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My air conditioner is in a crawl space in the 2nd floor. The condenser tray has a PVC drip line that comes down through the wall and meets up with a bathroom sink's drain immediately below the crawl space. When the A/C runs there's a small flow of water that you can barely here, but for 2 hours after the air conditioner stops there's a single drop of water about 1 per second and it's very loud. So, loud you can hear it in the bedroom next door even with the door shut. Is there anything I can do to reduce the sounds of the drips? I'm not sure if the drip is the 8 foot drop from the floor above in the wall or where the PVC finally connects to the drain line.

The green-painted PVC coming out of the wall is the drain line from the air conditioner above.

PVC drip line from air conditioner

Any thoughts?

pennstump
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    Thought: It's plumbed in on the wrong side of the trap, but that does not really relate to your problem... Thought 2: Plumbers putty is being misapplied here, but that doesn't relate to your problem either. – Ecnerwal Jul 23 '21 at 21:59
  • Wrapping some 1/2 inch form around it should deaden the noise, if that is where noise coming from. – crip659 Jul 23 '21 at 22:05
  • I would identify _exactly_ where the sound is coming from before proceeding. A stethoscope or a soft rubber tube, one end gently in the ear and the other end held against the pipe should help localize it. – Steve Wellens Jul 24 '21 at 04:49
  • We get the drip sound in our guest bath sink. I like it , it means the AC drain is clear. – blacksmith37 Jul 24 '21 at 18:11
  • Do you get sewer smell during winter months? – Kris Jul 25 '21 at 01:53
  • a shot of dish soap can often turn a drip into a tiny silent trickle. – dandavis Jul 25 '21 at 11:12

2 Answers2

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I'm guessing there's a P trap at the other end of that condensate pipe. if there's not it's installed incorrectly.

Installing that tee correctly would be a start. (the branch of a tee should always be near horizontal unless it is only a vent)

Replacing the two elbows with a collection of bends that feed into the (repositioned) tee would help too. the goal is for when the flow rate is low to have all the water flowing along the surface of the pipe.

the condensate pipe does who knows what inside the wall it might be making dripping sounds inside the wall too.

Jasen
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Finding out if the drip noise is in the visible pipe will be essential, per Steve Wellens' comment above.

If it is, I think that if you deviated from the "flat and vertical" usual methods of plumbing and set that green pipe and T at an angle, then the drip noise may stop:

angled drip pipe

I have noticed that if water from a dripping faucet strikes an angled item in the sink, the drip noise reduces. The closer the item's side is angled to vertical, while not completely vertical, the more the drip can be spread as it strikes, and the less noise it makes. You can try this: get the faucet dripping in a metal sink. Hear the "loud" drip. Now, place an angled-side cup so the side of the cup sits under the drip. The noise should considerably lessen if not be silent:

cup in sink reduces drip noise

This solution does similar: it angles the fall of the water so it does not strike vertically on the receiving pipe but slides in angled and makes less or no noise.

Triplefault
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