There is a pvc pipe that goes into my floor next to my water heater and central ac unit and its overflowing..but why?

Question

Last night I walked in and noticed I've have a leak in the corner of my living room so I looked for where it was coming from and on the other side of wall is a closet with my central air unit and my hot water heater, neither are leaking directly.

I notice the water was overflowing from a PVC pipe in the floor (what looks to be a drain) but has a pipe from the hot water heater and a pipe from the central air unit leading down into it.

It doesn't seem to be overflowing constantly--I had it pretty dry last night and my wife took a shower this morning and it started overflowing again.

Why would this be happening?

Answer 1

Though a photo might help, from your description, this is most likely a drain, as you surmised, meant to take the flow from the water heater, should the over-pressure valve pop open or leak, and condensation from the air conditioner that has not evaporated.

Since this drain receives little or no water on a regular basis, it could be blocked somewhere down the line and not be noticed. The blockage could be before the main drain pipe, and after the shower drain, so that water from the shower is backing up into the pipe and overflowing.

You might try using a drain snake from the shower, and from the overflow pipe, if you can feed it in, but since you live in an apartment, you likely would be responsible for any damage. My inclination would be to put some old towels around the pipe, and give written notice to the landlord and to the building superintendent warning them of possible damage to carpet, underlayment and to other apartments should this not be promptly repaired.

Answer 2

As a landlord myself - please please please notify your landlord. Leaks are bad news since they can cause long-term damage, and landlords usually reply quickly to leaks to protect their investment. This is also important to you in that you may risk losing some of your damage deposit if they don't know about the problem and find some kind of floor damage when you move out.

I am having a similar problem in my condo - the A/C and hot water drain into a common pipe that gets backed up occasionally due to things growing in the A/C units and getting washed into the pipe. I am on the bottom floor and the two floors above me share the same pipe. Twice, their A/C condensation has run into my unit when the pipe got blocked up below me. I have started putting tablets in the A/C unit to kill the growth and occasionally pour some diluted bleach into the drain to keep it clear. I had to snake mine out twice, but I knew where the pipes were and how they connected. If you could provide a photo of the pipes, it might be easier to provide specific recommendations.

Answer 3

From your description of the shower causing water to flow out of the pipe, this is a sewer backup into your rental. You want to let the management know that you have good reason to believe it is a sewer backup and you should request proper remediation.