CP-MINI-L Condensate Pump

One of the failings of the previous design was that it did not target the correct requirements of the market. Both pump and reservoir needed to be small enough to fit within a tight space, like behind an indoor air handler. Unfortunately, the existing reservoir was too big for the spaces it would need to fit into.

The pump also needed to be quiet since these air handlers would be in personal spaces, like bedrooms or bathrooms.

The last constraint for the redesign was to use as much of the existing component inventory as possible, including the motor driving the pump.

I reworked the reservoir design to be much more compact. After creating some prototypes, I went to HVAC supply houses to verify that the new design would fit inside the smallest indoor air handlers available.

After our electrical engineer reworked the electronics, I thoroughly tested the pump at different settings to optimize the sound profile. We were able to reduce the sound level to be very close to target, but not quite there. Unfortunately, that last bit of sound could only be reduced at the expense of pump performance.

This specific design was eventually placed on hold for other business needs, but the question was raised — how much pumping power was really necessary for this application?

It turned out that this was a question nobody had really sought to answer in the industry. I was eventually able to answer that question with the Condensate Calculator.