Condensate Pump Puns

We woke up this morning to 5” of snow and our furnace wouldn’t kick on. We troubleshooted the obvious but we noticed the condensate pump constantly running, so we figured something was up with it. We called the HVAC company and they sent a guy out who said they’ve been here before for this same issue with the previous owners.

Apparently our condensate tubing drains outside. We knew this, because in the summer we would be outside and randomly see water shoot out of a tube from the side of our house.

It never crossed our minds that it would freeze in the winter.

So the HVAC guy came and poured hot water on the inch of the tube outside, and emptied the pump inside. Our furnace kicked back on and he charged us $100. About an hour later I noticed it stopped working again.

Went downstairs and the pump was full again and not emptying, so either he never fully unfroze the pipe OR it refroze already.

We unhooked the pump and have the furnace draining into a bowl that we are going to have to continually empty. We can’t do this overnight however.

What the heck else can we do?! This is insane. Why would they even run the tube outside like this? We have no French drain in our basement because it’s totally finished besides the utility closet that the furnace and hot water tank are in.

I live in Canada and had a high efficiency furnace installed. They connected the new condensate pump to the original drain line for our existing AC which just ran outside.

The line froze and the repair guy left us with a temporary hose, but there's no drain in the furnace room, and with a finished basement it'll be a pain to run another line to the drain in the bathroom.

Is it possible to add a tee to the water softener drain line to connect the condensate pump? Or would the water flow into the water softener?

tl;dr: new condensate pump. pump works. Tray still filling up. why?

Hi.

A while back (a few months) the condensate pump went out on our central air. I grabbed a new one and put it on. Pretty simple. The pump works, I can pour water in it and it'll click on and suck it out.

https://preview.redd.it/nh51u8ysvgn71.png?width=1137&format=png&auto=webp&s=64d498448a95987434d71e14043e30923c62febc

Lately, however, (we've had a lot of rain) the drip tray is filling up. Then the overflow float switch trips and the whole thing shuts down. I can't seem to sort out why. When I look at the drain pipes, they look like the installers made a makeshift P trap in them with the one on the right being a little lower than the one on the left. I'm assuming this is so it flows into the condensate pump and if the pump fails, then it'll flow into the tray. Therefore, I'd assume the height and angle of these pipes is important. If I move the pipe going to the pump, water (just a dribble) comes out of the pipe going into the tray.

The new pump is a bit bigger than the old one and doesn't fit exactly like the old one did, and the drain line going into it is at a slightly different angle. I've messed with it a bit and I can't seem to make a difference as is. So I was considering redoing the pipes..

Before I do that, I wanted to ask if there is there anything else (other than a clog in the pipe - there's no clog) that might cause this issue?

Is there a better way of plumbing this that isn't so sensitive to the angles? I thought of just a straight pipe with an elbow at the bottom that goes into the pump and a tee above the elbow that goes into the pan. If the pump fills up, it should go out of the tee and into the tray, yeah?

Background:

Recently the condensate pump on my minisplit stopped working -- it'd sense water and turn on, but wouldn't pump anything away so just ended up buzzing loudly and angrily until I manually emptied the drip tray.

Components:

Minisplit:

• Make: Mitsubishi

• Model: MSZ-GL06NA

• Photo of unit: https://i.imgur.com/SY78FRK.jpg

• Photo of unit info: https://i.imgur.com/y8sri4g.jpeg

• Photo of outdoor heat pump: https://i.imgur.com/ns0WTPB.jpeg

Old condensate pump:

• Make: Refco

• Model: Gobi 4678538

• Photo: https://i.imgur.com/2JH3zlg.jpeg

New condensate pump:

• Make: Refco

• Model: Gobi II 3004045

• Photo: https://i.imgur.com/E2CLiRY.jpeg

Technical info:

I thought it'd be a simple swap job, but there's some differences between the pump wiring.

This is how it's currently wired: https://i.imgur.com/lPTMeZd.jpeg and the old pump wiring diagram: https://i.imgur.com/6rGGKiE.jpeg

Green/yellow is ground, black(L) is in a wire nut with the outdoor power source. white(N) is on S2, purple(alarm) is on S1, and 2nd purple(alarm) completes the circuit behind the unit. Pretty straightforward.

The new Gobi II pump separates the power / alarm wires, and has different colors but no biggie: https://i.imgur.com/hWlgHQv.jpeg

Wiring manual for Gobi II: https://i.imgur.com/8xrDbcB.jpeg

Question:

So my question is as follows -- the Gobi II doesn't seem to have a ground wire. Is this expected because it has a fuse now? Anything I need to worry about that with my current Mistubishi mini-split?

Second question, in the wiring manual (https://i.imgur.com/8xrDbcB.jpeg) drawing #1 looks most like my current wiring with the live wire in a nut with outdoor live though it also expects the alarm circuit in there too. But I have a multi-split system with 4 units connected to the outdoor heatpump so it seems drawing #2 is more relevant. Do I go with the drawing that's closest to my wiring, or the closest to my minisplit system?

And lastly, to make my life easier the 2nd page of wiring manual (https://i.imgur.com/9GogKfh.jpg) shows a setup with no alarm circuit. Don't believe I've ever used or heard an alarm, so any thing to look out for if I don't bother at all with an alarm?

Hope this wasn't too long-winded. Thanks for any advice.

Anyone have experience with the Mitsubishi ceiling cassettes? Does the condensate need to drain by gravity or is it a pump? If I'm in upstate NY do I send it outside or does it need to go to a drain inside? Just trying to understand all the options without pestering my neighbor who will ultimately charge the line sets and do the final system check.

So I have a condensate pump installed on my furnace/Air conditioning equipment. It recently ceased working. I also have a floor drain very close to all of this, which a de-humidifier runs & drains into. A drain line for our house humidifier also runs into this drain. Do I even need a pump? Why can’t I just run the drain line from the house a/c that normally drains into the pump reservoir directly into the floor drain? If I do need a condensate pump, then anyone have any advice on how to fix it? I already checked the outlet it plugs into, it functions fine. I also cleaned out the pump reservoir, removing a lot of algae/mold, whatever it was. The float switch moves freely, as well. I live in Michigan, meaning we have four full seasons, if it makes a difference. Thanks in advance.

I have a new Rheem 65 gallon Proterra Hybrid hot water heater that I'm installing in my mechanical room. This location will require a condensate pump to manage condensate from the unit. Code here (2018 North Carolina Mechanical Code 307.3) requires the pump be able to shut off the unit should the pump fail. I've brought in my HVAC contractor to help with this, but he was not able to find any documented way to make this work. Does anyone have any information around how to do this? I've searched Rheem's docs, read the manual, sent them communication, watched their training videos for professionals and scoured the internet with no luck. Since my hvac contractor was here, I found the wires I think we need to access behind the control panel (see pics) and it seems the lines to/from the pump can run between the condensate line attachment and the unit (see pics) but it would be great if someone has experiences and lessons learned to share. tyia

Having issues with our Clear Vue condensate pump. The pump alarm was triggered and turned off main ac unit. Currently the pump is cycling (I think through the clean cycle) and has not stopped for some time. Any tips on how to reset the condensate pump so the ac can run normally?

The condensate pump on my home HVAC system died. It was a Hartell that lasted nearly 20 years.

I was going to go with Little Giant as a replacement but there are many reports of early death just outside the warranty period in the Little Giant Amazon reviews.

I don't care much about price. I don't want to find myself replacing the pump again in six months or a year.

What brand should I buy?