Drain Pan Filling Up

[Super_19]

I moved to FL back in July. I am renting the house. Lived in an apartment in Jersey with window ACs and baseboard heating. Central AC/Heating is something new to me. About 3 days ago I noticed that the drain pan has some water accumulated on it. There's a PCV pipe dripping onto it. What does this mean? Is there something I can do to fix whatever the problem may be? Or is this something the homeowner/property manager is responsible for fixing? I'm afraid that it will continue to fill and eventually overflow onto the adjacent room.

Recently the weather has been significantly cold, dropping to lower 40s during the night. Then back to 70s-80s during the day. We've been switching between AC and Heat via the thermostat. Could this have anything to do with why water is now dripping onto the pan?

Thanks.

 

[Reach4]

Could this be condensate from the air conditioner? Maybe the regular path got blocked, at least partially.

I don't know if the owner or manager is responsible for taking care of this, or cleaning out the condensate drain is routine maintenance that you are expected to do. I would think that the manage would take of that, but if it is something you have agreed to do, when you ask the manager or owner, I would expect you would at least get some instruction on how to take care of that.

Who changes the furnace/AC filter?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Super_19]

Could this be condensate from the air conditioner? Maybe the regular path got blocked, at least partially.

I don't know if the owner or manager is responsible for taking care of this, or cleaning out the condensate drain is routine maintenance that you are expected to do. I would think that the manage would take of that, but if it is something you have agreed to do, when you ask the manager or owner, I would expect you would at least get some instruction on how to take care of that.

Who changes the furnace/AC filter?

Thanks for the reply. From what I can remember when I signed the lease, I am required to replace the AC filter which I do monthly. If they say I am responsible for this, how can I fix this? The pan I was referring to is the one outside the unit on the floor.

 

[Reach4]

Ask. If they say it is your responsibility, I expect they will tell you how to do it. They told you at least something about how to change that filter, right?

Do you know where the water from the AC normally goes? It may go outside.

 

[Super_19]

Ask. If they say it is your responsibility, I expect they will tell you how to do it. They told you at least something about how to change that filter, right?

Do you know where the water from the AC normally goes? It may go outside.

Just got a call from the property manager. Their AC Tech will be coming out tomorrow to take a look and fix the issue.

There's a pipe that leads to the side of the house. Talking to my neighbor a few weeks back he told me its for the AC drain. All the houses are the same in the gated community I live. So he knows because it is the same on his house.

 

[Super_19]

As for the filter, never got instructions as to how to replace it. I just searched on Google and found a YouTube video.

 

[Dana]

AC drains are almost constantly wet during the cooling season, and can develop slime molds that slowly plug up the drain. It's usually pretty easy to clean the gunk out though. Sometimes giving it a dose of bleach can fix it, but if blocked completely or if it has collected debris it'll take a bit of physical action.

 

[Super_19]

HVAC technician came out on Tuesday. First he tried vacuuming out whatever was blocking the pipe that runs from unit to the side of the house. That pipe was covered up with some nasty stuff. The vacuuming didn't work so he then hooked up a line from a tank , I think Nitrogen, to an opening on the pipe's other end on the unit. He said that blew out whatever was causing the clog. A few minutes later water could be seen dripping out of the pipe on the side of the house. He also put in a few tablets onto that same line coming out of the unit. He said it would help keep the pipe clean and prevent clogs.