What to make of this contraption?

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Demianwulf

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Looking at the Air Handler in my mom's condo and it has some sort of jerry rigged box on it to catch condensation from the coolant line? (all my terminology might be wrong so excuse my ignorance) Any ideas on what we can do to fix it? Is it DIY possible? HOA cuts the water off on Thursdays (if that is necessary, so I have a week to figure it out before I got to get a pro in. I'm pretty handy, but I know when I don't know a lick about things and I ask questions and read everything I can to get more informed. I'm also not afraid to say hey I can't do it and just call a pro. So, if anyone has some suggestions or ideas, many thanks.

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If you are sure that it's just condensation then why not just wrap it with insulation to stop it from condensing the moisture in the air?

EDIT: Is you Mom responsible to maintain the AC unit in her condo? I would call the condo association first. Looks like someone ripped the insulation off of that device to possibly check the pressure perhaps.?????? And just left that box of loose insulation below.
 
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I'm checking with the HOA via email and I'll stop by the maintenance office to cover my bases tomorrow. I don't see any leaking, but it is pretty moist. I"ll try to wrap it in the meantime and see if that helps out.
 
chill water piping insulation must be sealed, or it will condensate all over the floor
Ok, so I shouldn't wrap it? I assume thats why they made that box for the irregular shape? Any specific material you recommend? SHould I just construct another box in that shape like they did or wrap or both?
 
yes it should be wrapped and sealed
with a duct sealer mastic

go buy some insulation board at hard ware
cut and fit a box around the valve
then seal the seams with a duct mastic you can find at hardware store

like this
 

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Of course the reason that fitting had its insulation removed was for access reasons. You may want to find out either here or from the building people if periodic access to those connections is required. It may be advantageous to cap those connections separately for obvious reasons.
 
Of course the reason that fitting had its insulation removed was for access reasons. You may want to find out either here or from the building people if periodic access to those connections is required. It may be advantageous to cap those connections separately for obvious reasons.



the problem is
who ever accessed the valve did not know a damn thing about chill water piping and how to access the valve in side the box.
IF, the box had been carefully cut open, with a knife it would have been a simple task to reseal/\
instead, the gorilla ripped a hole in it, grunted 3 times then left it as was to take a banana break
 

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