend this drain pan overflowed because the float did not shut off the AC like it was supposed to. Is it a broken shut-off switch? The excess water pooled in my cold air return space and eventually began to drip into my kitchen. I personally would prefer that the float not shut off my AC on hot/humid days but rather that there be a drainage hose added to the pan so that the AC can continue cooling. Unfortunately, I do not have anywhere that the water can drain to. Is it a good or bad idea to make a surgical tube drain line that goes from the catch pan -to alarge container like a 1 gallon milk jug?
Thanks for any advice
Dan
Tom: Bad idea and here’s why. If you got a drain on there if you just want to do it for the worst case scenario that’s fine, I’ll let them do that. You don’t want to rely on the bucket and just go look at it once and a while.
What happened to him is is the float switch went bad so you need a new one. In fact I recommend to everybody I had two put on my units this spring check up.
Charlie: Two?
Tom: I have two units, one on each unit, I’m sorry. I had one put on my mothers unit last year. They really do work well. Maybe you get a bad one once and a while, but that’s the best thing to do.
Now there’s never supposed to be water in the pan. That’s why I don’t want him to rely on that pan to catch the water and move it to a bucket. He should be looking at that pan and if he sees water in it that’s when you call your serviceman. Because his primary pan is blocked and that’s a vertical unit in the closet.
I don’t want him to think and get his false sense of security like, oh I’m just going to empty my bucket everything fine because that means something is wrong with your unit.
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