Water is dripping out my condensate drain pan/pipe and my house isn't cooling well. Why? Help!?

Question

My house was cooling pretty well a couple weeks ago. Last week, the breaker kept tripping. Through my home warranty company's ac guys, it was determined I'd get a new condenser unit. Though smaller, it's a 12 seer (as oppoosed to the older 10) so that's good, right? I was surprised by the size. Anyway, the installation was completed about 2.5 hours ago. The AC has been running since, cooling the house from aroung 86 to 82. Not a very big drop for two hours, right? The house seemed to cool faster before. It's been at 82 for an hour now, it seems my inside blowers aren't as strong as they used to be. Why? My $5 air filters are new, btw. It's 92 and humid outside, btw. Anyway, I noticed by outside condensate pipe (an auxillary pipe, I think) dripping. I was told my lines are likely clogged and/or my coil is probably dirty on the big unit in the attic. He says he'll clear the lines and chem clean the coils for $175, which seems darn good to me compared to other quotes.

Answer 1

I had to read this scenario a couple of times to "crack the code".
Apparently, the axillary drain line you are talking about is coming from the axillary drain pan in the attic. The logical connection between the lower air flow, the axillary drain water, and the new condensing unit is a frozen evaporator coil. The iced-over coil is preventing air movement, and dripping into the axillary drain pan.

Immediately, turn the t-stat to the off position and turn the fan to on, vs. auto. This will shut off the compressor and run the blower, and the warm air will defrost the evaporator coil.

Apparently, you have a dirty evaporator coil, but it was not freezing with the old condensing unit due to insufficient cooling capacity. The new unit sent lots of cold refrigerant to the dirty coil, and it did not allow enough air to pass through it , resulting in the freezing.

$175 sounds like too low a number to clean the coil properly. To
be effective, the refrigerant has to be pumped down, the lines cut, and the coil removed from the attic and cleaned with alkaline-based coil cleaner and a hose with good pressure. This number will cover an in-place cleaning, which is ineffective (to say the least) Make certain that the cleaning involves the process that I described, even if it is somewhat more expensive. Otherwise, you'll be going through the same process in short order.

Good luck and God bless you!

Answer 2

You may be having a lot of condensation from the old one not working well and the new one is clearing it out as it cools. Wait a while before hiring the guy to see if it doesn't start cooling and draining better. You could be here in Texas where it is 105! Just thinking about 92 seems cooler to me!

Answer 3

Your pipes are frozen.