Cleaning Air Conditioner Coils

Posted on: November 23, 2016
By: Alan O'Neill
Posted in: Air Conditioning

Cleaning Air Conditioner Coils For Houston Homeowners

Cleaning your air conditioner’s condenser coils regularly will let your air conditioner run cooler with less energy and make you feel more comfortable. The best time to clean your air conditioner is in the spring, just before you anticipate using it for the first time in the year. Here are the steps to follow to clean your air conditioner coils.

Cleaning your Air Conditioner Condenser Coils is easy and an effective way to keep your AC unit running efficiently.

How to Clean Air Conditioner Coils

The condenser is the outdoor unit that really powers the whole operation. As the gaseous refrigerant that now contains the heat it has absorbed from the home returns to the condenser, it passes through all those coils you see wrapped in fins and around the compressor. As the fan in the A/C pulls air across the coils, they are cooled. As the coils cool, the gaseous refrigerant begins to return to a more liquid-like state. The compressor then finishes the job by increasing the pressure the refrigerant is under thus increasing its boiling point. This much higher boiling point now means that the refrigerant is turned back into a liquid since it is not nearly hot enough to boil over. This liquid is now pushed back into the skinny copper line and returned to the coil to start the process over again

Step by Step: Cleaning Air Conditioner Coils

Disconnect power to the air conditioner. Most central air conditioners have a shutoff box outside near the unit itself. You may have to pull out the shutoff box, flip a switch or remove a fuse. If there’s no shutoff box, find the circuit breaker panel that controls the air conditioner and turn off power there.
Trim away any plant growth around the air conditioner. Take care that any cuttings from grass, flowers, bushes or weeds don’t get inside the unit. Trim foliage to be at least 2 feet (60 centimeters) away from the unit.
Detach the outer case or access panels. Depending on the fasteners, you’ll need either a screwdriver or nut driver to do this.
Remove the top of the air conditioner. Depending on how the air conditioner is constructed, this may mean lifting the fan assembly off with it. If your air conditioner is constructed this way, be careful not to stretch and damage the fan wires.
Clean and lubricate the fan assembly. Clean dirt off the fan blades with either a rag or whisk broom and use a shop vacuum to clean dirt off the fan motor and shaft. If the motor is designed to require lubrication, apply a small amount of oil to each of its lubrication ports. (Fans without lubrication ports are designed to be maintenance-free.) Read more.

Purpose Of The Condenser Coil

The outdoor condenser coil of your air conditioner performs a tough job in warm weather. It takes the concentrated heat collected from your home and dumps it into the hot outdoor air. To get rid of the collected heat, your outdoor condenser coil has to move a lot of air. If the coil is dirty or if plants or other objects are too close to the conditioner unit, the fan in the outdoor coil can’t move as much air as required for good performance and efficiency. Call (713) 812-7070 us for your home service and repair needs.

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