this old house

[roxybisquaint]

I walked downstairs to the basement to reset the cable modem and discovered a 15' long stream of water originating at the furnace. Augh. This happened once before, several years ago when our condensation pump died. It's apparently dead again. Making matters worse, the man installed a humidifier on the furnace a few seasons back. So now there's more

Comments

[intrepid01]

Ooh, and watch out for satin sheets!

[roxybisquaint]

*zap*

ouch.

[fig_aruna]

In the meantime, I expect my lips to crack and sparks to fly every time I touch the cats.

D:...

Hope things get all right soon! Sounds like a bit of a nightmare ;_;

[roxybisquaint]

All is well now, thanks :)

Humidifier solution

[tackdriver56]

Disconnect the overflow tubing from the humidifier, and put a bucket under it. If you have to, just open the valve to a trickle.

Are you sure the pump is not running, or could the discharge tube just be blocked by it's very own icicle, where it dumps outside the house?

T.

Re: Humidifier solution

[roxybisquaint]

Clearly you're a man who's been down this road before. The year we had this furnace installed, we had to get the drain tube rerouted inside to the utility tub because it had clogged up with ice where it exited the house. So no more outdoor drain after that!

It ended up being a combo problem the other day of a dying pump and a blockage in the tube. The guy blew out the tube and replaced the pump (we have a service contract on the furnace so there was no extra charge for the parts or the labor). ALl is well now :)

Re: Humidifier solution

[tackdriver56]

Yay!

We only discharge AC condensate in the summer. The humidifier I installed has a float valve, and only overflows if a piece of dirt from the well causes the float valve to leak.

The humidifier water gets really nasty, and has to be cleaned from time to time. It would probably be much healthier to have more consistent overflows like yours apparently does, and let the excess drain out somewhere. Less like a biology experiment.

Maybe if you have chlorinated city water, the biology is less active.

[cj2017]

On the bright side - maybe you could save money on getting that 1980s curly perm?! It's not a new hair colour you need Rox, it's curls!

[roxybisquaint]

LOL. Fortunately it didn't get *quite* that bad.

[gothamite66]

Hmm... These are concepts I'm unfamilar with: basements and furnaces and humidifiers connected to furnaces. ;)

[roxybisquaint]

You really haven't lived until you've had to mop up water in an old nasty basement.