TOPIC: Return To HVACbithia - Take Two

Look at the photo below and put on your CSI hats.  What do you see?

There are many things to see:

1.  There is a properly-installed heat pump and level drip pan to capture any over flow condensation.

2.  The drip pan has rust inside, which means there has been previously filled from clogging in the past.

3.  The primary condensate line, with the purple drip on it, has a trap - very good!  But the opening and the tube are 3" OUTSIDE the drip pan, so if there is dripping from the tubing it will not get captured.

4.  The primary line connects into the secondary condensate line just beyond that little puff of pink insulation on the left.  If there is a clog beyond that point, the drip pan will overflow.  There was no float shut-off device, so that pan would leak into the house.  The secondary line should drain by itself, and to the outdoors.

5.  The return duct, which appeared in the previous HVAC post, is resting INSIDE the drip pan.  This can more easily cause an over flow!  It has been tied down with tape to prevent it from moving and holding it DOWN.  The return duct could have and should have been installed into another opening.

6.  What you can't see from this direction, since there is no way to replace or clean the filter from the very high return slot (without a cover anyway), one would have to schlep into the attic to get to the filter.  The filter slot has been completely blocked with the chain that hangs the unit from the roof rafter.  It cannot be budged!!  I don't know how long this unit has been in place.  The manufacturer's date says the unit is a year old, but gives no hint as to the installation date.  But you should replace or clean the filter once a month!

7.  Frightfully, the electric cable also passes through the drip pan!  The drip pan fills with WATER.  WE know that because there is rust.  This is NOT good.

8.  They didn't mind the cable passing through water, but they were careful enough to install a CONNECTOR CLAMP !!  Oh, happy day!

So, with this "professional" installation, we have the good, the bad and the ugly.  But the house was cool!

My recommendation:  Get a home inspection!  What appears to be one thing, may actually be another.  Just because there is a new unit in place, does not mean it is properly in place.

Wow!

Is it common to suspend the unit there? I haven't seen that yet.

Yes.  Sometimes the rafters are not sufficient to handle it.  In this case they are substantial.  There were also two vertical members to help the load.

A return installed inside a drip pan. Now that's smarts!

Not to mention the electric cable!

Most new HVAC units are hung in attics here.  It helps prevent noise from entering the house.