Slime in air conditioning drain pipe

[hjackows]

Last year I got an overflow in the A/C drain pipe a repair guy showed how to put the garden hose in outsied the A/C drain to clear it.A year later the drain clogged again but now I see a large amount of slime in the drain.
Does somebody know what causes the slime to get in the drain pipe and more importantly how to get rid of it ?

Thank you in advance for your help

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

Damp and dark. What do you think?

Have it serviced every spring and fall.

Make certain the techs clean your drains.

[t527ed]

stuff that gets past your filter hits wet evap coil and runs down into drain pan. after that it can grow and get very nasty.

[xv80satisfiedcust]

Would a quality filtration system (media filter) cut down on the slime growth potential ?

In 29 years of living places (various apartments/various cities including Florida and Virginia), I guess I have been lucky.

Apartment complexes are notorious for "deferred" or (limited) maintenance !!!

hjackows,

I would ask your HVAC contractor if the slope or design of your drain pans and pipes could cause you to get more slime than say one of your neighbors.

(or would they say yours is average for your climate/size of AC unit etc......)

[jrbenny]

We called it funnel mung in the Navy. Just got to clean it.

Pitch of the drain does affect the amount of mung. If the water can get out quick, this less chance mung building.

[smngmu]

You've cleaned many a toilet.You would freak if you ever saw the slime/growth in the sewer pipe under it.This is a natural thing.Bacteria and the like are everywhere and must be cleaned regularly. As said, speak to your maintenance dept. to see if yours is a regular thing or more or less the norm for your system.

[jrbenny]

Ewww...I did 5 years ago when I remodeled the bath. Glad I'm not a turd chaser. Funnel mung is enough.

[gas1]

use pan tablets monthly or orange pan strips yearly

[star882]

Clean the coil more often. You may also want to consider a UV light to stop biological growth.

[hjackows]

That's all great but I don't want to call a service technician just to clean out my drain pipe can anybody explani how I can do it myself ?

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

Originally posted by hjackows
That's all great but I don't want to call a service technician just to clean out my drain pipe can anybody explani how I can do it myself ?

You should be calling the tech bi annually to service your equipment which includes cleaning the drain line...

[xv80satisfiedcust]

Why not have them fix the pipes so you don't have to inhale the s _ _ _ all year long ????

[smngmu]

Originally posted by hjackows
That's all great but I don't want to call a service technician just to clean out my drain pipe can anybody explani how I can do it myself ? Your wallet will thank you later in oh so many ways! My company will not come out to clean just the drains.It's part of our seasonal service which looks at several points of the system.We check to make sure EVERYTHING is working correctly.Doing a complete checkup can and will find most problems before they leave you hot and bothered or cost you alot of money to repair.Consider an oil change for your car.It costs $25.00 now but if you don't and it blows up,now your looking at $2500.00.

[mjk_na]

Originally posted by xv80satisfiedcust
Why not have them fix the pipes so you don't have to inhale the s _ _ _ all year long ????

This won't solve the whole problem. Dirt and moss will be accumulating around the drain. Clean the pan and line regularly, and you'll be smelling nice things :).

It's like washing your car. You can't avoid not doing it. Be it by yourself, or by the car wash.