Surges of Condensation Causing Overlow

[kneal]

I have been battling with a situation where I have a Rheem Split unit in the crawl space. The drain lines are dumped into a condensate removal pump. I noticed a week or so ago that there was significant amounts of water under and around the condensate pump. I put a new pump in as the old was filled with slime. The next morning, the same thing. I had the HVAC guys run a new drain line from the unit to the condensation pump. We checked the trap and cleaned aout any debris we could find. The next morning, the same thing. It is around 5 Gallons that are being dumped a day and is all around the condensat pump. I have it sitting in tub now with a sump pump in case it happens again that will dump the overflow into a 5 gallon buckett. The condensate pump has about a 10 foot run, 4 foot vertically, to the main drain line on the house which is above level of the pump due to it being in a crawl space. My only conclusion so far is that I am getting a surge of Condensation drainage for some reason that is so much that the condensate pump can not handle it. We have tried three pumps to ensure it wasn't the pump and I have sat down there for hours without being able to see anything other than the pump operating normally. Help! Any suggestions?

[JF254]

is the drain primed?

[kneal]

So how do you prime the drain? Would this be causing the surges? When I am looking at the pump I can see the water draining indot the condensation pump holding tank. The pump works and then starts filling again.

[t527ed]

furnace with coil or air handler with coil??

does drain line have a trap?

if drain is on negative pressure side you could get a large rush of water when unit shuts off if drain is not trapped.

[beenthere]

Could it be over flowing the drain pan in the air handler.

[kneal]

The drain line is trapped and there is a vent after the trap. I believe it is an air handler with coil. Could it be the pan is overflowing and then rushes water out?

[JF254]

when the tech was there did he check the whole system.. such as filters and charge and so on

[superheat51]

furnace with coil or air handler with coil??

does drain line have a trap?

if drain is on negative pressure side you could get a large rush of water when unit shuts off if drain is not trapped.

i would go with that.. if it doesnt have a p-trap on it and it needs it then it will not drain until the unit turns off and that would cause a surge of condensation.. and to figure out if it needs a p trap or not i was always told that a pull through which is the blower is closest to supply side then it needs a p trap..

[beenthere]

Call a service company. Let them diagnose the problem this time, instaed of you guessing.

[filterchanger]

If the system is starved for return air even with a trap it may not fully drain until the system shuts off.

[kneal]

I have had my service guys who installed the AC when we built the house out here three days last week. They are also not sure what is going on. I cleaned up a good 10 Gallons of water in a day. They are the ones that ran the new drain as they had on for both the furnace and the air handler tied together...they split them off into two differnt drains now both with P traps and both with an Air vent after the Ptrap.

[beenthere]

Call them back and tell them they still don't have it fixed.

[troyorr]

Where are they getting the power for the pump? If the condensate drain runs into the pump and the pump is powered, and the checkvalve is in place, there shouldn't be any water unless the pump isn't running. How did the installers connect the condensate pump to the house drain? Maybe you are getting backflow that way. Is the condensate pump connected to an outlet that might possibly be switched? I ran into one where the pump was plugged into the convience outlet and the outlet was hot from the light switch. Everything worked great while we were there with the light on but the pump wouldn't keep up after we left. Found out we were shutting the pump power off with the light switch.