Day 14: Installing the P-Trap (and more!)

Well, today was my last day before I had to leave again!  My only goal for today was trying to fix the massive leak from my heat pump. If you remember, last week I discovered that my heat pump leaks profusely when in cool mode. Down in the crawlspace, the unit just drips and drips and drips...and this only takes place after the floorboards themselves are saturated! It's NOT a good problem to have.

Well, after much research, plenty of videos watched, and some thinking, it came down to two short sentences. My dad sent off an email explaining my problem to some HVAC guy on the internet, and he responded simply, "Does the drain line have a P-trap in it? If not, this is likely the problem."

When I first read that, I just figured the guy was blowing Dad off. It was short and not too detailed. But those very qualities ALSO made me give it some hard thought, too...for it was short! Could it be this simple? The more I read and watched videos, the more I was convinced!

My blower motor in my heat pump creates negative pressure when running, and as such, it is supposed to suck air from the vents through the air filter. Easy enough. But why just through there? It would suck from ANYWHERE it could. And that was readily noticeable when I would install the bottom cover plate on the heat pump. With the blower motor running, it would just grab that huge metal plate and suck it flat! I didn't even need screws to hold it up!

Well, guess what...the blower motor was also sucking air through the drain tube! That's right. It had a readily-available supply of hot, humid air from OUTSIDE my house! That 3/4" pipe provided an additional supply of air right into the heat pump! What is more, every time the condensate drain filled up with water, the air being sucked in through the pipe would push those beads and drops of water right back into the unit! They would then drip out the side, onto the floor, then into the crawlspace.

By installing a P-trap, the water in the lower portion of the trap would prevent air from being pulled through the pipe into the heat pump. It would simply sit there in the pipe and prevent that!

Could it be?! This made way too much sense. The simplicity of it all!

So I spent a good deal of the morning installing a new P-trap into this 34-year-old unit. Frankly, it was pretty simple. The longest part was spending time in the crawlspace re-attaching the drain pipe that was no longer glued together. I then made sure that pipe had a downward flow to outside by using pipe wrap. But not before I cleaned the drain pipe out...and good thing, too. All of the filthy black water from last week was still in there. So before I glued it back up, I took a hose and flushed the pipe. It smelled disgusting!!!

But that told me something VERY important: my drain line was actually not draining outside!!! That water just sat there in that pipe. Hmm. Gross.  I then cleaned the slant coil with some coil cleaner I had purchased.  It didn't get sparkly clean, but it's sure better than it used to be.

Cleaning the slant coil one last time.

Quite a difference from when I started a few weeks ago!

Well, after much cutting and gluing, I had a nice P-trap installed. I turned on the system and waited. I can't even tell you how nervous this made me! If this didn't work, then I may have a couple-thousand dollar expense on my hands. ugh.

The two P-traps I had to choose from...

Before the P-trap...

After!

Well, I turned the unit down to 74 degrees. It was currently 78 in the house. Last week, we would get drips within just five minutes. So I eagerly waited...and waited...and waited!!! NOTHING!!! No drips at all!!!

I couldn't believe it! I was the happiest kid alive! I mean, I COULD believe it since it made so much sense! But what a simple fix! For less than $5, I had fixed the problem! I then headed outside and was even more flabbergasted to see my condensate drain peeing freely. It used to just sit there and drip...drip...drip... Now it had a steady stream! So the water was flowing out!!! And not onto my floors! And not into my crawlspace!!!

Agh, today was such a success. I'm so happy!!!

And that's not all! During all of this mess, Lowe's showed up with my brand-new refrigerator. They had it installed and hooked up to the icemaker in less than 15 minutes, and I had that project completed! What is more, my contractor was back and working hard yet again!!! We are going forward in leaps and bounds today!!!

Removing the old yellow siding!!!

Such a beautiful sight!  Lowe's home delivery, siding being installed, me at work!

The new fridge (with ice maker!)!

The kitchen is now 100% done!!!

I also replaced a couple of light baffles in two of the bedrooms.  It took me awhile to find what I was looking for, but I was able to replace a very ugly gold baffle with a new white one...and I was able to replace an air vent that was used as a light baffle (I'm not making this stuff up).  The previous owner just covered a recessed light with an air vent.  Sigh.  So I took that off and put up a lightbulb and light baffle.  So much better.  It's the small things.

This air vent actually covered a recessed light.  Sigh.  This previous owner was out of control.

The new light baffle and white paint and lightbulb.

The old gold just didn't match anymore with the new light fixture.  I replaced it with white.

Today the workers installed the ridge vent all along my roof peak.  It's about time that attic can breathe after 34 years.  And then they started putting up the vinyl siding!!!  These guys move fast!  I am just thrilled to death.  The new tan looks so much better than the old yellow.  So happy.

The new siding is going up!

The ridge vent and siding being installed.

Dad and I planted grass seed all along the bush line in the backyard.  And then we started cleaning up all of our tools!  I cleaned up the inside of the house, ripped off the old winterization stickers (two years' worth!), and tried to get that house where a possible tenant could walk through!

The dirt now seeded and covered with grass.

It's just so exciting.  My flight was cancelled, so Dad and I went out and returned about $100 worth of items, then headed out for a wonderful breakfast shoe meal.

Such a great day.  I have to wake up at 4:15 A.M. to catch the next flight, but this house is really coming together.  It's so fulfilling.

The house is finally taking shape!!!