Hey guys, i wanted to talk about something in this video that maybe it's a little more detailed than my average video, but something a little more detailed in that a lot of systems have to have some sort of secondary drain pan. So, for example, if you have say a furnace or an air handler in an attic and it's in the horizontal position, you're gon na want some sort of secondary drain pan beneath that and in some cases, even if it's located somewhere else or if it's in the Vertical position and it's in an attic, you still want some sort of drain pan the point is there are going to be times that you're going to want some sort of drain pan beneath that system, that if something were to happen, that drain were to back up Or a leak were to develop in some way you want something to catch that water, so it's not ruining your ceiling. For example, one thing that i've seen industry wide is there's no code for that, there's no right or wrong for the drain. Pan itself, there's plastic drain pans, there's metal drain pans and then there's all kinds of drain pans that are super fancy and expensive, and i think you as the homeowner.

Why would you even care what what's the big deal josh? Well, i think that, as long as you understand what you have so, for example, if you have a super thin, cheap plastic drain pans, a lot of companies won't even put them in including griffin air. My company, we won't even put them in they, get brittle after, even if they're, nice and flimsy, when you first put them in you know all it'll take. Is you know, two years later, you have some guy go up there to service the equipment. He steps on the edge of it on accident.

Whatever the case is they're so brittle, you know, they've been sitting in a hot attic and they just break into a million pieces. So you know they're plastic. They won't leak but at the same time they're very brittle and very fragile and then the flip side. Of that you know a lot of companies, including ours, will usually use metal drain pans.

But if you have a metal drain, pan you as the homeowner, i think you should know that they do rust. They're usually made out of galvanized steel and they're, going to rust, eventually - and i would say in most cases as long as you're having your system maintained. Like you should, and it's not getting a lot of water dripping into that drain, pan allowing it to rust, then you probably won't ever notice. You probably will never know it'll last the lifetime of the system and you'll be fine, but it's those homeowners that you know.

Maybe they don't stay on top of things quite as well, some water has gotten in there. It starts the rust and then eventually i you know, we see houses all the time where that rust has actually gone through. It's compromised that drain pan to where it'll start to leak. So what do you do if you're the homeowner? I think, ultimately, you just need to know what you have and i think, if you can, if you're a homeowner that can get to wherever this system is located physically from time to time, just visually check it make sure it's not rusted, make sure it's not been Stepped on and broken into a million pieces, or maybe it might be worth paying a little extra money and getting one of these more expensive, fiberglass or heavy-duty type drain pans that can withstand someone stepping on it and there's no metal for it to rust.

Just the thought and the other thing you'll notice is, if you are checking it from time to time, especially in the summertime, is if there's a problem right. So if you were to get up there and you see that drain pan - and maybe it's fine - maybe it's not compromised in any way, but by gosh it's got water sitting in it and it should not have water sitting in it. Then you know, oh my gosh. It's time to call a pro i'm a big believer in float switches.

So every time we put a secondary drain pan in we'll put a float, switch on it, but flow switches well and also a lot of companies instead of putting float switches on it. They'll put a secondary drain off of that secondary drain pan and usually put it in a location where, if you saw that dripping, you know there is an issue. The problem is a lot of homeowners. Don't know that that's what that is so they'll call us and they'll say.

Well. You know, i think, something's wrong with my ac, because i don't see water coming from that pipe sticking out of the soffit right above my kitchen window anymore, and of course my response to them is you're not supposed to see water coming out of that pipe. If you do, then that means something else is wrong, that something has happened and that water coming from there is coming from your secondary drain pan. So if your system's in a location where you can at least take a peek at it from time to time, if you can physically get to it and not have to climb through an obstacle course through an attic, then i think you should.

I think you should at least you know visually lay eyes on it from time to time, maybe once a month, maybe once every couple weeks, especially in the summer time and just make sure everything's okay, especially if you're not having that system maintained like you should. So if you're not getting someone out and they're clearing the drain and treating everything and cleaning everything up at the beginning of the summer to get it ready for that hot season, then bare minimum. Then you should at least be laying eyes on it before you have a catastrophe. All that said, thanks for watching hit that subscribe button, we'll see you next time, you.