Three, Two, One

Three-- the number of shirts Rick sweat through today in an attempt to repair our air handler drain on our air conditioning system.

Two -- the number of trips we took to Lowe's to get the correct parts to repair both the outside problem and the inside problem on the system.

One-- the number of days (Yes, this took all day!) to repair the system so we are comfortable using the house now and leaving the house unattended for the summer.

The problem started last night when we were supposedly settled down for the evening and Rick noticed that the house felt rather warm.  "Damn!" he said because he knew the heat meant that the emergency shut-off switch had tripped on our air handler and that the air conditioner shut down.

So out we trooped with a flashlight to see what was going on outside.  For whatever reason, our fancy plumbing to drain the system had an air lock in it, and we had to come up with a new design with a smaller trap and run.  At 8:00 p.m. in the dark, we did a quick cut-the-pipe-and-let-the-condensation-drip-down-an-old-downspout-until-morning routine. With the condensation running again, we had air conditioning for the evening.

Rick cut off the old system and let the condensation
fall into the drain via an old downspout that we found
in the garage.

This morning we were off to Lowe's for the first trip to rebuild the outside drain.  For whatever reason, the first time that we put the new system together, it still had an air-lock problem.  We removed part of it, attached an alternate system for a while, and focused on the "inside" problem.

Our alternate, temporary "fix" until we could re-plumb
the system so it drained down the drain in the cement.

When we had the new air handler/ heat exchanger system installed, the installers did a crappy job of putting it all together.  (The original company has since gone out of business -- probably due to poor workmanship!)  The system is installed in the rafters in our garage, so our air handler has a drip pan under it to collect condensation should the regular drainage system not work.  The drip pan also has an emergency shut-off sensor to shut down the system if the drip pan fills.  That is what killed the system last night.

Upon closer inspection, we learned both that the pan was tilted away from the drain in the drip pan and that the drain itself was capped off rather than flowing away from the air handler system.  OK.  One more thing the installers failed to do correctly.

Our second trip to Lowe's was to purchase more pipe and fittings so we could install the drain to the drip pan and run the excess off toward the front of the garage.  Keep in mind, this drain is a last-ditch effort.  We installed it with the idea that we hope it never sees a drop of water and it never is needed.
If this drain is in use, it means the outside drain has failed and that we have to rid the pan of the condensation the air conditioning is taking out of the house.  In the summertime, that is gallons of water a day.  We set the drain up so it would drain near the front door of the garage.  If that system ever needs to work, the water will harmlessly drain onto the garage floor and seep outside under the garage door. Meanwhile, the air conditioning will continue to run in the house, both keeping the house cool and removing the excess moisture from the humid summer air.

A new drain leaves the corner of the drip pan
and is directed away from the center of the garage.

Rick works on gluing together the last part of
the drip pan drain so it flows out the bottom
of the garage door in front.

Once both drainage systems were reinstalled, Rick tilted the drip pan so any water would actually meet the newly installed drip pan drain.  Then he reinstalled the sensor mechanism in a place where it could actually detect and shut down the system in an emergency.

Finally he restored the new drainage system outside so that water from the air handler could flow down a pipe outside the house and into the new drain we put into the concrete we poured a couple of months ago.  This time, the drain worked fine, so his new design solved the old air-lock problem.  Whew!

The redesigned condensation drain has a smaller
trap so that water once again flows into the large
drain outside.

One -- complete system restored so we feel confident the air conditioning is working better than it did yesterday.

Two -- tired people who are grateful that the temperatures today stayed in the low 80s so working outside and in the garage was tolerable.

Three -- the number of extra parts we did not need for the repairs that we will return to Lowe's, but nothing ever gets returned on a weekend.

While we didn't get the raking finished that we had hoped to do today, we did take care of a more urgent need to keep Gladys a cool old doll this spring and summer.  This one-two-three job actually took us eight hours to complete, but we are happy with the results and will sleep soundly tonight knowing that the system works well.