Basically it's as the title says. I have pics but they're failing to load for some reason. My evaporator coil is enclosed in a metal box above my furnace in the garage and both air and water are leaking out of the divide, or from under the evaporator coil box. Quite a bit of air is also leaking from this divide.

There is a small pvc drainage pipe which is draining some water to the side of my house. This pipe is routed under the slab of my house, and I think it is somewhat clogged.

I don't see any way to get into the metal box enclosing my evaporator coil. Is there some way to service this thing?

I'm thinking of starting by cutting the pvc drainage pipe somewhere before it enters my slab, and seeing if I can get the water to drain better - perhaps this will help with the leaking?

This is the original unit that came with the house, as far as I know, so it's about 40 years old. I know the furnace is original, perhaps the evaporator coil is newer though, as the condenser is not original.

I'll try to at least post some links to the pics in a minute.

Thanks!
Alex

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14z_...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aKS...ew?usp=sharing

 

Can you post some wide angled pics?

 

I will try and get more pics up tomorrow.

I'm starting to think I may be able to access the box from the side shown in the pics if I cut through the tape.

 

Inexpensive sink drain snakes are sometimes small enough to snake out a condensate drain line. I cut off the larger coily bit on the end and just use the long spring shaft.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Dane. I realized this morning that the PVC line leaving box is primarily just pushed together. So I disassembled it a bit and tried to snake it but couldn't get around the bend.

I may snip the end off as you suggest, or just see about opening the box up to see what's going on inside. It's hot here though, and I don't really want the ac out of commission just yet.

I'm going to run it today with the drainage pipe leading to a bucket and see if the leaking problem is simply from an issue under the slab.

NEW PICS

View of 'front' of box - I believe this is where it will open.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZRU...ew?usp=sharing

Close up of top corner - both front top corners are bent in for some reason.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fQu...ew?usp=sharing

 

Once I was able to use a wet/dry shop vac. I duct taped the vacuum hose onto the end of the clogged condensate drain line and turned it on. After a few second there was a shudder and the vacuum sucked the goopy snot clog out.

You also can get some PVC coupling fittings, primer & glue and just cut the drain line. Clean it out then use the couplings to put it all back together. 90 degree elbows are difficult (sometimes impossible) to snake around so cutting the pipe apart is often the quickest and easiest solution.

 

I'm not getting any leaking issues so far today with the pipe draining into a bucket, though the ac hasn't really ran for that long yet, and I'm not sure when it typically starts leaking all over. But if it continues to hold up, then the clog is obviously somewhere under the slab.

I may try your vacuum idea - sounds kind of fun! But for all I know the pipe is broken under the slab (you helped me out last time I posted here for just such a broken pipe under slab issue...).

Whether this 'fixes' the leak or not, I still want to open up the box and clean out the coils as well as see if I can seal it better so I don't have so much air leakage.

 

It is definitely not leaking now that I've rerouted (to a bucket) the outlet! I also used my shop vac to unclog the line (great idea Dane), so I should be able to reattach the piping.

I was able to pour over 6 cups of water into the drainage pipe before seeing anything start to come out the other end, so it looks like my outlet has some low spots. Oh well, it's fairly easy to unclog now that I know what to do.

As for the leaky air - would simply caulking the gaps be a bad idea? Would I be better off using some kind of ducting tape, perhaps metallic tape?