Space Pak condensation

David_5

Check insulation inside the cabinet. If it is wet you have a problem with the drain or water blowing off the coil. If the insulation is dry then more insulation on the outside like suggested is a good idea. I've never seen one do this.

David

John Mills_5

bottom wet

We just replaced an old ESP3036 and 2.5 ton outdoor unit with new A/C and new ESP2430 air handler. Cooling great, all went well except emergency pan keeps filling up. Seems to drain fine. One thing we've noticed, oodles of condensation building up on the bottom of the cabinet dripping into the pan. Not sure if it could fill the emergency pan up or not but sure is a lot. There is some factory insulation in the bottom of the AH but the bottom cabinet does run very cold. Attic is poorly ventilated and we've been extremely humid. Any experience here?

Big Ed

Insulate

My first thoughts is to glue a sheet of scrim to its under belly....Seems like its lacking or lifting off the foor of the cabnet to cause condensation..Properly sized it should be running nonstop during these dog days.....

don_144

Is

this the John Mills I'm so fond of over at where the airheads hang out?

As you know John them unit run a lower evaporator temp then most,so it possible that theirs not enough cabinet insulation between the two temps that could make it sweat.

However I have never seen it in a attic,see it all the time in basement and crawls where the water table is high along
with the humidity.but never had a problem in a attic.

Usally if you have lots of water in the pan,and I mean lots that its coming out of the emergency drain pan,then either the pan is crack,or the coil as lots of oil on it.

The only other possibility is your trap made not be deep enough to over come the high static and it holding back the water some how.

I've been know to pipe my main drain in the hole in the pan that only has the 1/2 opening and not the 3/4,talk about water in the emergency pan and coming out the main too.

Happy hunting!

John Mills_5

Airhead got lost!

It's me, thought I'd post here since the wetheads use so many HV air handlers.

The 2 replies brought a couple thoughts. I'm wondering about condensation being pulled off the coil due to film on it. That would get the insulation wet which would cause the bottom of the cabinet to be so cold. We just aren't seeing problems in the main drain. When I was there Friday, I put a section of clear, vinyl hose in the PVC drain to watch it flow. Was fine then, tech today said the same thing.

I think we'll go back and wash the coil to try to rule out coil raining and put some reflectix on the bottom to keep the ungodly humidity off it.

Empire_2

Restrictor plate?

Did you use the Res. Plate? Is it possible that the water is being sucked off the coil? hummmm.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Two traps and an air gap.

One I started piping (and re-piping) like this, there have been zero clogs or backups. Construct the first trap with 90° elbows and pre-fill the bottom of the trap with water. This prevents negative air pressure from sucking the condensate back through the pipe into the evap pan where it eventually overflows. The pre-formed condensate traps do not have a sufficiently deep seal to work with certainty!

It may seem like overkill, but I like to use at least 1½" for the drain piping and use a 3" bell reducer to give a nice big hole and good air gap.

If the evap has two drain connections side-by-side (as most do), use them both--each with their own "air trap".

Dale

Startup

The other points are good and the drain trap bottom drop length before the p trap is important to allow gravity draining if there is any negative from the blower, you can test with a magnehelic. However, remember that any startup will first make water to remove latent load and them cool air, so check after the bld is down to what passes for normal humidity in your area.

Kal Row

majority of ac problems are airflow...

As could very well be this one too!!, if there is a restriction such as a clogged coil, or a piece of insulation fell off and got blown into the coil, the plenum pressure will blow that water all over the place, and with some designs a clogged air filter will generate enough suction and to keep the pan from draining, many designed always have neg pressure and don’t even begin to drain until the water is higher than the ¾ drain hole

you have to look at both sides of that coil!!! -

Bob Eh?_2

Given that the problem likely doesn't occur in a reasonable period of time you might wih to try putting a small pump (Like they use on tile cutters) in with a timer to cycle it every 15 minutes or so.

If that "cures" the problem you definately have a drain configuration problem (Maybe due to suction).

I assume the old 3036 didn't have a condensation problem.
Have you checked the number of outlets and their total ACTUAL (measured) airflow is within the operating range of the unit? The reason I ask is that you replaced the unit with a smaller size and that would change the airflow significanly and they really want a relatively narrow window of static pressure for these systems to work right.... (I am assuming that the tonnage of the condensor didn't change) If there are too many outlets the back pressure gets too low and the velocity across the coil would go up (Something like leaving the restrictor plate out)... At too few outlets they tend to crank out VERY cold air which would cause condensation on the handler since it has no place to go.

That is why they specify these puppies by the outlet.

Also, because of the high static pressure, leaky ducts are a killer.......

Bob