Hvac

Everything has a story.

Buddy and his wife bought a house about 8 years ago, the house now is about 17 years.
Some years ago water leaked out of the attic unit and ran down the wall. On investigating we found that the unit had a drain pipe, 1" pvc that was pluged and there was another trey under the unit with it's own drain that seemed to be clear, so for a quik fix we cut the pvc and let the water drip into the lower trey.

He then had the unit serviced and this guy said the pvc pipe should have had a trap (to make it draw) not sure what that means. So he added a tee staight up and a trap out of 4 90s and 3 pipes about 4" long, no cleanout and then with a why conected to the pipe from the lower tray.

So, I think same guy has serviced the unit every year since ans sold them some light to kill mold, which needs new bulbs constantly.

Fair enough so far but late last summer another leak but from the area of the main duct for cool air.

Service guy came in and found the fan had picked up water and sprayed into the duct and couldn't figure out why. Placed a catch pan under the area of the leak in the attic and said just use it sparingly as this unit is shot and if you keep pushing it, it will dammage the unit out side. Also had another guy come in and replace the insulation around the duct.

He then said he was taking a good unit out of another house he was updating
and offered it to my buddy for $500 It is a better unit because it is all aluminum, nobody uses copper anymore and it has been delivered and is sitting in the garage.

I went today only to see what adjustment would have to be made to get the new unit thru the attic access.

The newer unit is a trane appears to be ment to be installed upright as the drain is at the bottom center front. Could not find a model number, no paperwork.

Nosy as I am, I went up and had a look a the old one as this water problem didn't make sense..

I took the front cover off and had a look. It was all dry, it hasn't been used this year so we got a gallon of water and dumped it in the tray. It drained fine and left about 3/8 " of water in the tray. I checked and found that corner of the tray was the lowest spot but as the fitting had been welded there.

In looking around around another fitting like the drain fitting about 8' away and thought if that was open it would be an overflow, I found it had a plastic plug in it and some one had broken it so you couldn't take it out. So a half hour with a screwdriver and hammer I got the plug out so the overflow can drain into the lower trey.

So the questions
1. this unit is shot.
2. trap in drain that just dumps outside into the gutter.
3, any chance an upright Trane can be layed on it's side
4. nobody uses copper anymore
5. this unit will damage the unit outside.

BTW, we found paperwork on the older unit and it clearly shows primary and secondary drain ports.

HVAC is not my specialty ... but I know these guys run games like crazy. Sort of like refrigerator repairmen. I have seen evap drains hooked to small sump pumps more than once. With the unit in the attic, it allows for gravity feed outside instead. Makes sense. Blocking the secondary tray does NOT male sense, depending on the humidity of the area. You might generate a whole lot of condensate.

Can't think laying a unit on its side is good. Completely defeats the condensate process ...

All sounds possiable except the unit being shot. In Attics duct is insulated to prevent condensation. there are horizontal units (lay sideways) for attics. Drip pans are placed under them for "just in case".

Weather it be the main condensate or secondary " just in case" because a drain got plugged , does not I dictate a unit "shot".

The origanal is a lay on it's side unit.

is this a furnace or an air handler? is the furnace direct vent with pvc?

the way your describing referring to the outdoor unit makes me think it's used for AC? A High effiency gas furnace is direct vented . It condensates and has a drain. Typically here furnaces are in basements , but whenever I have installed one in an attic you specify horizontal unit when buying. Can some be interchanged maybe?

The AC coil is a separate peice (usually a cased coil wich looks almost lime an extension of the furnace ), wether it's a furnace or air handler. That condensates and is also I believe ordered as horizontal. because the internal pan under the coil is gravity Fed off the coil. Again, perhaps interchangable. (With modifications)

What I'm thinking right now , is where is the leak coming from?
Any kind of condensation in the attic has nothing to do with the outdoor unit? I call bs.
"Nobody uses copper anymore" .... copper for what? cased coils are copper tubing with aluminum fiNs. Kind of like baseboard hydronic heat but compact.and it sounds like he is trying to sell a furnace/or air handler? The case coil would stay unless doing both?

Trans units are 'top of the line ' units. But I'm guessing as a hand me down , warranty is gone? As far as comparing equipment....I bought a 2 stage 80k btu natural gas 96%? Effi iency direct vent for about 1200$.

Don't get me wrong , every tradesman needs to make money and labor isn't free. But I have seen it alot in hvac where people get Sold somthing they don't need. Depending on what he has , since your going to pay labor , 500$ used seems like nahh.

http://www.summitgreensolutions.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_00000053.jpg
The unit at this site is a simular set up as my freind has but it is only the air handler for the AC, boiler in crawlspace for heat.
It has a copper rad, coil or what have you in a < shape for the air to go thru. No alum. fins. It has a built in tray and the secondary drain was never opened. And it has another tray under it to catch the overflow.
You can see in the link there are two drain lines in about the center of the unit and they appear to have a trap set up too, which I don't understand.