How To Clean The Condensate Line On Your Air Conditioner: Preventive Maintenance

Cleaning out your home air conditioner (A/C)’s condensate line can go a long way in making your system more energy efficient. With preventive maintenance, it should never get clogged, which will help to prevent your system from flooding parts of your home, potentially costing thousands of dollars to repair. It doesn’t really require a ton of expertise or special training to do it, so even the thrifty weekend-warrior can pull this one off. All you need is a little know how and the right equipment and in roughly 10 minutes you can have your system running smooth.

How to do preventive maintenance on the condensate line on your Air Conditioner

Things you’ll need for the job:

vinegar

Before getting started, be sure to check out the following video to familiarize yourself with the process:

Ok, so the video wasn’t exactly super informative, long or complex. But the good news is that adding the vinegar to your A/C’s condensate drain line is just that easy. Here are some step by step instructions to help give you a little more insight:

1. Locate your home A/C’s condensate drain line. This will be a series of PVC piping that extends from the A/C unit itself. At some point along the line you’ll find a cap which can be easily removed and should look something like this:

2. Remove the cap from the A/C condensate line. Simply take your hand and pull up on the cap, it should come right off.

3. Add 1 cup of vinegar to the condensate line. Now all you have to do is add an eighth of a cup of vinegar to the condensate line and put the lid back in place when you’re done.

By adding vinegar to the condensate line you’ll help to kill of any bacteria or algae present in the line, which, if left un-treated can cause clogs and flooding which could cost thousands of dollars to repair. Adding vinegar to the condensate line is a quick and easy process and costs almost nothing to do.

If you have a clog, see our next post on how to clear a clog in the condensate line on your air conditioner

If you’re looking for more ways to make your home more energy efficient, be sure to check out our green home improvement projects: Green Living Ideas, after all, is a top 20 home improvement website!

Photos courtesy of the Flickr Creative Commons, Paul’s travel pics and Today’s Home Owner.

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Tags: A/C maintenance, clearing, condensate drain, condensate lines, diy, do it yourself, energy savings, how to

About the Author

Peter Young graduated from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) with a degree in journalism and has made sustainability and eco-conscious living mainstays of both his professional and personal life. It was during his time at PLU that he began his journey with sustainability and it's what has led him to writing for Green Living Ideas. He currently resides in Honolulu and works for Pono Home, an energy efficiency company focused on reducing carbon emissions and promoting a healthier, greener lifestyle.