AIR CONDITIONING UNITS IN THE SOUTH VS UP NORTH - A RUDE AWAKENING

[chief38]

My wife and I moved from the North East down to Florida about 3 years ago. We had a large home on Long Island and had two separate central ac units. At the beginning of each ac season I would perform all needed and required maintenance including coil cleaning, drip line evacuation, filter changes etc. I also checked the freon fill with gauges and temperature differentials. Now I do realize the ac units in NY ran for about 4-5 months and they weren't as stresses as where I live now. I never had any issues after the initial start up and maintenance was done.

Down here we also have two central ac units. One is 4 1/2 tons (for the main house) and the 2 ton Mini-Split is in our 3 car insulated garage. Down here the units must be serviced often, especially in the summer heat and humidity. The most important thing is to flush out the lines! If not, the mucus type goop clogs up the drip lines and backs water up into a float switch which automatically shuts the unit down. It is very easy to do this maintenance, but forget once and sure as the sun will rise tomorrow your unit will drop off line.

Last week we had a house full of guests and it kept getting warmer and warmer. When my wife told me the thermostat was reading 77ºF I knew I had forgotten to clean out the drip tube often enough now that it's hot and humid again. Thankfully I installed a hose connection clean out valve in the main unit drip line and flushing the line took me 5 minutes - still I should not have forgotten to do so often enough! All was good again in a half hour, but I am now putting the clean out maintenance on my reminder list. I have neighbors and friends here as well, and they have had similar issues.

As a PSA, I would suggest that if you live in the South or any place hot and humid, that you clean out or have your unit's drip tube cleaned out for you often, this way you won't have to deal with it getting hot inside the house. While it is only an inconvenience if you are home, it could be a disaster if you are away for extended amounts of time. Black mold can grow, ruin things and it is something that is so easily preventable.

And..... that concludes my PSA for the week.

 

[swsig]

Thanks for the reminder. I just noticed drips coming from one of my overflow drip pan lines, which means the main drip pan line is probably blocked. While the main drip pans drain into our sewer, the overflow drip pans drain out of pipes protruding from our eaves so that the drainage is noticeable. (Our units are attic-mounted.) It's better to have condensation water pouring out of the eaves than out of the ceiling! And since we've had near-continuous thunderstorms for the past several weeks, our humidity is so high that our A/Cs are putting out lots of water. Time to call our A/C guys.

 

[Jon651]

Here in Central Florida you might have your home's AC shut off for 30 days or so every year - but they are not 30 CONTIGUOUS days, that's for sure!

I recommend adding either 1/4-cup household bleach or distilled white vinegar to your condensate drain line every month to prevent blockages. I do this like clockwork as part of the monthly filter change routine and I can't recall the last time my drain line became blocked.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Living in the Ohio Valley my HVAC rarely gets shut off due to Ruthie's severe allergies.

My SIL is a millwright. He services it twice a year as per the addendum I put in his marriage vows.

 

[paplinker]

Being a tree trimmer I notice some air conditioner trends.

Lately I am seeing two things.

One is more people are mounting large units off the ground more. Some even on the wall. These are not splitters but large units.

Second I am seeing more people putting roofs above them so they are always in the shade and weather,sun is not beating down on them.

 

[LVSteve]

Second I am seeing more people putting roofs above them so they are always in the shade and weather,sun is not beating down on them.

I prefer homes where the outside part of the system is on the North side of the house. Fitting a robust shade system while maintaining airflow is not that easy to engineer in a way that works with most associations in Vegas.

Regarding pan drains, the only thing we worry about is too many bugs trying to take up residence.

 

[chief38]

Here in Central Florida you might have your home's AC shut off for 30 days or so every year - but they are not 30 CONTIGUOUS days, that's for sure!

I recommend adding either 1/4-cup household bleach or distilled white vinegar to your condensate drain line every month to prevent blockages. I do this like clockwork as part of the monthly filter change routine and I can't recall the last time my drain line became blocked.

I don't profess to be a AC expert - I am just a very handy homeowner that does the work myself. I have been told by one of my good friends (his business is HVAC) as well as other professional HVAC guys NOT to use vinegar or bleach to clean out drip lines. I know some say they have been using one or the other for decades with no issues, but at least read the article I linked below. Not telling anyone what to do - just repeating what I have been told by Pro's.

I was told to use a chemical specifically for AC drip lines and coils which is what I do. I get it in 1 gallon concentrated jugs and dilute it 1:10 for the evaporator coils and 1:6 for the condenser coils. While the stuff does not require rinsing, it was suggested to do so after the required dwell time and the chemical will go through the drip like and clean that out as well. After the chemical runs through the drip line, I use my air compressor and blow the line out also. I installed a hose connection and an inline shutoff valve just outside the drip pan on the main unit. This allows me to close the valve (preventing back-flo into the pan), attach a garden hose and open the petcock which flushed out the drip line with 65psi. It always amazes me as to what gook comes out!! IMHO this method works so much better than using a shop-vac AND there is no disgusting slime to clean out of the vacuum.

The chemical runs around $20 bucks a gallon and should last several years for 2 units. The concentrate makes about 8 gallons of usable flush. Works well - as long as I remember to do it!

