Back to results
US 12,742,568 B2Granted
Valve assembly for AC condensate line
OwnerFrank Joseph Hartlandinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure discloses a valve assembly. The valve assembly includes a tee shaped structure configured to receive water from a garden hose and an air conditioner condensate line, and configured to output the water to a drain line. The valve assembly further includes one or more valves disposed on the tee shaped structure. The valves are configured to regulate a flow of water to the drain line from the garden hose and/or the air conditioner condensate line.
Claims6
A condensate drain line service assembly for installation in a condensate drain line of an HVAC system upstream of an air handler, the assembly comprising:
- a unitary rigid tee fitting having a first inline passage defining a primary condensate flow path between an upstream inlet and a downstream outlet, and a branch passage extending substantially perpendicular to the primary condensate flow path, the tee fitting being a schedule 80 PVC fitting having a GHT metal insert fixedly embedded in the PVC body at the branch passage;
- a first shut-off valve comprising a schedule 40 PVC slip ball valve solvent-welded to the upstream inlet of the tee fitting, the first shut-off valve being positioned between the air handler and the tee fitting;
- a second shut-off valve comprising a brass ball valve directly coupled to the branch passage of the tee fitting, the brass ball valve having a hose-facing end with female garden hose thread (GHT) for threadedly receiving a standard garden hose and a tee-facing end with male GHT threadedly engaged with the GHT metal insert of the tee fitting;
- wherein the first shut-off valve, when in an open position, permits condensate to flow through the primary condensate flow path from the air handler to the drain line during normal HVAC operation;
- the second shut-off valve, when in a closed position, maintains an air-tight seal at the branch passage so as to preserve negative pressure integrity of the condensate drain line during normal HVAC operation;
- and the second shut-off valve, when in an open position and the first shut-off valve is in a closed position, permits selective diversion of water from a garden hose through the branch passage and into the downstream outlet of the tee fitting to flush the condensate drain line.
3 more elements
A condensate drain line service assembly for installation in a condensate drain line of an HVAC system, comprising:
- a unitary rigid schedule 80 PVC tee fitting having:
- (i) a first inline slip-fit socket defining an upstream inlet and a second inline slip-fit socket defining a downstream outlet, the upstream inlet and downstream outlet together defining a primary condensate flow path therethrough;
- and (ii) a single branch passage extending substantially perpendicular to the primary condensate flow path, the branch passage having a GHT metal insert fixedly embedded in the schedule 80 PVC body of the tee fitting, the tee fitting being configured to receive condensate flow from an air handler through the upstream inlet and discharge to a drain line through the downstream outlet;
- and
- a first shut-off valve comprising a schedule 40 PVC slip ball valve solvent-welded to the upstream inlet of the tee fitting and positioned between the tee fitting and the air handler;
- and a second shut-off valve comprising a brass ball valve directly coupled to the branch passage, the brass ball valve having a hose-facing end with female GHT for threadedly receiving a garden hose and a tee-facing end with male GHT threadedly engaged with the GHT metal insert of the tee fitting;
- and
- wherein the first shut-off valve, when open, and the second shut-off valve, when closed, collectively define a normally air-tight primary condensate flow path that maintains negative pressure integrity of the condensate drain line during normal HVAC operation;
- and wherein the second shut-off valve, when open and the first shut-off valve is closed, diverts water from a garden hose through the branch passage and into the downstream outlet to flush the condensate drain line without flooding the air handler.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.