# Water On Floor under Furnace



## silverado4

Before I call a repairman,
Can you tell me why there is water below my furnace?
I had the air conditioner on, and my "pump" is working to
take the condensation out from the air conditioner, so what
do you think is happening?

Maybe the drain to the pump is plugged?

I don't know, I see this is going to be expensive.
They will probably tell me I need a new furnace, but I
don't want to go that route.

Thanks


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## Elvandil

Depends on a lot of things. Do you have hot water in that setup, too? It could be a plugged drain on the reservoir for the condensate. That is not uncommon. Dust and debris can eventually plug it, as can mold.


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## oil painter

http://www.jimrooneyonthelevel.com/2007/0609.htm

Check this out--it may solve your problem. If you are ever told you need a new furnace, get a second or even a third opinion. Never go by what the first guy says. There are some unscruplious people out there.

That is good advice I got when I was young and it's a rule I follow for everything


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## Koot

I suspect your A Coil has iced up due to low refrigerant in your system due to a leak, which [the leak] is most likely located in the A Coil. When the ice on the A Coil melts (when the A/C is off) it causes water in, and under, the air handler unit.

If my guess is right you'll probably learn you have a pinhole in the A Coil, which causes loss of refrigerant.

To check this yourself - pull the cover off your air handler unit (after the A/C has been running a while) to see if the A Coil is iced up.


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## JohnWill

Actually, I'd guess that it's simply a plugged up drain for the condensate, this is very common. That would be my top suspect, and also easy to fix yourself.


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## silverado4

I was thinking about the icing up, but to get at it is ridiculous, there isn't a "cover", there are screws to sheet metal, etc. It would take time.

I took apart my "pump" that takes the condensation from the air conditioner to the sink. It was filthy, lucky the pump isn't ruined. I'm thinking maybe that stopped water from coming in the pump. I took my mushroom air compressor, and blew back through the line from the pump into the air conditioner. I'm hoping this line was blocked. I did see a little water come out after I blue through these lines. We'll see next time I use the air conditioner.

Thanks all of your for your advise.

Silverado


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## JohnWill

I'd make sure that line is clear, then test the pump. My pump has a float that will turn off the A/C if it fills up and fails to empty the reservoir in the pump.


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## silverado4

My pump running good. There is a cap on the pump, that I took off and poured water into it. The pump started, and drained what was in the pump's reservoir. I poured "white vinegar" into it and ran it again. I'll find out when I start my air conditioner when it gets hotter. It's been cold here, and I don't dare turn it on, she'll kill me. Thanks for your input, but it looks like I already did what you said.


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## Koot

silverado4 said:


> My pump running good. There is a cap on the pump, that I took off and poured water into it. The pump started, and drained what was in the pump's reservoir. I poured "white vinegar" into it and ran it again. I'll find out when I start my air conditioner when it gets hotter. It's been cold here, and I don't dare turn it on, she'll kill me. Thanks for your input, but it looks like I already did what you said.


It's a good habit to pour a cup of bleach into the condensation line once a month during A/C season to keep it clear and to prevent mold/mildew growth.


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## silverado4

I will do that, I'll put in a cup of bleach in each month. I hope I solved the problem by cleaning the lines out.

I'll let you know the next time I turn on the A/C.

Thanks for all the info.


Silverado over an out


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## chfd

Could be the A coil is freezing up and melting in areas that don't normally catch condensate. This could account for the water on the floor. Check your air filter to see if it is clogged. The reduced air flow causes the coil to freeze up. Try changing the air filter before calling for repair. Its cheap and needs to be done one a month anyway.


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## silverado4

I'm going to change the filter, (it's not bad, but just in case). We've had a few hot days here in Michigan, and today it will be close to 94 or so. The last few times I had the a/c on, there wasn't any water on the floor. This may be because I used an air compressor (mushroom type), to blow through the drain lines, and back into the coil also. I opened up my pump that gets rid of the water to my sink. I've had this pump for 8 years, never cleaned it. It was moldy and dirty. It is clean now, and I will watch it this weekend. I can't get at the drain pan under my coil, since it is surrounded by sheet metal. That may have junk in it also. I'll let you know.


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## JohnWill

Any area of the coil that could freeze should be in an area where the condensate is collected.

I'm betting that clearing the drain line was the silver bullet here.


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## silverado4

The a/c ran all night and all day yesterday, temp was around 90 or so. No Water on floor the next day, (today).

Also, my A/C unit outside is oxidizing on the bottom due to my dog lifting his leg on it.
This only does damage to the bottom 4-5 rows of fins on the front of the a/c unit. This should not cause the leaking on the floor, but when the dog leaves this earth, I'll replace it.


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## JohnWill

Well, the outside unit is the "meat" of the A/C, and you're going to find out that it's NOT cheap to replace! Normally, they'll also want to replace the A-coil as well to keep them as a matched set for best efficiency.


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## Sins

Some very accurate comments made in here. The "A" coil or evaporator coil is "A" shaped and sits in your air-handler (furnace). The pan it sits in is only a perimeter pan allowing room for the air to blow through the coil and the water to drip off the edges into the pan and out the drain. This is where the liquid freon expands into a gas and draws the heat from your home. If it freezes up then the larger of the two copper lines leading to the condenser outside will likely be frozen also depending upon how long the unit runs. At the end of the day that translates into a freon leak.

The other possibility you have explored is the plugged drain which is a more common problem. The vinegar and bleach are fine but look for a chlorine tablet at the pool place or walmart and set it in the pan, it will get rid of the algae that tends to plug the drains. Also, when blowing out the lines, blow from the inside to the outside otherwise you blow gunk all over the coil and inside of the furnace. Customers really get upset about the dried slime sometimes!


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## silverado4

I blew from the "pump" to the dehumidifier, and towards the A-Coil. I can't get into the A-coil area because I don't have panels that come off. It is all surrounded by sheet metal. I think that was a bad way to do it, now that I have trouble. All the drain lines are about 1/2 inch pvc. I would have to cut it. and put in maybe a "T" or an "elbow" type with a plugs near the sheet metal, then blow out from there. Like I said earlier, I will take the pump off now every new season of winter and summer to clean it out. Took only 10 minutes. Doesn't the "chlorine" tab eat away the plastic. I used to have a pool, and used a self chloriner for it with tabs. It actually ate through the copper pipe for the inlet water near the pump for the pool. What a mess that was.


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## JohnWill

Chlorine will react with copper, but I had a pool for years with plastic piping, and it never affected that at all.


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## Koot

I've had pools and all the pipes and fittings were always PVC...never copper.


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## JohnWill

I've never seen copper in a pool installation either. Galvanized pipe at times, but not copper. I'm not sure why the steel pipe either, but it wasn't my pool.


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## silverado4

I don't live in that house any longer, but there was a small tube coming from the "automatic chlorinator and a right angle from the main pump was "copper". I just used a rubber gasket with clamps to hold it on. It stopped the leak. The burst of water from the unit had a "right angle" just after the the main pump. The chlorine kept hitting the angle, then finally came through the copper. The lines were PVC going to the pool, but for some reason they used copper by the main pump. I'll give it a try. Thanks for your info.


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## JohnWill

Well, copper will be attacked by chlorine, so it's logical that it came through the pipe!  Apparently, it'll build up a coating and slow the reaction in time, but in an elbow I suspect it "blasted" through the coating that was forming and worked it's way right through the pipe.


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