Drain cleaner apparatus
OwnerJoseph MCDONNELLinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drain cleaner apparatus for dispensing a cleaning composition into a condensate drain line of an air handler of an air conditioning system. The drain cleaner apparatus includes an apparatus reservoir configured to hold the cleaning composition, a connector interface configured to couple with the condensate drain line to cause an apparatus outlet of the drain cleaner apparatus to be in fluid communication with an opening of the condensate drain line, a dispenser device that is configured to be actuated to selectively dispense an amount of the cleaning composition from the apparatus reservoir and through the apparatus outlet, and a controller configured to actuate the dispenser device to cause the amount of the cleaning composition to be dispensed through the apparatus outlet without manual intervention.
Claims30
A drain cleaner apparatus for dispensing a cleaning composition into a condensate drain line of an air handler of an air conditioning system, the drain cleaner apparatus comprising:
- an apparatus reservoir configured to receive a cartridge that is configured to hold the cleaning composition, the cartridge including a cartridge outlet and a cartridge reservoir configured to hold the cleaning composition;
- an apparatus outlet that is configured to be in fluid communication with an opening of the condensate drain line;
- a dispenser device that is configured to be actuated to selectively dispense an amount of the cleaning composition from the apparatus reservoir and through the apparatus outlet;
- a controller configured to actuate the dispenser device to cause the amount of the cleaning composition to be dispensed through the apparatus outlet without manual intervention;
- and
- a connector interface that is configured to detachably connect to a complementary connector interface of the cartridge, based on the cartridge being received into the apparatus reservoir, to detachably connect the drain cleaner apparatus to the cartridge, wherein the drain cleaner apparatus is configured to establish fluid communication between the dispenser device and the cartridge reservoir of the cartridge via the cartridge outlet of the cartridge based on the drain cleaner apparatus being detachably connected to the cartridge;
- and
- a network communication interface device that is configured to establish a network communication link with a remote computing device,
- wherein the controller is configured to cause the dispenser device to selectively dispense the amount of the cleaning composition in response to a dispensing command signal received from the remote computing device via the network communication link.
(canceled)
(canceled)
A method for operating a drain cleaner apparatus to dispense a cleaning composition into a condensate drain line of an air handler of an air conditioning system, the drain cleaner apparatus coupled with the condensate drain line such that an apparatus outlet of the drain cleaner apparatus is in fluid communication with an opening of the condensate drain line, the method comprising:
- detachably connecting a connector interface of the drain cleaner apparatus with a complementary connector interface of a cartridge, based on the cartridge being received into an apparatus reservoir of the drain cleaner apparatus, to detachably connect the drain cleaner apparatus to the cartridge, such that fluid communication between a dispenser device of the drain cleaner apparatus and a cartridge reservoir of the cartridge via a cartridge outlet of the cartridge is established based on the drain cleaner apparatus being detachably connected to the cartridge;
- and
- controlling the dispenser device of the drain cleaner apparatus to cause the dispenser device to selectively dispense an amount of the cleaning composition through the apparatus outlet without manual intervention;
- and
- causing the dispenser device to selectively dispense the amount of the cleaning composition based on processing a dispensing command signal received from a remote computing device network communication interface of the drain cleaner apparatus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.