Hey guys before we get to the video, please click that subscribe button, hey guys, josh with griffin air serving the middle peninsula and the northern neck of virginia, wanted to do a video on float switches and different auxiliary switches, because we see it way too often at Griffon air we'll see where another company has installed a system, and now the folks have water coming through their ceiling and they're. You know, of course, that that's not fun for the homeowner, but there are ways to prevent that. Obviously uh the first thing i'll say before we get into the different types of float, switches and auxiliary switches, and that is, if you are not having your system maintained, properly you're going to have problems. It's sort of like having a car and not getting the oil changed, often um you're, asking for issues if you're not having your system maintained.

I'm amazed at how folks will say: well, i've never had someone even touch my system for years years have gone by and but then they wonder why a repair is so expensive at times. So i'm just throwing that out there before we get into this. That you know you should have a good reputable detailed company, not not some, not some big, huge company that they're going to send you some 10, an hour employee. That is, you know, two months on the job and doesn't know what he's even looking at no offense to those guys, but i'm talking about having a proper tune-up maintenance, whatever you want to call it done to the system and the the goal is it's not? It's not a checkup, it's not a kick the tires and be gone in 10 minutes.

It's a hopefully a preventative measure to where you don't have issues. You know that's the whole goal here, so you don't have to call somebody on a hot july friday night to get something taken care of. So let's get into this, so there's a number of different types of switches. I have preferences and what i'm talking about when i'm talking about float switches, i'm talking about, for example, it's had if you have a secondary drain pan underneath the unit attaching a float switch to that so that way, if water ever gets in it, it will turn The system off and stop the problem before you have water coming through your ceiling, but i would go so far as to say the only types of systems.

I don't care if it's in your attic or even in your crawl space basement in the house in the garage wherever it's located, unless it's a package unit located outside. I ca. I can't even think of a scenario where you would not have at least some sort of float switch on that system, whether it's a uh, you know a secondary port float switch. One of those uh float switches that you screw into the secondary port on the evaporator coil drain.

Pan that way, if there were a backup, it would sense that and and stop the system. We like the easy traps, that's what they're called basically uh. You know when you come out of the evaporator coil before you can. You know continue with the primary drain having some sort of uh, you know, switch in there the easy traps it actually has a little p-trap there, and then it would have the float switch located.

Above that and uh, you know, i can't tell you how many i mean i would, i would almost dare to say i see just as many condensate pumps where they didn't use the auxiliary switch or the float switch on the pump uh. I see just as many of those where they didn't use it as i do where they did use it, and that is a problem, the whole point of that and if you're, a homeowner and you're listening to this and you're like what is this guy talking about? If you've got a condensate pump located somewhere with your system, maybe there's not enough fall, they don't have just a drain that comes off of your indoor unit and they have a condensate pump there. So the drain comes out, goes into a pump and then the pump pumps that water out of there pumps it out of the house or wherever it pumps it to the majority of those you'll, see on top of the pump a wire coming out two wires. That is a float switch you you should be bringing your low voltage power into you know that operates the system into the uh one side of that switch and then coming out the other side and going to your low voltage components.

I i've worked at companies and i've. I've been around technicians that they, like their float switches to to kill the y signal, which is your compressor, your outdoor unit, uh. We have it where it kills it all. You know you're gon na get a blank thermostat out of this if it were to back up okay and again, if you're a homeowner you're like well, i don't want that.

I don't want a blank thermostat, that's a good thing. That means that it backed up the float, switch killed. The system before you had a problem on your hands before you had water coming through your ceiling or a mess on your floor or whatever uh. It's it's gon na stop the system from operating, so i've got buck here, riding in my lap and he's on on my wire here for my microphone so anyway.

So if again, if you're watching this, you want to, you know prevent water from coming through your ceiling. I would say bare minimum: you should have some sort of float switch on that system, but a lot of the systems we put in we're putting two three four five different float switches of some type on that system: to stop it. If there were an issue, you know and i'm including the condensate pump, uh, the you know the easy trap, the secondary drain port and, of course, if it's in a horizontal position in an attic or somewhere, like that, with a secondary drain, pan putting a float switch On that i will say, and i'm i'm a little reluctant to bring this up, but i will say there is a particular brand that i would recommend staying away from, i'm not going to call them out. I almost did, but i'm not gon na, go down that that road, but, let's just say if you buy the float, switch that attaches to the secondary drain pan and it's got an animal on the front of it.

We've had some of those fail. They were properly installed and we attached them on there brand new system, everything's fine, and then you know only to have the the drain back up in the future from that and the the water end up in the drain pan and it did not work. You know it does. It does not kill the system.

So i'm not going to harp on that. But let's just say: if there's an animal on the package, you might want to avoid those we've we've had them fail. I i just i get the el cheapy little float switches, they got the little flipper there that lift, and you know it kills the system they work. They work, they do their job.

You know. So if you're in our coverage area give us a call we'd love to earn your business, we'll give you a free estimate with the best warranty in the area. Nobody has a better warranty on their on their premium installs than we do and in our area anyway, and if you're, not in our coverage area but you're in the market for a new heating and air system, you've got to check out my new website. It's new hvac guide, dot com, i'm gon na put a link to that down in the notes, but you got ta check that out because you know i i've put so much stuff on this website.

It's basically like i wrote a book and the reason i didn't just write a book things change technology, new things come out all that fun stuff. So you know i didn't want to write a book that would just become dated and so this website you know it's. It's written like a book, it's got all kinds of content on there and i've even got a page called no no's just things to stay away from if you are buying a system, things that you know to avoid, and you know so. I think that website will help you out, if you're in the market, for a new heating and air system anyway, please click that subscribe button and thank you for watching.