# How powerful a wet/dry vac is needed to suck out a clog in an Air Conditioner drain pipe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052 "2010-08-30T22:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052/21 "2010-09-02T15:26:15Z")
Well, I borrowed a friends wet-dry vac, but it didn’t work at all towards sucking out the clog. I noticed that it’s not completely clogged, so I’m going dump chlorine into it for a couple days and see it that doesn’t dissolve it. If that doesn’t work, I’ll cut the pipe (PVC), blow it out with compressed gas, then reattach the pipe. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052/22 "2010-09-02T15:42:35Z")
By chlorine I mean household bleach. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052/23 "2010-09-02T15:55:54Z")
We had an algal buildup in the A.C. drain line that goes through the bathroom sink, etc. while we were on vacation. It closed off below that and backed up the line, filled the tub, overflowed that and came through the upstairs floor causing our master bedroom closet ceiling below to collapse. Not fun walking in from a trip to find that. For us it took a RotoRooter guy to come out and drill the obstruction out. Afterwards, as you’re doing too, we were told that regular applications of household bleach should prevent such buildups from growing to the point where they can cause problems. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052/24 "2010-09-02T16:03:07Z")
To add to the anecdotal evidence, I just did this last week. I rented a shop vac from Home Depot and sucked out a bunch of crud from the drain line. I don’t think it got everything, but there was a good bit of sludge in the tank nevertheless, and it no longer backs up into the house. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052/25 "2010-09-02T17:08:07Z")
I’m on my web phone, where the text is eeensy, and I was under the same misapprehension as **BubbaDog**. I was gonna recommend putting some hamburger at one end of the pipe and waiting. But never you mind. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052/26 "2010-09-02T18:51:40Z")
I assume you’re going to get the chlorine into the drain by dumping it where your AC Evaporator coils are. Be careful you don’t get any on the coils, I’d imagine bleach will make them rust. What about feeding some fishtape up through the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052/27 "2010-09-02T21:13:02Z")
Send us a picture! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052/28 "2010-09-11T21:11:32Z")
I put this off since the bleach looked like it clearing the clog a bit, and I was hesitant to cut the pipe, not being too experienced with this type of thing. But I finally grew a set this morning and did it, and it appears to have worked and gone smoothly. > [@raindog](#): > > Send us a picture! I was going to, but after all that bleach I dumped in there it wasn’t all gross and slimy and interesting like I had hoped, it was really just white sediment. Some of it was it a decent-sized clump, which was likely the clog, but not pic-worthy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-powerful-a-wet-dry-vac-is-needed-to-suck-out-a-clog-in-an-air-conditioner-drain-pipe/552052.md?page=1)