This is a vertical electric A/C-Heater system in a bedroom closet. Should this be installed over a drip pan? I know we don’t really do code inspections, but the realtor is telling the buyer that it is ok by code to have this system sitting directly on the piece of sheetrock and plywood that it is sitting on.
It needs a condensate line. Where is all the moisture going?
MH home?
There is a pan under the coil.
I spose I should read the question better before answering.:roll:
Yes, but should it not have a drain?
I don’t think it would hurt to recommend an aux. pan, with sepaerate drain line!
Vertical ones in my area don’t need drain pans. Horizontal ones do. I’m not knowledgable enough to understand why and have not researched the issue. I’m just going by what the local HVAC technicians have told me during my 10 years of property renovation out here.
Benny, if you got the make, model, and serial number you could look up the manufactures sugest installation for the unit.
There maybe an auxiliary pan underneath the unit and a drain line. It would not be in the picture shown. Was there more access below, return air area perhaps?
Is that a dryer vent line on the right side of the picture ???
See IRC M1411.3.1
“A secondary drain or auxiliary drain pan shall be required for each cooling or evaporator coil where damage to any building components will occur as a result of overflow from the drain piping.”
I think that answers the question.
If you’re in California (and a couple of other states), it might not answer the question:
Hi. R. R.
When you find the right answere, I would appreciate to know, for here in Maine and the job I am working on now, has five
A/C heating units and require drains to the outside.
It seems loggical to me that any AC unit would have some sort of drain to indirect drains or to the outside. Since I am not an HVAC tech, I would appreciate a technical explaination to this one. Curious.
Marcel 
Hey, Marcel.
There’s a difference between a drain line and a drain pan. We install drains here to the exterior, and we also install secondary drains in case the main drain gets clogged.
For vertical furnaces, we don’t install drain pans. Never seen one. Now under horizontal furnaces, which typically are located in the attics here, we do install main drains, secondary drains, and drain pans, with a drain line from the drain pan to the exterior and, preferably, a float kill switch as well in case the wasps build nests in the drain pan drain line and cause it to clog.
Thanks for the info everyone.
I found the installation instructions online, and this unit does indeed have primary and secondary internal drain lines coming out of the bottom. The drain line is trapped and runs to the exterior.
But the instructions say it should be attached to studs or in a hanging configuration, and it is neither. It is just resting on what looks like to be sheet rock on a plywood board. The seller says this is ok by code, and the buyer doesn’t think it should be just sitting on the shelf. I advised the buyer that according to the installation instructions, it is not installed correctly. I haven’t heard back from either of them since I told them that.
And yes, that is a clothes dryer vent running up the wall from the laundary room that was next to this closet.
Thanks for the info everyone.
I found the installation instructions online, and this unit does indeed have primary and secondary internal drain lines coming out of the bottom. The drain line is trapped and runs to the exterior.
But the instructions say it should be attached to studs or in a hanging configuration, and it is neither. It is just resting on what looks like to be sheet rock on a plywood board. The seller says this is ok by code, and the buyer doesn’t think it should be just sitting on the shelf. I advised the buyer that according to the installation instructions, it is not installed correctly. I haven’t heard back from either of them since I told them that.
And yes, that is a clothes dryer vent running up the wall from the laundary room that was next to this closet.
Benny, what’s under the plywood? It is likely 2x4 framing that the plywood rests on and would be a perfectly fine support for the unit and meet the installer’s requirements. I agree that it does look like drywall laying on the plywood but are you sure? That would be unusual and really just asking for problems over the long term. The drywall will deteriorate in a couple of years and is a great place for ‘dark, unidentified stains’ to appear. Also, there are rules regarding what can be run in the return air plenum, I can’t remember the specifics but the dryer vent is suspect. Someone else know the details for that?
I am an Air conditioning contractor in Florida
Down here is require to have an in aux. line a flow switch, but is not a must, just a safty issue.
Now is you look at the picture you’ll see a INSTALLATION NOTICE:
Which might say that their is an cut-out switch (flow switch) installed.
The drain connections are on the other side of the unit you can not see from this angle, the code normally does not require a secondary drain pay on units installed below the ceiling. My concern is that was the door off when you inspected this because it looks like the return air is pulled through the door where the filter is mounted, you have a breach where the dryer vent is connected, what’s below the floor?, perhaps a crawl or chase with all kinds of yucky stuff, see the coil it’s collecting dirt that’s not going through the filter
The drain connections are on the other side of the unit you can not see from this angle, the code normally does not require a secondary drain pan on units installed below the ceiling. My concern is that was the door off when you inspected this because it looks like the return air is pulled through the door where the filter is mounted, you have a breach where the dryer vent is connected, what’s below the floor?, perhaps a crawl or chase with all kinds of yucky stuff, see the coil it’s collecting dirt that’s not going through the filter
All HVAC equipment located in or above a finished space should have an auxiliary drain pan installed. A six dollar safety switch is recommended as it is much cheaper then the damage a condensate leak will create.
What about the unit being in a closet in a bedroom? Residential mechanical codes often do not exist or are not enforced. However there are electrical codes that say they will be no electric panel in a bedroom. But then they probably didn’t put in a disconnect panel either (just plug it in).
Nice return air duct system!
The plastic duct passing through this open plenum system is also a “no go”.
The penetration does not appear to be properly sealed where it penetrates the floor. This is the type of application causes excessive radon concentrations within the house and potential infiltration of mold spores as the plenum is in a negative atmospheric pressure and draws the natural pollutants from under the house and distributes it throughout.