Our dumb mistake cost us $$$ thousands

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0:00 Discovery of the leak
2:00 Investigating the source
2:18 Blowers and vacuuming water
5:27 Evan discovers the TRUE source
6:36 Vacuuming and pumpkin water
8:18 Calling experts
10:03 Evans plan to fix it
11:22 Lessons learned and updates

[farkas]

My dad always told me - “it costs money to learn.” LOL. This wasn’t the way I wanted to get a tour of your new house, but… it’s nice!

[yari]

Yeah…..from someone that works in the HVAC industry:
1. That hvac dude you had in the house should’ve unclogged and drained that line for you. Why was he even there?? That line is still clogged. What you fished out at the sink was not your only issue.
2. You should really invest in having a separate drain line installed. And if you don’t want to separate the lines, then you need a pump installed on that unit. This will happen again. Katelyn’s and Joob’s hair are not the only thing that will clog that line, the a/c drain line doesn’t only carry water but some gunk too, which is also why it’s important to change filters regularly and have the unit serviced at least once a year.
3. More importantly, that unit needs a proper support built under it. That’s a safety hazard. That shouldn’t have passed any home inspection and should something happen, you can sue the home inspection company.

For everyone, I know these things sound like a scam and useless and a waste of money, but have an annual maintenance on your units is very well worth it. A lot of companies sell maintenances that include a free trip once a year outside of the maintenance if your line happens to be clogged between maintenances.

[juanitacoronado]

That tiny amount of hair in the sink shouldn't be enough to back up all the way to the AC. I still strongly suggest you get a plumber to look at the sink and connection because I think it has to be gunked up with way more somewhere to cause this to happen. Really. ALSO THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT.
Cleaning the drain isn't what should lead to this, and I think the way your AC is set up on the cinderblock isn't great either.

[RyanMercer]

The first time our basement flooded I woke up early "did my wife get up and start the laundry then come back to bed?" go to the stairs and look down to see the horror of water rocketing out of the floor drains and the weeping holes from us having had 12 inches of rain in about an hour...

[TwistedSense]

As a former plumber, I would suggest finding a new route for that A/C line. They really should have plumbed it somewhere else like the main line or outside to prevent that from occuring. Also I would have removed the P trap and went about cleaning it out that way to be sure. The P trap is the curvy part of your drain and it's a very simple removal and install process. Also try to refrain from allowing hair into any drains as much as possible. Hair is the enemy of pipes. It gets soap mixed with it and sticks to alot of surface area.

[mystikarain]

Re-route the drainage from the sink to a dedicated drain for the AC unit. Replace that tray with a sturdier one and get rid of the cement block use special AC unit brackets .

[kath]

Guys! Clearing that one sink won't for sure help with the ac drain line. If the ac line does indeed hook up to that sink, the backup would most likely be above the sink within the ac line itself. Also could be past the sink and just backed up. That drill auger type snake should get it if it's lower.

[_Fizel_]

And this very reason why the recommendation is for the AC to have it's own dedicated drain!

[sintoxic]

"Don´t put things off, know your house, get some slime" needs to be your next t-shirt :D

[zapronthend]

Hey guys! Plumber based out of Nashville here. Just a word of warning, while it is true that your sink may be clear, if it was enough to cause a blockage after the pop up assembly (the thing that connects directly to the bottom of the sink basin) There could still be a substantial amount of hair in your p-trap. (The little guy at the bottom that is shaped like a P) Here in Tn. Most p-traps are what you call slip joint and its super easy to remove and clean them. If thats what you guys have, then id def recommend looking up how to do it. Would hate to see this happen again. Much love ✌️

[-ellieille-]

I can’t help but imagine that every time Evan and Katelyn forgot to level a resin project, the AC drain pan got slightly more uneven until it eventually started leaking 😅

Jokes aside, glad you got it sorted out and that you know how to hopefully prevent it from happening again!

[paullawrence]

I've been an H.V.A.C. technician for close t 9 years. That drain pan wasn't installed properly. There should be a supportive beams like "Unistruts" going length wise to support the weight of water with a water sensor that shuts off the unit when water fills the second drain pan. If there is a PVC pipe connected to the drain pan to allow water to drain out of second drain pan, that should NOT be there. Your condensation line going out of the evaporator coil could be clogged either the trap or the at the pipe connection at the evaporator coil drain pan. Sometimes the PVC pipe can be clogged at the opening where the water drain out.

[fibbywibby]

this struck absolute fear into my first-time homeowner heart but it genuinely is comforting to see that owning a house is this stressful and needlessly expensive for everyone 😭

[johnchicca]

Invest in some moisture/standing water alarms. They are super-afforadable. We have them on the floors in all bathrooms under the toilets, under the sink counters, under the kitchen counters, behind the refrigerator, in the water heater drain pain and behind the washing machine. We bought them years ago when we had a blown ice machine line to our refrigerator. They are sensitive and loud. You just have to deal with changing the 9V batteries once a year like smoke alarms. They have already saved us once from a potential catastrophe when our water heater started leaking.

[bruce-le-smith]

1:11 "our clear monitor" has such "Oh No! Our Table! It's Broken!" meme vibes. maybe after the pain goes away a bit that needs to be a steam deck button...

[PhoenyxV]

Shortly after I moved into my apartment, I was doing a load of laundry and the washing machine drain line backed up and poured water all over my entryway. I knew the drain line met with the rest of the plumbing under the sink because it would "burp" sometimes when it drained... long story short, the previous tenants had done SOMETHING with either the sink or the washing drain and maintenance ended up spending about three hours snaking drain lines from various parts of my unit (including going up through the ceiling downstairs) until the clog cleared. The maintenance guy even lost one of the hose heads of his snake line because it got caught in an elbow bend and fell off (luckily into a wider part of the drainage system, so it flushed away into the sewers).
So yeah, plumbing is exponentially more expensive to fix than to prevent, but at least this one was covered by my rent.

[andrewcraine]

There is a float switch that can be installed to prevent backups in the AC drain. It detects when the water level is too high and will prevent your AC from running. This can be scary when you AC “breaks” and just stops working randomly, but when you figure out it’s the float switch you feel happy!😊

[CantankerousDave]

As a Midwesterner, I still find it weird that it's the norm to stick AC units in the attic -- which can easily top 120 -- in the hottest parts of the country.

[GyroCannon]

I'm so glad that the ACs here use an outside drain line, because a sink clogging causing massive AC-related water damage sounds like dominos falling way too fast and way too dramatically...

[ragreen]

The sponsor ads are just too much fun ... the 'stick-on' fingernails were just 🤣🤣🤣🤣