Water Overflow?

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ReFLeX

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After running my AC for about an hour we noticed water below the furnace. It wasn't happening in 75-79 degree weather, but once the 80s and 90s hit we've had this problem. It appears to be overflowing from inside. We didn't run it for a few days and tried again and the same thing occurred, only it appeared to flow out of the other corner. I've also heard clicking coming from the filter pictured below.

Here's a couple of very short videos of what it looks like:
Outside Overflow:
Inside Operating: http://youtu.be/WsTkYPi3iIw

I know absolutely nothing about this. What are my steps to troubleshoot this? Is this something that I can try to remedy myself?

Thanks!

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Reach4

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What is the relationship between your first photo and your second photo? What is the relationship of the third photo with your second photo?

The water above the blue rag looks like it did not just dribble out, but got sprayed onto the painted metal.

Does the PVC pipe on he left of your second photo drip water at the end of the line? Do you have easy access?
 

ReFLeX

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What is the relationship between your first photo and your second photo? What is the relationship of the third photo with your second photo?
The water above the blue rag looks like it did not just dribble out, but got sprayed onto the painted metal.
Does the PVC pipe on he left of your second photo drip water at the end of the line? Do you have easy access?


First and second photo were taken one day apart at an attempt to see what was happening. Third and Second photos have the same relation. Sorry! So 1, 3, and 4 were on the same day, today. 2 was yesterday. The very last 3 were the day we found out about the problem after it was on like normal off and on for a few hours.

The PVC pipe does go to a hole in the ground shared with my water softener. I do hear it drip down. I do have easy access.
 
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Reach4

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I was asking about the physical relationship rather than the timestamps. Are they all various views of the furnace+AC assembly? If so, what appears to be different colored paint in the first and second pictures is just due to some photography quirk. Does the PVC pipe connect into the pan under the condenser coils? If you pour a pint or so of water onto the condenser fan, what percentage of the water exits via the PVC pipe vs the corner shown in your first photo vs somewhere else?
 

ReFLeX

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Oh I understand you now, sorry!
See new images.

Picture #2 has a PVC pipe going down near the far left corner. Nearest the camera, is another corner where there is water that appears to be sprayed. On the right corner past the blue towel, and near a filter, is what Picture #1 is.

Picture 3 has a pipe coming trough the side. This is the corner that you can't see in picture #2, if you went past the PVC pipe. You can see this side in the last picture where the word "TRANE" is visible. The pipe's direction going to the unit, and then past it, is where the two corners are in Picture #1 and #2.

I'm not able to tell where the PVC pipe actually connects inside, but outside the ducts it appears to be, yes.

When I Google "condenser fan" I come up with the fan outside the house. That transfers water into that PVC pipe? Not sure why I would pour water there if not. Maybe some clarification here before I do that haha.

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SteveW

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This could be as simple as a partially clogged condensate drain. That's the PVC pipe referred to above. The evaporator coil shown in your pictures (also called an "A" coil due to its shape) rests on a pan which is connected to the PVC pipe, and the pan is designed to collect the water that condenses on the evaporator coils and route it to a drain system. Sometimes dirt in the air passing over the coils gets into the drain system and partially or totally clogs the condensate drain system. Many HVAC installers will install some sort of threaded connection to allow you to disconnect the drain line so you can clean out the fitting on the pan.

I'd be inclined to cut the horizontal run coming out of the plenum, and run a bottle brush or similar device into the evaporator pan, and blow out the other end of the line for good measure. I'd reconnect the ends of the pipe with a union, that would allow you to open it up from time to time.
 

SteveW

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Another way to go is to re-do the PVC system completely -- get rid of the existing trap (which I am a little suspicious may be part of the problem) and install something like this instead -- called an EZ Trap. It is called that because you can see if it's clogged with debris, and if it is, it is really easy to clean out. You can also see that there is a port that takes you straight into the bottom of the evaporator pan so you can run the brush (included when you buy the trap) into the pan to clean out any obstacles there.
 

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