With a shop vacuum suck the water out of the secondary pan to a level low enough to allow the switch to go down to its lowest position. The best way to remove the water is with a shop vacuum. The water in the emergency pan will have to be removed to reset the switch. If the system is installed horizontally, the float switch should be installed on the emergency drain pan located underneath the air handler in the attic or suspended in the garage. If no water is left in the float switch, the water will have flowed out by itself just by unstopping the drain. If the float switch is glued in place, the water can be sucked out with a shop vacuum by removing the float and then sucking the water out. The water needs to be removed from the fitting that holds the float by either turning the float up or over to allow the water to flow back into the air handler’s drain pan. Most float switches have a float with two wires coming from the top of it where the float can be removed from the fitting. If the air handler is installed vertically, most of the time it is installed on the front of the air handler itself next to where the primary condensate drain exits the unit. The float switch may be installed in a few different places. The next step should be resetting the float switch. The debris may drain from the air handler and cause no further problems, but there is the possibility that the drain could become blocked again until the debris is removed from the drain system. If the homeowner does not observe any debris or algae flow back out the drain after flushing, the blockage may have been pushed into the drain pan inside the unit. Once the blockage is dislodged, the debris should flow back out the drain with the water that was flushed in. A large flow of water, most of the time colder than the tap water, will signify the unstopping of the drain. A few one to three second flushes applied to the discharge of the drain is usually enough to break the blockage loose. The homeowner must take care when back flushing the drain to not flush to much water into the air handler causing it to overflow. If the vacuuming technique doesn’t remove the obstruction, another way to clear the drain is by back flushing the drain with a water hose from the outside of the home. If the obstruction was sucked out, the drain should start draining on its own allowing all the water that was blocked in the drain pan of the air handler to flow out. After the time has passed, the homeowner will remove the hose from the line. The vacuum hose should be left on the line for approximately two minutes. This way after vacuuming, the vacuum can be inspected for the debris that was removed. An empty shop vacuum should be used for vacuuming the drain line. The condensate line can be vacuumed by placing the vacuum hose on the discharge of the condensate line.

One easy way a homeowner can clear the condensate drain is to vacuum it with a shop vacuum from the outside of the home. The first step that needs to be taken is to clear the primary condensate drain to allow the system to drain properly. However, small lizards or frogs occasionally become lodged in the pipe stopping the flow of the water.

Most of the time an algae growth is the culprit blocking the drain. If the air handler’s float switch has tripped, the primary condensate drain has stopped up due to a blockage, and the blocked water has tripped the float on the float switch.

Proselect condensate pump red light