Keeping your air conditioner clean is the best way to make sure it runs at its maximum capacity. Air conditioning cleaning will vary depending on the type of air conditioner you use, but all of them are relatively simple as long as you have basic tools and can follow directions easily. Most air conditioners will come with instructions on how to clean them when you first buy them, but chances are you either don’t have the instructions anymore or the air conditioner came pre-installed in your home. No need to worry however, since each type of air conditioner has roughly the same technique for cleaning. The only thing you might need is the make and model of your AC when buying new filters.

For air conditioners that sit inside the house, you’ll first need to remove the front grille. Some grilles were designed to make air conditioning cleaning easy and simple snap off. You should have a screwdriver ready though, just in case there are screws holding the front grille in place. Once you have gotten the grille off, you need to take out the filter because that is how you expose the coils that you need to clean off. You may need to replace the filter itself if it is disposable, or you can clean off the filter with a rag if it is plastic. When the coils are exposed, you will want to use a vacuum cleaner to pull out all of the dirt and dust that has built up since the last time it was cleaned. Never use anything else to remove dust because you may cause damage to the air conditioner.

If there are any bent coil fins, you will need to straighten them out. A bent coil fin can make your air conditioner work with less efficiency and could result in your air conditioner breaking before its average lifespan is up. The best way to fix a bent coil fin is to purchase a fin comb from a hardware store or an air conditioner store. There should be instruction included with the fin comb on how to straighten a coil since different sized combs may have different ways of working. When have finished your air conditioning cleaning, you just need to replace the filter and the front grille.

An outdoor air conditioner gets cleaned roughly the same way. Instead of removing the front grille, there is a back grille you need to remove. The outdoor models will tend to use screws as opposed to grilles that snap off so make sure you have a screwdriver with you. When the grille is off, you will need to follow the same basic steps for cleaning the indoor air conditioner. You want to remove the filter, vacuum around the coils, and fix any bent coil fins you find. If the filter is disposable, be sure to replace it with the right kind of filter. If the filter is reusable, make sure you clean it before putting it back in. Then replace the back grille and you are done. It takes a little time, but overall it is a simple process that really makes a difference.

Photo Credits: jurek d. (away)

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