A/C Drain Solution

[TommyT]

Help.... for the life of me I cannot remember what I'm suppose to pour into the Air Conditioner drain once a year to keep it flushed out. I've done a search and saw many, many posts about Bleach and other things, but I'm looking for a tried and true measure.

What do you use and at what mixture ????

TIA

:posting:

[mulligan]

1 cup of bleach to 2 gallons of water

[red tail]

1 cup of bleach to 2 gallons of water

not entirely true. different mixtures for different systems. i have a carrier infinty system and they told me to use white vinegar and never bleach.

[downeaster]

Help.... for the life of me I cannot remember what I'm suppose to pour into the Air Conditioner drain once a year to keep it flushed out. I've done a search and saw many, many posts about Bleach and other things, but I'm looking for a tried and true measure.

What do you use and at what mixture ????

TIA

:posting:

That is a question for you A/C contractor. Some say bleach, some say vinegar and mine says clear water.

[Fourpar]

Bleach is out. Used to be a standard practice, but the manufacturers found that the bleach tends to corrode metal in the HVAC unit over time. I used Vinegar for a while, but Munn's rep tells me to use only hot water. But, since I have them service it every 6 Months, I let the service guy do it! He uses water under pressure from my hose bib!:thumbup:

[jojo]

Del Air told me one gallon of hot water every six months.

[zummy]

you can put your shop vac on the outside drain to suck it out as well.

[saratogaman]

I, too, was confused by the bleach vs. vinegar thing.
I found "AC Line" at Home Depot. It is a biodegradable liquid in a white eight-ounce bottle. Use it four times a year. AC guy said that it's fine.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

I've always used hot water from the tap, enough til it flows good out the exit end of the pipe. That way I know I won't be harming anything!

Bill :)

[Hancle704]

I was told by two different HVAC Company Techs to not use bleach, but to use White Vinegar.

[getdul981]

I believe we were told to only use hot water.

[raynan]

Munns told us hot water, once a month.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

An addendum to my earlier response about using just hot tap water:

We used to have several house cats for a number of years (in OH) and found that we would get some amount of cat hair (from shedding) in the condensation drain pipe. If I didn't run hot water down the drain pipe on a fairly consistent/regular basis, it would clog due to the cat hair. Didn't have the best/tightest air filtration at our previous house and the air handler had a fairly small diameter drain pipe.......so there were several contributing factors to the clogging.

Moral: If you have pets that shed, you might have to do the drain cleaning on a more frequent basis.

Bill :)

[TommyT]

Thanks everyone for your reply... I really appreciate each one...

[rjn5656]

My a/c man told me hot water and dish soap.

[golfball]

Our A/C person also suggested hot water w/dish soap 1Xmo.
GB

[BowleesCreekYachtClub]

My AC man in Sarasota used to put his shopvac on the outside pipe and vacuum it out in about 5 seconds. Allan.

[eremite06]

Re: the POA newsletter, vinegar is acidic and will corrode the copper pipes. I use "AC LINE." This looks to be a soapy solution. Get it at Home Depot.

[rubicon]

I have a Trane system and my AC guy said use warm water . I flush it out once a month when I clean my filter

[The Great Fumar]

Just hot water but every once in a while I use a garden hose and flush it out..

fumar...........chilout

[PaPaLarry]

Just use Hot Water!!!!! If you do it monthly, you won't get build up. NO BLEACH!!!!!!!!!!!

[dsettl]

Use Bleach full strength, 1/2 Quart Do it every two months

[rhredd1654]

Clerk at Ace Hardware suggests running a hose from hot water tank to AC drain. Flush out monthly. Run water for a few minutes each time. Cleans sediment from tank and clears drain lines.

[Down Sized]

Vinegar can't hurt anything. You could pour a gallon undiluted thru there and it wouldn't hurt. Same with your garbage disposal.:thumbup:

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Clerk at Ace Hardware suggests running a hose from hot water tank to AC drain. Flush out monthly. Run water for a few minutes each time. Cleans sediment from tank and clears drain lines.

Thanks for the tip, rhredd! I might give that a try next time I want to flush the A/C line.

Make sure you let the sediment, etc. drain out of the hot water tank first (into a bucket, out into the driveway, etc.) before introducing the stream of water to the A/C condensation line, though. That'll keep the tank crud out of the condensation line.

Bill :)

[jimbo2012]

The issue here seems to be is bleach safe to use.

Obviously hot water is fine it is used through out the house draining thru your PVC pipes, I did a search (after Bill explain how the system works offline, tks)

It is fine as per;
While PVC is incompatible with many organic solvents, it has good corrosion resistance and is compatible with most common mineral acids and bases. You already know, for example, that pouring drain opener down your drain does not damage your PVC pipe, and drain opener contains sodium hydroxide a stronger base than the sodium hypochlorite in your bleach. Unlike sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite is also an oxidizing agent, but PVC is nonetheless resistant to sodium hypochlorite as well.

Compatibility

PVC has excellent chemical compatibility with common household bleach brands, such as Chlorox. It is resistant to solutions of potassium, sodium and calcium hypochlorite, all of which are used in various types of bleach

[tommy steam]

[QUOTE=TommyT;368778]Help.... for the life of me I cannot remember what I'm suppose to pour into the Air Conditioner drain once a year to keep it flushed out. I've done a search and saw many, many posts about Bleach and other things, but I'm looking for a tried and true measure.

What do you use and at what mixture ????

TIA

:posting:[/QUOT

Contact the company that made the unit. They would have the correct answer.

[JohnN]

not bleach, either hot water. (recommended by TV) or .. white vinegar doesn't hurt the system.. with hot water