How to fix an A/C unit with simple household items....

So, there was a giant wet spot on the bedroom carpet the other day, directly under where Franz's clothes were. We thought Buddy decided to take a whiz on Franz's clothes. He got punished for that.

I dried up the area, and then the next day it was there again. Uh oh, I realized, Buddy didn't do this. I punished him for nothing. Poor dog.

So, where was it coming from? We finally figured out it was the condenser in the A/C unit that was overflowing and not draining the way it should. But, what to do? I tried to clean it out with a toothbrush. Which was disgusting. But, it still didn't drain.

I called the property management company for the condos, who were- of course- no help. "Blah, blah, blah rules and regulations that prove we take your money for nothing, blah, blah, blah."

I called Franz's contractor friend, Mark. He suggested a good A/C man, and I called and left a message for him. Franz remembered that his brother, Pete, was coming over for dinner that night. So, we thought we would ask him what he thought when he got there. It was a good thing we did.

He took the thing apart and decided that he was pretty sure he could fix it. He used my toolbox to remove a clear hose, which we were able to determine wasn't the problem and then we saw first hand exactly how much water wasn't draining from the copper half of the pipe.... it was enough to fill up half a Slurpee cup. So, we all brainstormed about how we could run the pipe to clear out the debris that was in there.

Pete came up with the idea of using coaxial cable to run the pipe, which was tough, but still flexible enough to make the 90 degree turn in the middle. There was another problem, though. The last section of pipe was open on the top, then there was a hole about an inch down from that opening where the clogged pipe met up with it at a 90 degree angle, and then it drained directly down from there. The problem was, if we ran the clogged section of pipe out, the gook from that section would just come out that hole and go down the last section of pipe that was open on the top. Then we would not be able to clear that part. We needed something to block that last section from below the hole.

I came up with the idea of using a tampon.

Both men looked at me like I had just suggested shoving a baby with two heads down the pipe. To Franz's credit, however, at least he was smiling at me as he was looking at me like I was crazy.

"Yeah," I said, "It will swell up when the water from the clog hits it, and then the gook won't be able to go down that pipe. Plus, then you can just use the strings to pull the tampon, with the gook on top of it, out."

They looked at each other, then they looked at me. "Do you have a tampon?", they asked... each obviously hoping the answer was "no".

"Yep." I said. I went to go get one. I could hear them laughing nervously to themselves in the bedroom. "Well, she's going to have to put it down there... it's not like *I* know how to use one of those things!!", one of them said.

So, now I am thinking to myself... I never use these damn things. I keep them around until I have to go swimming. I am not even sure I remember how to use them. Luckily, it's like riding a bike, you just remember. So, the men stood back while I contended with the scary piece of cotton and string. I used the "comfortable" plastic applicator to put the cotton in place, then used painter's tape to tape the strings to the outside of the copper pipe so it wouldn't move too far down the pipe when they cleared the gook out of the other one.

Franz used a coffe cup to pour some water on the tampon so it would swell up before they tried to run the pipe.... just in case.

Pete moved in with the coaxial cable and ran the gook out of the pipe. There was a chorus of "Ewww"s and "Ick"s. And then Pete saw what the problem was. Someone else had tried to clear out the pipe before. And the cap from whatever household item they had, like us, used had come off in the pipe. Add to that the extra dust and other gook, and it was much easier to clog the pipe.

Then we started trying to remove the tampon. It was stuck. "How hard can I pull this thing?" one of them asked. I replied, "Should be pretty hard... the string is sewn into the cotton throughout the length of the tampon."

That stopped both of them short, looking at me like, "How the hell do you know that?"

I explained, "They do it that way so no part of the tampon can be left inside the woman... so she doesn't get Toxic Shock Syndrome and die."

Both men looked at me like they were thinking the following, "Oh... I see." (brief pause) "Ewww... gross."

So, whoever had the strings pulled like hell and it finally came out. This was followed by an exclamation, "How big do these things GET?!?!" Of course, it had swollen up quite a bit with all the water. I decided not to answer that one.

So, we cleaned up all of our "tools", threw away everything that wasn't needed, and went to dinner.

And when we came back, the A/C was leak free and working perfectly.

That's all for now.


Love to all,

Sherry