Air Conditioner Condensate Drain Trap

The air trap allows liquid condensate to drain from the hvac equipment and simultaneously prevents air from entering or escaping from the equipment.

Air conditioner condensate drain trap.

Air conditioning units pull a lot of water out of the air. All air conditioners have a special drain for this condensation. Once you ve completed installing a new air conditioner your work isn t quite finished. Observations show that condensate in the drain pan becomes entrained by the entering air when its velocity reaches about 16 mph.

A perfect algae breeding ground is the wet warm environment of a condensate collector beneath a central air conditioner evaporator coil. See when moist air hits something cold the water condenses out of the air and collects on the cold surface. Traps with insufficient height between the inlet and outlet design deficiency on draw through systems can cause the drain to back up when the fan is on possibly causing drain pan overflow or water droplet carryover into the duct system. That is why in the summer your car drips water.

The condensate drain system can endure issues that include damaging leaks bad air quality toxic mold growth and even a complete air conditioner shutdown. Relatively small 5 to 10 ton hvac units frequently operate with internal pressures near 0 80 and greater in. This video is part of the heating and cooling series of training videos made to. Trap failures due to freeze up drying out breakage blockage and or improper installation can compromise the seal against air ingestion through the condensate drain line.

This one tells why a p trap is necessary on the air conditioner evaporator. A p trap serves a very important purpose on an a c unit. This is the condensate drain which plays an important role in removing condensation produced by your air conditioner s evaporator coil if the line isn t properly cleaned algae and mold can grow inside and clog the drain causing elevated humidity musty odors and water damage inside your home. This value is exceeded in most systems operating with a dry trap.

These drain lines carry away condensation produced by the operation of the evaporator on the air conditioner unit. Why it happens and how to deal.