How to Clean an Outside Air Conditioner Unit

Ideas For DIY Air Conditioner Cleaning

You should buy a functional air conditioning unit if you wish to tackle the scorching summer months. There are plenty of options for selecting an air conditioner unit. Many companies manufacture and sell a wide variety of AC units in different size, cooling capacity and price. You can buy one that is ideal for your home and budget.

Keep in mind that just buying a affordable air conditioning system alone won’t solve your cooling needs in the long run. You need to maintain the AC unit regularly to retain its efficiency throughout its lifetime. You have to take extra efforts to keep the outdoor air conditioning unit, also called as a condenser, clean and tidy from dust, dirt, debris and other elements.

It is not necessary that you should always hire a professional AC contractor for cleaning your outdoor air conditioner unit. In this article, we will tell you how to do DIY cleaning in simple steps.

Before we get into the actual topic, we would recommend you go through the owner’s manual that came along with your AC unit. Read the manual from start to end and get familiarized with all the terms and parts related to your AC unit.

Cleaning your outdoor air conditioner unit will not take more than an hour, even if you work slow. Of course, you may sweat a lot when cleaning. But every drop of sweat counts as you will save lots of money in operating your air conditioner in the days to come.

Start Your Work From Outside

Turn of Electrical Supply: Before you approach the air conditioning unit, you should turn off the power supply to avoid the possible mishap. Just turning off the thermostat alone is not sufficient, as someone would accidentally turn it on while you are working with the condenser.

Remove branches, nests, leaves and other debris that are surrounding your condenser unit. Create a clearance zone of 2-foot from the condenser unit, and 4-foot of clearance zone above the unit by cutting the tree branches, hanging leaves or any other plantings. 

air conditioning cleaning

Use high-powered vacuum cleaners to remove the dust and debris settled in the exterior fins. Make sure that you don’t exert too much of vacuum power on the exterior fins as they are relatively gently and can get bent to the force Bill from SoCal Climate Control San Bernadino explaines. To have complete access to the fins, you need to unscrew and remove the metal box. You can refer the owner manual to see how to remove the box safely.

You don’t need to get panicked if you find the fins are bent lightly. This is a normal thing, and you can bring them back to the normal shape by using the fin comb tool, which is available in most home improvement shop. Or you may even use your wide dinner knife in the kitchen for correcting the angle of the fins. Bring back the fins to the normal shape, which will help the air conditioner unit to deliver improved air flow. Finally, you have to remove the top grill to check and remove the leaves, dirt, and debris in the interior. The interior cleaning should be done gently, and the wires should be not be stressed.

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