question about water from central a/c

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dolfan

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I have central a/c and when take the cover off you see the coils. There is a tray on the front only and has water in it. The coils has water/rust stains going down. Is this normal or something wrong? thanks
 
The coils are where the cooling takes place. As such, moisture from the atmosphere condenses and falls into the condensate drip pan. That pan has a drain line which feeds by gravity into a condensate pump. The pump (like a sump pump) will pump the water out as it reaches a critical level. Older pans were metal and did rust -- eventually needing to be replaced. Modern pans are plastic and don't.

If you have standing water under the coils, you have a problem with your condensate line or the pump itself. Clearing the drain line and checking the condensate pump is essential.

Does that help you? Hope so. :D

drip-pansfigure3.jpg
 
if your system does not have a condensate collector box/pump (not all systems do) then the problem of standing water would strictly be in a clogged condensate line.
 
Thanks. It has a drain line and the water will stay in there until it is higher up. I just looked and the pipe is above the pan which is plastic, and the drain pan is just on 1 side. If the unit was tilted slightly that would help a lot. How can I clean the drain pipe or can I? I need to clean the pan also has dust, rust etc.
 
You can use air pressure from the outside end of the drain pipe to unstop it. changing the air filter more often will help prevent the dust buildup in the condenser and drain pain.
 
Here is an interesting way to remove the built up algae water in your system.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyvPR7yMqbk[/ame]

Might be very useful to approach it this way. In addition (from the inside of your house) the condensate drain line is usually a PVC pipe that takes the water from the drain pan to the condensate pump. Disconnect the PVC pipe (pliers). Frequently, there is a valve connecting the pipe and the pan. Pour bleach into the pan and through the PVC pipe to destroy the algae.
 
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