Sagging shelf under water heater and HVAC
 

Our water heater looks a little like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There is a slight tilt to our HVAC unit.

Anyone have this problem and can tell us who you called and what they did?

Our home is seven and a half years old.

Call the warranty department and ask their advice.

Gracie,
This is typically caused by either a leaking water tank, (but most likely NOT, because you should have a drain pan plumbed out to the exterior to prevent this), or more than likely this is caused from your A/C unit.

Under your A-coil, you have a drain pan inside your A/C air handler. This is right above your filter. If you take your filter out you should see the plastic drain pan surrounding the air handler cabinet.

When everything is perfect, the condensate water goes into this drain pan, and goes out your condensate line all the way outside.

It sounds like you have condensate water slowly dripping in and around your air handler, which in time can swell, rot, and deform that wood platform. This is bad, as that wood platform supports your air handler and helps support your over 700 pound hot water heater. There are 2-3 reasons how this can happen.

This line should be kept clear, usually by pouring a half gallon of hot water down it a few times a year. If this gets clogged, the water can back up and overflow onto and into and around the air handler cabinet and the wood platform below.

On the newer air handlers, there is a float switch installed that shuts off your A/C until you blow out this clogged pipe. Your older A/C unit may not have this safety switch. It is a good thing to have. They are not costly.

If the line is clear, you MAY have a cracked drain pan, thus allowing the water to leak.

Lastly, you may also have excessive sweating from a poorly insulated lineset. Are there rust spots on the air handler? Staining from sitting water on the platform?

If the deflection is not too bad, you may be able to shore the platform up and fix the problem. If is is too far gone, that platform top may need replacing. This may be costly, as the air handler and perhaps your water heater would need to be raised a bit, temporarily supported and a new piece of plywood installed.

Also, take your a/c filter out and check below for wetness. Also check your filter for wetness. If wet, this may cause mold issues in the bottom portion of the return.

I'm sorry that I am not giving you good news, but I hope this helps. I would check for condensate leakage in and around the A/C air handler as soon as possible.

Frank

I agree with everything Frank said, I will add, you should be able to cut a small hole in the front vertical surface and look inside with a flashlight. This will give you a real good idea of how bad the damage is.

Yup..thank you VT.....and you may want to do this.....when you take out the A/C filter you will look down only to see the insulated enclosed return for the A/C. Cutting a hole BETWEEN the water tank and the A/C insures you are not going to damage or cut into the return, but will see the condition of the slab, if it is wet or not, and also see if you need additional support below that very heavy water tank. Water weighs almost 8 lbs per gallon, plus the weight of the tank itself. On your home Gracie, you most likely have a 50 or an 80 gallon tank, which could weigh close to 900 pounds. Do NOT cut into the top of the platform, as it will surely further compromise the integrity of the platform, with dangerous consequences.

I bet Gracie will call somebody.........can't imagine her cutting a hole in her A/C unit. Right girl?

This is part of the reason I always get a maintenance plan from a reputable A/C company. In addition to discounts on service calls and parts, they come by two times a year to perform an inspection and tune up of my system.

We have had a maintenance plan for seven and a half years.

I don't have first hand experience with this kind of problem. So this is a shot in the dark.

Do you know who your builder is? Take a photo. And call on his business line and ask if he has an email address or smart phone number where you can send the photo.

Maybe do the same with the warranty AC contractor.

Did you have an inspector who looked over the house at any point? Ask him too.

Today husband will call warranty and ask them how to deal with it. I am sure the air conditioning people who installed, the one who checks on it. will stop the problem of water leaking. WHO and HOW to shore it up is the practical problem. I wish Frank would send me an email and tell me who HE recommends.

Then it is probably not a clogged drain causing it.

This is someone else taking a wild guess... If the wood is wet then just shoring it up won't be a good idea. The wet wood at this point almost certainly has mold growing on it and even after it drys out it will be filling home with mold spores for the foreseeable future courtesy of your AC.

We had the same problem and it was because the pan had never been cleaned as Frank stated. My brother and husband were able to fix the shelving and molding and repaint.

Gracie—. On Sunday when there are no workers, go down to Fenny and find a house under construction. Go inside and take a look at how that shelf is framed and how the air goes thru the ducting in that area.

This will help you visualize what is going on behind the sheetrock when the repair guy explains it to you.

We did that yesterday Paul and Denise.