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I'm 54 and this is literally the first time I'm hearing about this.

I've done nothing with my air-conditioner other than mow around it for 23 years. I don't even know how to turn it on and off. It seems fine.

Also clean your filters inside the air-conditioning unit itself. They build up dust and dirt over time and can be bad for asthma sufferers as well as causing sore throats and what not.

How does one do this?

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LPT: not everyone lives in the northern hemisphere.

The Southern hemisphere disagrees...

Minnesotan wandering in here to laugh bitterly

I got tired of cleaning mine out and the unit is in the attic so it's a freaking mess if it clogs. I went out to my shop and grabbed a couple of scrap pieces of window screen, wadded it up into two balls, and stuffed one in each end of the drain line. No more clogs.

Monthly is a bit much but can’t hurt

We're in Florida, so our AC runs about 10 months of the year. Our condensate drain line is 1.06" O.D. PVC pipe. We have a small shop vac with a hose that fits neatly over the PVC pipe. Once a month, I hook up the shop vac and suck out the drain line for 10 minutes.

The only time we've had an AC failure was when a service tech left the cap off the clean out tee and the vacuum couldn't clean the first 18 inches of the drain line. The tech put chemicals in the tee, which obviously didn't get to the part of the drain line upstream from the clean out. Once I replaced the cap and vacuumed the drain, all was well.

Tldr: Skip the chemicals, use a shop vac to keep your condensate drain line clear.

It literally snowed yesterday... It aint anywhere near air conditioner weather yet.

Thanks for the reminder. Germany has been getting hotter and hotter and I think this year I will finally buy an AC to cool the bedroom during the hellish months of summer

Life pro tip: There’s a Southern Hemisphere. It’s getting cooler.

They sell AC drain line cleaner tablets that help keep the drain line clear for awhile.

I don't think my air conditioner even has a condensation drain line but I clean the filter/screen occasionally

Definitely don't need to do it every month. Do check your filter every few months if your unit is running a lot. Flushing the line every 4 months is more than enough.

For sure check the drain line. It depends on how yours is set up. Mine runs into a standpipe that's open to the air at the top. If the line were to plug, it will overflow near a floor drain anyway so that's not a big deal.

For me, it's air flow. If your air handler is in your basement utility room it's icing that's going to get you. You need air flow and a quality air filter that allows enough air to move across the coils.

Here's what happens. The filter gets plugged. Because it's plugged, the system can't flow enough air to keep the coils dry and evaporation stops. The coils keep getting colder but the cold air isn't going anywhere so ice starts building up on the coils. The A/C is almost constantly running at this point but not cooling. So some jagweed turns down the A/C even more until the system gets stuck on. If it does stop, it short cycles back on again right away and keeps trying to cool down the room. Now you have a huge block of ice inside the air handler and basically zero cooling.

Now, you need to pull the filter and turn off the A/C for a few hours. Let the house warm up and let all that water drip melt, drip off, and dry out. If you can short it to keep the blower going while it melts, that would be nice but the whole house fan typically runs at low speed.

During this time, run over to the hardware store and buy a decent dehumidifier and just run the drain line from that straight into a floor drain so you don't have to worry about emptying the pan. Set it to 50% and leave it. They aren't expensive and they last for years.

Now make sure that you change your filter regularly and don't try to set your house to 65F. A regular cooling system won't be able to keep up and you'll get icing again. 74F is perfectly fine. You won't die and it'll feel a hell of a lot cooler than the 90F that it is outside.

I'm in Scotland. What's an air conditioner? I know what the words mean, I've just never seen them used together before now.

Get yourself a condensate overflow alarm, too. Especially if the system is in the attic.

"Getting warm again" - You're freaking lucky if that's the case for you.

I failed to fo this for several years once. It cost several hundred dollars to fix and would have only have taken a minute or two every year. Well worth the time.

what air conditioners?? don't have any

NOT bleach! Fuck me dead. You're the kind of people that wash your car with Dawn too, cause you don't believe the specialty aisle full of Meguiars and Turtle Wax knows its job, aintcha.

They sell things just for this.

The pros will use stronger stuff than this but for your average homeowner, ac pan slime killing tablets and ac fin cleaner.

Wots that? You wanna know what the pros use?

Righty on, bulk concentrate of fin cleaner and time release algae kill pills

Mine has a pump to move the condensate up to the ceiling so it can travel over to a drain. I live in fear that the pump will fail and the AC will just keep pumping out water, flood my basement, and ruin my engineered hardwood.

Is this a thing for all HVAC units? We have a combo AC / furnace unit, but it’s on the roof. We’ve lived here 10 years and never checked this???

Wish I knew about this a few years ago! Great tip and those who have never done it, you really should! It’ll save you a headache when it all gets backed up.

This is probably good advise.

I’m wondering if anyone actually had a parent teach them this?

Unit is at least 15 years old. Never had a problem. Now that I know this, I bet the bitch clogs up. Thanks, dude.

we don't mean you San Francisco, because it's fucking cold still

My what and the what now?

Just get your spring/fall maintenance and you’ll be fine

Ah, the joys of renting! U____U

Lol what. We just had a snowstorm where I’m at yesterday

Thanks for the reminder!

Just grab your trusty Shop Vac and insert the outside drain in it briefly, blocking the rest of the opening with your hand. It'll clear out any spider web or other insect buildup that could clog it up and cause water buildup inside the unit and drip down your wall. It's unlikely but you never know.

My installer told me to do it at least once a year. I do it whenever I have the vacuum outside for the cars or whatever.

Who even owns a house? Just call maintenance or your landlord, ain't my problem gotta go to work!

Do you have a how to?

Laughs in Coloradan. I got 2 inches of snow last night.

But it's like 43° F at my house. What is this "warm" of which you speak?

How hard would it be for people to include a link showing us how to do this? M

Literally had to do this a few hours ago. It’s turning into a bi-monthly occurrence for some reason.

It snowed twice this week in Oregon

Bold of you to assume I know what this means.

Somebody left a hose running… In the south, that’s what condensation drain lines look like.

Moved to the south a few years ago, condensation drain line’s P trap was clogged and overflowed into a dirty clothes bin.

Cleaned trap with a wet/dry vac.

Professional in the industry here. Having to clean out a drain once a month is nonsense. Although it should get checked every season for sure. If your drain clogs that often something else is very much the problem. Like some type of indoor environment problem.

You worry about your own drain line, buddy.

Had ours at work get clogged years ago. Unit was in a closet and the platform it was mounted to was standing water. Mine at home got clogged last year. Had water start soaking the ceiling in the bathroom. The main drain line out of the unit was clogged and the drain on the overflow pan had what was probably dirt dauber nests in it. Blasted out both with a water hose from outside. Only thing I could think of in the middle of the night.

Is this a newer problem for newer systems? Never in my life has this ever been something that needed doing.

Drain pan? Like, my hot water heater has a drain pan, but the AC compressor and stuff is outside and that shit just drains on to the ground.

Change your furnace filters.

I still have snow in my yard

Wow. People can actually afford air conditioners. I can’t even imagine owning one

I do this with 4 cups of vinegar followed by 4 cups of warm water once a quarter.

Reading this when there’s a two day snowstorm going on