I have a furnace that uses a little motor to drag in air to burn and then blows the exhaust out another pipe. This thing has a drain pipe that lets the water generated by the burn to flow into the drain. That pipe is still dripping but now there appears to be extra water in the bottom compartment of the furnace where the big blower motor lives. This can’t be doing that blower any good. Does this mean that I have a partly blocked water pipe or is it just so cold outside that I make too much water. I have an A coil for the ac in on top of this furnace if that makes a difference.
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Sounds like a good time to have your furnace serviced! water in the blower (the big fan motor) compartment may be a sign of a bigger problem, or could simply be a loose clamp on a drain line from the combustion fan or a furnace not properly leveled. there are too many components in newer gas furnaces to let someone guess what could be wrong, so hire a licensed contractor.
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I think that the non level option is out since the furnace has been here for about 10 years. But anything else could be wrong. In order to find the very top of the drain tube, I would have to remove a cover that looks like it has some sort of rtv type sealant – likely high temp stuff. And I am not likely to do that myself. So tomorrow I will be cruising the yellow pages.
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Who knows Carrier? Offered an infinity 58MVC-080-14 as a replacement for my unit. Plugged secondary heat exchanger on present unit. They say that I can get a tax credit and a 1000 dollar rebate from Carrier because my current furnace is also a Carrier. Anybody like or hate these things?
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Get more estimates, making sure that each contractor lists the equipment that he is using. this way, you know you are comparing apples to apples. rebates for energy efficient appliances probably aren’t brand specific, so check out Trane also. if you aren’t impressed by names, check out lesser known brands; Carrier Corp. also has a line that may not have all of the bells and whistles, but is a good unit–Payne. newer units are similar, so check out warranty info and such. if you google air conditioners, some websites are available that compare various brands and ratings. a little research may save you $.
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It may very well be that your secondary heat exchanger is blocked (I don’t know), but if there’s water in the bottom of your furnace, that’s probably another issue. The drain from the little combustion blower should flow into another drain that takes water (usually when running the AC) outside. If there’s standing water, it’s not draining. Your HVAC guy will likely fix that at the same time he replaces the furnace, so it might appear in the end that he was right, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was the problem causing the symptom you’re seeing. Google blocked secondary heat exchanger and see if you’re having those symptoms too. (maybe, maybe not)
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My furnace is next to a floor drain in the basement so I don’t have to pump the water outside. The drain tube still drips water into the floor drain – you can watch but it can’t handle all the water anymore. I also cannot see why restricting the air flow through the exchanger would generate more water. It is possible that the repair man is just trying to sell me a new unit that will not have a restricted water drain tube.
HOWEVER I can tell you this – just from my observation. When the furnace was new, we made very large ice cycles in the lawn under the plastic furnace exhaust pipe. These have grown smaller as the years went by. So my guess is that the furnace no longer blows as hard as it used to. Perhaps a young furnace was strong enough to blow a lot of water out the combustion exhaust pipe and therefore there was not a lot of water that stayed inside the house. But that is just a theory. The furnace is 17 years old – time flies – and it has not had anything go wrong except of course for the lawsuit that prompted Carrier to “give” me a grand for the plugged heat exchanger. It is probably time to bolt in a new one. The salesman quoted me a ten year unlimited warranty so I would expect that if I bought this unit, it would out live me.
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