Pictured below is flush valve and hose connection I installed. Sorry about the orientation of the pic's - one day I'll figure out how to rotate them here.

AC Drain Line Clogged? Don’t Use Bleach Or Vinegar Until You Read This

 

[SMSgt]

Been in S. FL for 30 years now, and AC drains will plug up in a hurry (GOOP). I just stick my Shop-Vac hose over the drain outlet outside and suck everything in the lines out. Gets everything up to and including the air handler drip pan. I do it about every six months, more often if needed. I don't flush the lines with anything, just clean everything out and the line refills and starts dripping in a couple hours. I don't turn my AC off hardly ever in winter, that's the thermostats job. If it doesn't get hot, it doesn't kick on.

 

[6518John]

I am as nostalgic as anyone, but when folks start talking about the good—ol’—days I know they have never lived in the south, w/o air, in the summertime.

A few years ago I was helping clear some ground. We had a big dozer, track hoe and big skid steer. All closed cab with air conditioning units where we could hang meat in any of the cabs.

I told the young men I was working with, “just think, our grandfathers use to do this with mules and draft horses. And that’s after they had used picks, shovel's, black powder and dynamite to pretty much dig the stump out.”

They uniformly said, “anyone who calls those the good ol days much have a bad memory!”

 

[armadillo]

I remember the good-old-days too. I was born and raised in farthest south Texas - 95% humidity and 100 degrees in the summer.

I remember before having A/C in the house we only had a giant attic fan. The only air conditioned building I remember was the Sears store in McAllen.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Before 1992, most A/C techs blew the "Condensation" line out with the can of refrigerant they were carrying. After 92, most carried a tank of Nitrogen for pressure tests and purging moisture from the refrigerant lines, so that was used.

Before I became a tech, I saw guys use R-22 to kill the wasps often found in the AC condenser housings. As the taxes and costs rose, we found Wasp spray to be more effective and less expensive. I always had a can hanging with my gauges on the R-22 tank. I bought a Halon fire extinguisher when they first came out, they were the size of a pepper spray canister and easily fit in a topless pop can. It hung on my "B" tank until I retired (and is still hanging there). I was amazed how many guys never carried any type off fire protection! Some had to pay for fire damage too! Halon is outlawed too as it is in the same family as R-12 and only used in fire suppression systems like in computer rooms. Those small extinguishers were great weapons too. They absorb the oxygen out and will knock out anyone that gets sprayed! We weren't allowed CCW, so that was a great defense in high crime areas when on service calls!

Ivan

 

[oldbrownhat]

I think I posted this last summer- an innovative cooling system being developed by a lab at Harvard which would seem to put current "ancient technology" AC systems in the shade if someone can bring it to market. Low power consumption - so way less stress on our grids- and no refrigerants.

cSNAP is a biologically inspired, indirect evaporative cooling technology that uses water instead of refrigerant chemicals and consumes up to 75% less electricity than standard vapor compression units.

Even up here in relatively benign British Colimbia, our uber-progressive Prov. govt. has recently allotted $20M to provide 28,000 "free" AC units. Our power grid has been pretty good (and "green", due to dams and lots of water) until recently, but even we had to buy power last year because wildfires had reduced runoff. We can't continue on the current mad-electrification path without some serious new technology.

 

[pasound]

The question I have is the same I've had for years trying to find the correct cooling and heating for my home. Where does the heat it pulls from the air conditioned environment go?

 

[oldbrownhat]

The question I have is the same I've had for years trying to find the correct cooling and heating for my home. Where does the heat it pulls from the air conditioned environment go?

It gets pumped outside... to be pulled back in to be cooled again- a self-sustaining, symbiotic relationship, ie the Möbius Strip of thermal management

People who actually know what they're talking about might have a different explanation, though

 

[Rustyt1953]

Up until I was 18 air conditioning consisted of a box fan and a damp rag.

 

[swsig]

I think I posted this last summer- an innovative cooling system being developed by a lab at Harvard which would seem to put current "ancient technology" AC systems in the shade if someone can bring it to market. Low power consumption - so way less stress on our grids- and no refrigerants.

cSNAP is a biologically inspired, indirect evaporative cooling technology that uses water instead of refrigerant chemicals and consumes up to 75% less electricity than standard vapor compression units.

Has Harvard reinvented the swamp cooler?

 

[oldbrownhat]

Has Harvard reinvented the swamp cooler?

That's the basic principle I think, but minus the damp cloth. I'd have to re-read the Wyss article to see how they do it but I think it uses some sort of nanoparticle coating on a ceramic surface to extract the moisture.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I have gone to Fl. just 6 times. I live in the Sierras and have swamp cooler that needs once a year new pads. Enough said.

 

[Breakaway500]

Ive got central a/c in the shop..never use it. The house has it as well and the wife uses it,,while I sit there in a sweatsuit.I don't even use it in the car..Id rather have the top down and the windows open. It rarely goes over 85 here and maybe for 10 days a year.

 

[jbtrucker]

1980'swas service tech helper and installation crewman for small family owed HVAC company . During the summer months we humped it with service techs ,it is hard work . The hardest was apartment complexes some was in very bad neighborhoods. Thankfully they all liked the AC guys