As a responsible homeowner, it’s necessary to clean your air conditioner at least once per year. This cleaning process involves both the indoor and outdoor units of your cooling system. By understanding the tips that we present below, you’ll be able to ensure that your system gets cleaned properly.
Start With Your Venting
Before you get started with cleaning your actual air conditioning units, you should begin with your venting. Each main room throughout your house should have at least two vents. You’ll want to remove these vents and give them a thorough cleaning. It’s very common for these vents to get clogged with dirt and excess debris.
When you remove this venting, it’s a good idea to use your vacuum to remove excess dust and debris that’s sitting inside of your ductwork. While you surely can’t clean the entire ducting system without professional equipment, you can help to clean the areas that you have easy access to.
Proceed With Your Indoor Unit
Next, you’ll want to shut off the breaker for your entire air conditioning unit. This will allow you to work on it without power going to it. Remove the access panel, and you’re ready to start cleaning.
Your first project is going to be applying a foam cleansing agent to your evaporator coil. This will do the hard job of removing stuck-on debris and pollutants from the coil. Once the evaporator coil is cleaned, it’s time to move onto the drainpipe and drain.
Over time, your system will collect excess dirt and debris that can get stuck in the drainpipe and drain. Also, the constant movement of water through the drain pipe and the drain can cause hard water scaling. Use a 50/50 water and bleach solution to remove this excess debris from your unit. This will go a long way in preventing costly water backups from happening.
Clean Around Your Outside Unit
When you head outside to handle your condenser unit, you’ll want to start by assessing its surroundings. If you’re like most homeowners, you’ll end up having to remove a lot of excess debris like leave and twigs from around the unit. Be sure to trim back any bushes and tree branches that are within three feet of your unit. These can block airflow and make your system perform less than optimal.
Clean Your Outside Unit
Start with the condenser coil. You should purchase a condenser coil cleaner, as this type of caustic solution will remove stuck-on debris that will be difficult to remove by hand scrubbing. Proceed to wash off the metal fins. Avoid using a pressure washer since this could damage the fins. Instead, use a simple garden hose to remove excess debris from the fins.
As you’re washing the fins, be sure to straighten out any bent ones. This can be done carefully with a pair of regular pliers or a fin comb. You can purchase a fin comb at your local hardware store. You’ll just need to know how many fins are within a square inch of your unit, as combs are sold by a fins per square inch measurement.
Replace Your Air Filter
Each centralized home air conditioning system has at least one air filter. Some units have more than one, so you should double-check what your manual says before proceeding with this step. You’ll want to start by locating the area where your air filter is at. Usually, this is located within the indoor unit.
Pop out the air filter and hold it up to a light. If you can see through the air filter, then you can put it back in because it’s not ready to be replaced just yet. If you can’t see through the filter, that means it needs to be replaced. You have many options when it comes to replacing the filter. You’ll need to pick the model number that matches your unit, but you can opt for HEPA, pleated, reusable, and fiberglass options.
Trustworthy AC Services
Having a trustworthy cooling company that you can rely on to perform your AC services in Aurora, CO, is a necessity for any good homeowner. Fortunately, at Coffman & Company, we provide cooling, heating, plumbing, and indoor air quality services. Simply give us a call today, and we’ll be happy to assist you.
