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Posted on Dec 16, 2008
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Goodman furnace may be producing to much water

I have a goodman upflow natural gas furnace( gmh951155dxaa ) which produces appr a bucket full of water over night. I assume this is condensation. 115,000 btu. there are 2 drain hoses that come out side, one connected to the exaust--plastic vent pipe. the other hose connected to possibly a drain pan under heat exchanger area,in area of small fan that i think that clears exaust. I know i should tie drains to a drain but do i have a problem i need to correct first or is this the way my furnace should work. thanks edMy problem relates to this one. My Goodman furnace was installed 13 months ago. Now in Seattle, we are having freezing temperatures. My furnace stopped working 2 nights ago. Yesterday, the repairman said that the problem was that the condensate pipe had frozen. He said that since there was no floor drain, the condensate pipe had been vented to the outside of my house.

His "solution" was to drill a hole to provide some warm air (from the house) to keep the condensate pipe from freezing. He said if it froze again to thaw it out with a hair dryer. Last night it froze and the furnace stopped working. This morning I thawed it out with a hair dryer. This hardly seems like a professional solution! And who wants to get up in the middle of the night to do this.

It seems that either the furnace they proposed was not the right one for my house (because it doesn't have a floor drain), or the installation was not done correctly (if it were installed correctly, the condensate pipe should not be freezing.)

Suggestions?

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Hi Seattlefreez - I'm sorry to hear about your problem.

You're absolutely right - this furnace requires a place for the condensate pipe to go. The amount of water you described is completely normal which is why the pipe is frquently tied to a drain or simply allowed to empty into a floor drain. And it follows logaically that, if the pipe is vented to the outside of your house and the outside temperature drops below freezing, the pipe will freeze.

It's true that one possible solution is to allow that condenstae pipe to empty into a floor drain; however, not all homes have floor drains. The technician who installed your furnace should have tied the condensate pipe into your home's water outflow line; that way the water will flow out just as the water in your sinks does.

I agree with you: the hairdryer is a poor excuse for service, but it may be a temporary solution until the piping can be fixed.

Again, I'm sorry to hear about your situation, and I wish I could give you more constructive feedback - please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Kind regards,
H2H

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Hi there,

Well seeing as i come from the UK & not used to having those sub temp conditions!! however, we do in certain parts have them!!
Anyways back to the query.
Seeing as you dont have a floor drain, & the condense connection is external what we do over here is to insulate the condense pipe, you may be able to use some refrigeration insulation as thats suitable for external pipe-work.
Over here we have condense pumps so if there is no floor drain as you say its connected to the pump & taken away to a suitable drain point at a different level.

I know its not ideal but it may help it from freezing & keeping the unit working & you guys all toasty as we say over here!!! :O)

Kindly

Richie

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The furnace is taking the condonsation out of your air so if your surrounding air has a high humidity then the furnace will produce more water! This is normal!

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  • Posted on Feb 12, 2008

SOURCE: goodman furnace may be producing to much water

Your furnace is more than 90% efficient and extracting so much heat from the gas that it condenses instead of blowing out steam. This is good! Figure that for every dollar you spend on fuel, you are getting back 90+ cents back in heat. Compare that to the typical units that only get 70 - 80 cents back in heat.

Yes you should drain your condensate to a proper drain via gravity or a condensation pump. I would recommend you treat the condensate first with a acid neutralizer prior to draining in municipal drains due to it's high content of sulfuric acid. You can purchase these filter type neutralizers on the net or at a good heating wholesaler.

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