A typical home air conditioning unit. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Summer is finally hitting Utah. Heat is on the way up and relief is not in site, at least from Mother Nature. I finally broke down and turned on my air conditioner to cool the house down and, as a result, try and break my daughters fever. Both seemed to work out.
The biggest issue was with the Air conditioner itself. It didn’t cool very well. It did ok, but not well. Since I am renting this place I called up the rental company and they sent a guy out to look at it. He told me that the condensate drain line was getting clogged. Then he fixed it and I am sure he nailed the rental place with a tidy sum.
Now, you all know from this blog that I like to do things myself. I fix what I can on the cars, what plumbing I can do, and whatever miscellaneous crap needs to be done. So, knowing that this would probably happen again, I hit google to see what I could find.
I found what condensate drain lines did. They drain off the water that the air conditioner gets from the condensation in the air. They have water in them, they are always wet. They grow algae. They get clogged. This is an issue with coolers, ice machines and other refrigeration devices. They then need to be cleaned. It is a pain in the butt to say the least.
There are many ways to clean these drains, including just replacing them. Most methods use some form of bleach and or cleaners to get the algae out. You have to disassemble some, you can sort of get into others. You can call the HVAC guy but they are going to be super busy on the hot day when you need them. I did find something cool though. It is called the Clog Popper. It goes into the drain line and sucks out the algae. It fits all sorts of drains and is made in the good old USA. You have to love products like that in these days of everything being made in freaking China. Plus they will give you a lifetime warranty and money back guarantee. Personally, I am going to buy one to have when I move into my own house.
