The perversity fairies are flitting about the last few days, scattering perversity dust in odd places. We noticed the air conditioner flaking out at 3:30PM on Friday. By the time we called the HVAC place that services it, we were on the list for bright and early…Monday. No emergency, and it actually still works. However, the drain port in the condensate tray is blocked, and the tray is overflowing into the rest of the air handler. So we turned it off, and it will have a couple of days for everything to dry out.
Air conditioners always go paws-up late Friday afternoon. It’s going to get hot in here later on, barring a nice juicy thunderstorm. (Possible, but unlikely with the perversity fairies anywhere in the vicinity.) I may have to do something radical like…go shopping.
Shopping. I need a smartphone, and have been ducking the decision for months. Of all the units I’ve researched, my favorite so far has been the Droid 2 which, alas, just went off the market in favor of the Droid 3, which is apparently on the market but hasn’t yet made its way out into the provinces. I’ve gone so far in my smartphone research as to make precisely dimensioned cardboard cutouts of the major contenders to see whether they’ll fit in my pockets. There’s evidently a format conflict in men’s shirts: All my pockets are 4:3, and the damned phones are 16:9.
Shopping for socks is easier. But I already have a drawer full of socks.
I ordered a quiet, lower-power supply for the main tower here last week. NewEgg had it on my doorstep in three days, as usual. The “We shipped it!” email never arrived, and I assumed it went out with the spam. This happens now and then, and I’ve learned to live with it. So of course, yesterday evening, three days after the arrival of the supply and a full day after I installed it, I got the message telling me that the order would be shipped soon, and would arrive three days ago. Yup. Gotcha. Knew that. Thanks for sharing. This batch of perversity dust must have had some thiotimoline in it.
The supply worked very well, by the way. Every time I come into my office here, I feel a twinge of panic because I can’t hear the machine. Damn. Did they drop power to the house again? But no: A product worked better than advertised, and I still can’t internalize my good fortune. Quick, Murphy: the Flit!
I had a Droid 2 for a week and returned because it has a hard button for the home/return function rather than soft key function like all the other keys. I know that sounds trivial, but you use that key all the time and I cringed when I had to spend the energy to press it.
I switched to the HTC Droid Incredible and it is just that, not a single issue I can complain about. Its smaller and lighter than the Droid 2 and also has 8 M camera.
Did you try a old coat hanger cut and bent? That will sometimes clear those little clogs and allow the unit to drain.
Jeff:
The HVAC service we use are insistent on using bleach to clean the condensate pan and drain, to prevent “black grunge” from growing and blocking the drain. I have no idea what grows there, but it must be some sort of biological entity.
Fungus, mold or whatever it is, bleach kills it. The service tech puts a pint or so of standard chlorine bleach through the pan and drain of both units (main floor and 2nd floor) when making the spring and fall service calls. They strongly suggest that I run bleach through once every month or two as well to keep the drains clean.
Jack
Well, he should be here in 14-15 hours, and once he gets the damfool thing apart (I don’t see how to get into the tin box) it’ll be interesting to see what’s growing in the pan.
The problem is that we’ve been running the AC probably five times as much this year as last. I should have figured something would have gotten cranky in there.
I should add that it’s possible to blow out the obstruction with compressed air at the drain, but that’s not recommended.
The HVAC tech that was here a year or so ago added a short PVC stub to the drain of the basement unit so that I could pour bleach into it without getting into the innards – it’s sealed with a PVC cap, just friction fitted into place. Pop the cap off, put a funnel in place and pour the bleach into the stub where it flows through the condensate pan and drain line.
Jack
Hi Jeff,
Got the Droid 3 in July (and passed my original Droid down to my daughter); it fits fine in the same flap-over belt holster I kept my old Droid in. Slightly bigger, but I like the full keyboard (a number row finally, hurrah!), good camera (8 MP) and 802.11n wireless. If I can get a flashover to lose the Motoblur GUI for stock Android I’d be ecstatic.
Given the FL climate, I’m all too used to the drain-pan problem you’re describing. As much of the year as we have call for it, we usually don’t get the backup problem you describe, but the bleach rinse seems to help those times (typically in the spring when we’re flipping over from heat to AC) it happens.