Denise Palko
09-06-2007, 10:33 PM
I have a basement shop that, due to work committments, I haven't spent too much time in lately. I haven't even walked downstairs in two months.
To my surprise, this week, I went down for a look around and saw a large pool of water in the basement around the air conditioning unit. The water collection tray under the coils was backed up with a lot of gunk. (I also found the plastic knock-out for the connection point to the drainage pipe.) I was able to clean out the collection tray, flush out the drainage pipe (also filled with a muddy, gunk), and wash out the pump which pushes the water to the outside (not to the main, basement sump pump). I feel somewhat fortunate that it's fixed and didn't require a service call or even a new part.
Here's my question... The heater / AC and water heater share space with the workshop. I do not have any dust collection or air cleaning system. With all of the "mud" / dirt found in the AC unit, is it likely that the dust from the tools was the source of the problem? The coils were behind a completely sealed and taped off area of the AC, so I am not sure how it got so filled with crud.
The HVAC is only 6 years old and my shop is relatively new... only 2 years old or so. I am a hobbiest and haven't logged many shop hours this year -- although I did work on one medum-size project in the spring / early summer.
Is it probable that the root cause is shop dust? I do not seem to have any problems with dust coming into the house via the vents. Is this the excuse (uh, I mean, reason) that I needed to invest in a DC?
Thanks for any insights.
To my surprise, this week, I went down for a look around and saw a large pool of water in the basement around the air conditioning unit. The water collection tray under the coils was backed up with a lot of gunk. (I also found the plastic knock-out for the connection point to the drainage pipe.) I was able to clean out the collection tray, flush out the drainage pipe (also filled with a muddy, gunk), and wash out the pump which pushes the water to the outside (not to the main, basement sump pump). I feel somewhat fortunate that it's fixed and didn't require a service call or even a new part.
Here's my question... The heater / AC and water heater share space with the workshop. I do not have any dust collection or air cleaning system. With all of the "mud" / dirt found in the AC unit, is it likely that the dust from the tools was the source of the problem? The coils were behind a completely sealed and taped off area of the AC, so I am not sure how it got so filled with crud.
The HVAC is only 6 years old and my shop is relatively new... only 2 years old or so. I am a hobbiest and haven't logged many shop hours this year -- although I did work on one medum-size project in the spring / early summer.
Is it probable that the root cause is shop dust? I do not seem to have any problems with dust coming into the house via the vents. Is this the excuse (uh, I mean, reason) that I needed to invest in a DC?
Thanks for any insights.