Charlie:
Frank in Cypress … apparently we’re number on in Cypress this morning.
Tom:
Rah rah.
Charlie:
Also in Cypress says, he has got some AC drips. He says he’s living in a 2004 ranch kind of house. Actually, he says it’s a two story house with two AC units, and both of the drain pans in the attic under the AC are dry, but there’s water coming out of both drain tubes outside the house. He’s worried … do I need to call a plumber? An AC guy? What’s … is this a problem?
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Tom:
I don’t know how the house was built. I don’t know if they followed codes when they put in the air conditioning systems. You have two drain lines on each air conditioning system; one is your primary, and one is the emergency overflow pan. If you’re pans are dry, there’s obviously no water in there, so it’s not dripping from that. If you trace the primary line, maybe they didn’t put it in a P trap like they were supposed to, and they went ahead and just let it drip outside. That’s the only other thing I could think of, unless it’s water heater that’s going … has a pop off valves that are bad and they’re dripping out a little bit, then that would be where the line would go to a water heater in a attic as opposed to the air conditioning systems.
So, the way to find out is to go in the attic and trace that line, and see where it’s coming from. If it’s a primary drain line, it’s going to drip all the time and it should not have been plumbed to the outside; it should have been plumbed into the sewer system.
Charlie:
So, you’d check the AC first. If the AC …
Tom:
I would. You know what you could do? If it’s hot water, you can feel the water, if it’s warm. Or if it’s the air conditioner, it’ll be very cold. You can just let it drip on your hand for a minute.
Remember Charlie, if you want to know if it’s wet, stick your finger in it. But just feel the temperature of the water. If it’s super cold, it’s air conditioner. If it’s real warm or hot, it’s going to be your water heater.