Condensate pump instead of drain piping

[Linda J. Foster]

Saw a new one (for me, anyway ). The unit is an older Fedders, electric portion of split system. It's located in an interior mechanical closet.

Below the unit the condensate drain pipe entered this Little Giant Pump, Model VCMA-2OULS. The older drain line thru the slab was not being used.

I didn't try to move this unit, but it appears that the condensate entered this pump, and traveled no further. Does this pump dry the condensate?

No apparent stains to show that it hadn't been working.

[Ralph Brady]

It looks like a drain line out next to the condensate drain line in. I have seen these drain up through the roof next to the flue, a plumbing vent or a roof vent (among other places). There is a device or option which will turn the furnace off if the tank does not empty. I sometimes recommend they have one of those.

[Charley L. Bottger]

The plastic tygon hose is the discharge from the pump which is float activated and will discharge to god knows where I would have followed the hose to see where it went. Not an uncommon install at all if no drain opening are available

[Charley L. Bottger]

BTW did that foam strip at the top of the return air box completely seal the return air off from the burner area of the furnace. That kind of a return usually get my attention as it is a poor set up that kind of foam usually does not last long and creates problems

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

That's a relatively common installation in homes that were not originally built with A/C (cooling) systems. I often see these tapped into a plumbing vent or routed to laundry sinks and stand pipes.

You should recommend periodic monitoring to ensure the pump remains operational, and that there are no leaks in the discharge system.

[Frank J. Carey]

Ditto Jeff.
Very common in finished basements when the plumbing drains are not close to the units. They usually are pumped outside or to another fixture drain. Not worthe the cost of plumbing a seperate drain line to the units for the amount of condensate.

[Linda J. Foster]

Thanks to all. I didn't initially look as close as I should have.

You folks are great !

[William R. DeVries, CMHI]

Originally Posted by cbottger

The plastic tygon hose is the discharge from the pump which is float activated and will discharge to god knows where I would have followed the hose to see where it went. Not an uncommon install at all if no drain opening are available

What you also need to watch for with this type of soft hosing is when they zip-strap it that it does not colapse or twist the hose along the way