Mother nature is dirty. Yard debris, fallen leaves, windblown rubbish, insect carcasses—there is all kind of filth swirling out in the wind, and it has a way of getting trapped in your AC coils. While you might think of dirty condenser coils as nothing more than an eyesore, they are merely the symptom of a larger problem. If you have dirty coils, you are paying too much to cool your house. Thankfully, there is something you can do about it.
How AC Coils Work
The proper function of AC coils is all about airflow. Inside your coils you will find a fan that pushes air through the fins that make up the coils. As air moves over these fins, it cools the freon running through them so that it is ready to cycle back to your evaporator coils as a liquid. As long as you have good airflow through your coils, you will have good efficiency. When your coils start getting clogged with windblown garbage, your efficiency plummets. In fact, dirty AC coils can cut your AC efficiency by up to 37%.
How to Clean Coils
While there are some aspects of maintaining an AC unit that require specialized training and tools, the average homeowner should be able to handle cleaning AC coils. Just follow these steps:
1. Turn your thermostat to the off position. You don't want your AC kicking on while you are working on your coils. To prevent your home from heating up too much while you are working on your coils, you should work on them during the early hours of the morning before things start heating up.
2. Remove the protective grid that encloses your coils. Make sure you put the screws that hold the grid on in a safe place.
3. Remove big objects like candy wrappers or fallen leaves by hand.
5. Suck up loose material, such as dandelion fluff or lawn trimmings, with a wet/dry vac.
6. Spray on a commercially available coil cleaner and let it sit for at least five minutes so that the solvents in the cleaner have time to dissolve the stuck-on grime that coats your coils.
7. Scrub your coils clean with a stiff-bristle brush.
8. You may want to gently rinse your coils with a garden hose.
9. Replace the protective grid.
10. Turn your thermostat back on.
As long as you can find a good coil cleaner, and you have a little time on your hands, you can clean your coils on your own. When your next utility bill comes, you will be glad you did.
For more information or if you feel you cannot do this on your own, contact professional air conditioning companies, such as Comfy Cave Heating and Air.
