Clean and Cool

It's gotten too hot to ignore anymore and we broke our unspoken rule of not turning on the air conditioner before June 1. This year we decided to increase our AC's efficiency and lifespan by giving it a good cleaning. It turned out to be pretty easy, though obviously we have no idea if it did any good. Most websites seem to recommend a cleaning every 2-3 years and we didn't do it last summer, so it seemed like we might as well. Plus it costs next to nothing. The only thing we needed to buy was a can of specialty cleaner, which is sold at any Home Depot for $5.

AC-Safe Air Conditioning Coil Foaming Cleaner

We didn't buy any fin repair brushes, because most of them are for 8-15 fins per inch. It was hard to get in and measure because of the outer grate, but we had at least 22 fins per inch and just a quick look made it clear that they were too close together to be able to push into shape.

Here's the before picture. I'll warn you that the after picture isn't all that dramatic. One thing we did was move the azalea bush on the right. It's not really a good idea to have things right beside the AC, since it needs air flow and also because it can create dust and pollen that will get sucked right in. We kept the hosta because it does a good job of camouflaging the AC and also because it doesn't create any pollen.

The first step in all the guides was to unplug the unit. Seemed like a good idea:

Next D took the screws out of the top and lifted it off, so that I could get in there with our shop vac and suck up all the leaves and debris. I didn't take an "after" picture, so just trust me: no more leaves down there.

Then it was time for the foaming cleaner. It says it doesn't need to be hosed off, but we wanted to take advantage of the water pressure to remove more gunk. So I sprayed it on (we only used one bottle but I could imagine needing two on a slightly bigger unit) and let it do its foam thing and then we hosed it down. The fins are so close together that the water didn't really permeate, so we did the inside and the outside separately.

At first I was worried about getting the inside wet. Until D pointed out that the whole thing is open and exposed to the elements. Oh yeah! But we still tried to keep the water only to the fins and not to the condenser bag or near any of the wires.

Here is the after picture, still foamy from all the cleaner that we rinsed off. As I said, there's not much difference except that all the greenery has been cleared away. The fins definitely are a little cleaner too, though its too small a difference to tell from a photo.

In all, it took about an hour, not counting the azalea transplant. It definitely took two people, because someone has to hold up the top (which is still attached by wires to the rest of the AC) while the other person vacuums out the inside. Otherwise though, a very easy project--especially if it means extending the life of our AC! Step two of the project, still on our to-do list, is to replace the filters inside the house. We need to figure out the right size though and keep forgetting. But anyway, that's for a different post.