Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine May 2023

HVACR NewsMagazine May 2023

Tech News

CLEAN MORE THAN JUST THE DRAIN LINE When most people say “drain,” the drain line is what comes to mind. While it is important to clean a drain line, several other parts need attention, too. You’ll want to remove the panels on the air handler or case coil. That way, you can access the drain pan and clean it. It’s easy for debris to build up in the drain pan. Even though a quarter or half- inch of grime doesn’t sound like a big deal, it’s going to block fluids in the drain pan. It's like a gunky dam, and it's not good for the system. We recommend checking the status of the filter, evaporator coil, and condensate safeties as well. These are especially critical for horizontal air handlers and during the summer (when the unit will spend most of its time cooling). We love using shop vacs to clean drains. Unfortunately, they have their limitations. One of those limitations is size. They can suck the sludge out of larger areas, but you’ll have a hard time making headway on small A-coil channels with a shop vac. We recommend using small brushes or even wires to clean areas that are hard to reach with a shop vac. You can make a small set of vinyl tubing tools to attach to some PVC and a shop vac. Vinyl tubing allows you to see what you’re sucking up, so you can tell if you’re making progress. You can also reach those channels with bottle brushes (or zip ties and thermostat wire). When you use those materials, you may want to run water while you clean those small channels. Water will force all the buildup to the front while you work. Grime builds up quickly in small channels and coils. Thoroughly cleaning them will spare you trouble later. USE SMALL BRUSHES TO CLEAN COILS AND NARROW CHANNELS

Hey Arkansas, let’s learn more about Drains wit h Bryan’s article on ---

Drain Cleaning Protocol

This article is primarily based on HVAC School’s “Drain Cleaning – More To It Than We Think,” hosted by Bryan Orr and featuring Corey Cruz and Mike Klokus. You can listen to that episode HERE . How hard could it be to clean a drain? The slime should just wash away if you flush the drain with water or blow some nitrogen in it, right? That’s one approach to take to cleaning drains, but it’s not a very good one. Simple work (or straight-up laziness) comes at the expense of callbacks and harsh Yelp reviews. Proper drain cleaning is a commonly overlooked element of the trade. It may sound like a simple task, but many drains are not properly cared for. Customers may not know that they have a gunk diorama of the Hoover Dam in their drain pans, but they will notice that something’s wrong. That’s where you can come to the rescue. Here are some proper drain cleaning protocols that can prevent a lot of heartache and time-consuming callbacks.