New use for Cat5 cable

Well today my AC kept on running for a long time, but the house was not cold. Oh crap, looks like the AC is going out. I live in a single wide trailler, and the coils were freezing, a sign in my limited knowledge is a lack of freon. Since I live in the south, I need my AC, and being unemployed, this does not fit in my budget.

I called a friend of mine that knows more than I do about home AC, and he said I am probably screwed, but sometimes a blocked drain can cause this. Since the drain pan was more than halfway full, I fully pursued this tangent. But how do you drain water out of a pan that is waist high? I tried some shrinkwrap tubing, worked great once, but it is too easy to kink up. I am concerned about draining it because the blower is right below the coils. Water and electricity, and me, well bad things.

While I am looking around for tubing and such, I see a coil of Cat5 cable. I cut a piece, removed the wires, filled it with water, and the siphoning was on! Worked great, but the AC is still not working right. I am going to borrow an air tank and blow out the coils, then admit defeat.

But the Cat5 made a great siphoning tube. Too bad it did not fix my problem.

Hope your weekend ended better than mine.

E

 

As a Ex refrigeration dude there could be alot of causes that are cheap to fix. one you've already touch on, but from the sounds of it the simple cheap ideas that come to mind are cleaning the Condenser coils(Warm Side coils), and the Evaporator Coils(Cold side coils). The other is the Evaporator Cut-off Thermostat, this shuts down the compressor if the Evaporator gets below Freezing, which stops Ice build-up on the Evaporator coils. Ice on the Evaporator Coils restricts air flow into the house. Hope that helps yea Fred

 

BCGray, thanks for the reply, but that is all Greek to me. I am broke, AC is not working right, and I see dirty rads (I used to water cool 'puters). Don't know how to explain what I am looking at other than what I have used.

I have come to these conclusions, using my limited skills. The drain is not clogged, therefore the constant water is a sign of the pan not being level. The limited cleaning I could do with a vacuum cleaner has helped some (temps on the AC vent temps are down 3 degrees). I am hoping a good cleaning with an air tank will do the trick Monday. A few shims might take care of the drain problem, not sure about that. If not, I will be at the mercy of the HCVAC guy that shows up...


Hmm, now it seems to be cooling much better. I might be on to something as far as 'cleaning out the rads'. I checked it after it cut off, and it was half as frosty on the coils compaired to before I halfway cleaned them out. So cleaning them might fix it. The 'rads' as I call them are in inverted V that have a filter on each side. I bypassed that by taping a larger filter to the intake grill.

Any suggestions, or advice is greatly appreciated.

E

 

A link that might just teach you some "Greek" http://www.repairclinic.com/0047_16.asp LOL and possible help you fix the dang thingamabob, or you can always go down to your local 7-11 and live in the Ice Dispenser Freddy, guys gotta keep his Beer coldroflmao

 

Thanks for the link BCGray, bookmarked it. I am just kicking back in the nice cool air right now. The coils still get some frost on them, but it is cooling much better.

And my damn mutt is a dust magnet! besides dog hair everywhere, he brings in a ton of dust, so maybe it overwhelmed the filters. We will see after I put the compressed air on it.

Thanks again.

E

 

Another thing you can do is leave your fan on, the warm air circulating around the frozen coils can thaw them out faster.

My problem was a bit different, and yet similar, my hot water heater decided today was a good time to die, a doused the carpet but good.

 

Hope you got your AC fixed. I believe you are on the right track. I had to do my daughters last summer when I was in MO. it was just plainly dust and dirt in the coils. I borrowed an air compressor and it made short work of it. Reason for hers was it hadn't been cleaned for a long time (ever?) and she has dogs too. Has been working great ever since.

Jack

 

Funny how the theme 'clean it out' ''do the housekeeping' applies to most techno devices, autos, a/c, refrig, even computers.


Good luck with the scrubbing brush.


Studio T

 

Well, thanks for the advice, I have admitted defeat. I cleaned out the coils (what I call a rad), and it still freezes up. HVAC guy will be here in the AM. I cut the palm of my right hand, and the thumb, and just cut a finger on my left hand messing with this.

I have one last ditch effort, and that is to elevate the 'back' part of the coils or rads on the inside part of the AC so it can drain better. Other than that, I don't know.

E

 

Just occured to me, did you check the squirelcage fan in the blowers? That is where most of the gunk accumulates.

This doesn't have anything to do with air flow, but you need to pour a cup of bleach per year down the drain to kill the algae growth.

I'm going to be recovering from the water heater for a while, it was over $700 to replace and install.

 

Drain is good Bill_M. It is only blowing 65 degree air, and it is in the 80's here. No way in hell that will work in a nice humid Louisiana summer.

The squirrel cage is dirty, but not very bad. Squirrel is pissed, says he is not a hampster. I told him to shut up and start running!

Well, I tried. HVAC dude will be here in the morning. I hope it just needs a shot of freon.

E