As I was heading out the door this morning for my monthly excursion to buy groceries in the big city, my phone rang, and it was the a/c guy wanting to stop by and take a look see at what he was up against…trash my trip for today…that was 8:30.
He showed up at 10:30, and I watched him struggle as he tried to access the attic through the micro scuttle…NFW dude. He said he could see the unit, but with flex ducts and electrical in the way, no way he could get up from there.
He pretty much agreed about the drip tray(s) drain being clogged, because that it comes off and on…but how to reach it?
By the way, it came back on last night about 1:00 am, so I cooled the house down to 72 last night. It’s still working now, but dare not to hope for any long lasting recovery.
He indicated that likely would have to cut another hole somewhere in the ceiling to access the unit.
Joy of joys.
extexanwannabe 
My first house had the heat pump in the attic and the hot water heater. Both had drip trays and both would get clogged by dirt dauber egg pods. I would routinely shoot water and compressed air into the drain pipes to clear them. The house was built by the guy that owned the local building supply company. Both the heat pump and hot water heater had the house built around them.
The hot water heater was a high end model that had a huge dent in the outer case. When the heating element failed I found out a set of new heating elements was about the same as a new hot water heater. The problem was there was no way to get it out without cutting rafters and installing an attack access point in the garage near where the hot water heater was in the house.
The AC/heat pump would also need to have a rafter cut out to replace it. The inside attic access point was closest and provided a good way to get to it for service but the access point was smaller than the heat exchanger. I am glad I didn’t have to replace that while I lived there. I finally solved the dirt dauber problem with fiberglass mesh screen and a PVC coupler.
Great idea, if one can reach the drain…not so here…yet.
What a pain to build the house around the water heater and central heating unit.
I would have strongly considered dragging that builder over and have him fix it, locking him up until the job is done…but that’s just me..
The builder was the owner of the building supply and his brother helped. They did hire some day laborers but the materials were either top of the line, excess product that wasn’t moving, or damaged items. The HVAC was too much for the house and would easily freeze you out in the summer. The hot water heater was a top of the line 50 gallon high efficiency unit with a big dent in the side. The fridge had a dent that couldn’t be seen on the side. The stove was one of the high end JenAir cook tops with a double stove mounted further down the cabinets. The siding was a California redwood lapboard that was a special order for a builder who ordered too much. The same for the brick that came up 3 feet all around the house. The fireplace insert was a special order that for some reason was incorrectly ordered and he worked it into the build. He also put a 1″ copper coil in the chimney that had the pickup near the floor where it went into the chimney a foot from the ceiling to coil in the flue then exit in the attic where it was insulated and ran to the back of the house to a register in the ceiling. I had to put a valve on the intake as it would get the back of the house in the mid 80’s when it was freezing outside.
I got the place for a very good deal in 1985. When I sold it 6 years later the appraiser I hired before I put it on the market suggested $25k more than what I thought it was worth. It had high quality flooring with high end cabinets and was overbuilt with 6″ thick walls and very good insulation with high efficacy triple pane windows.
It is strange to me to hear about a/c units in the attic. Here in central calif all units appear to be roof mounted or ground mounted. But what the hell, it’s hard to afford the renewable electricity to run them anyway.
It is very common in the Southeastern US. Ranch style houses built on slabs and the second floor in a two story Georgian style is almost 100% with a system in the attic.
My first home in the RGV had the blower on the ground floor, with the mickey mouse filter mounted directly on the coils…what a pain. It was like they remembered the filter last.
The last three homes I have owned here in TX all had the blower in the attic, with the return and filter accessible from the ground floor. Older homes have the blower unit on the ground floor.