How To Clean Your Air Conditioner Condenser Coil (Step By Step)
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- Опубликовано: 19 май 2024
- Check out how easy it is to clean your air conditioner condenser! This is important annual maintenance that will extend the life of your air conditioner, and help make sure you always stay nice and cool inside on hot summer days. A dirty condenser coil will make your air conditioner work harder, run longer, and shorten its lifespan! All that adds up to costly premature repairs. The process of cleaning your A/C condenser is very easy, and I show you every step of the way exactly what you need to do and how to do it.
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0:00 Introduction
0:22 Disconnect Power
0:40 Get Access To Interior
1:30 Inspect Inside
2:11 Inspect Fins
3:20 Flashlight Test
4:10 What Kind Of Cleaner?
4:30 Cleaning Procedure
6:35 Re-insepect fins
6:57 Reassembly
7:27 Conclusion
#CleanYourAC, #AirConditionerMaintenance, #CondenserCoil
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Хобби
I am an HVAC technician and I approve of this cleaning process.
How are you a tech? The way he placed the fan could cause the blades to bend and lead to excessive vibration. It's usually best to disconnect the fan or if it the older rheem/rudd units you can flip the fan to where the blades are facing upwards when you remove the top plate.
@@jesussavesanus9790 your name suggests you are a troll. also where the person placed the fan has no connection to the cleaning process, and you can easily just place the fan in a position that would prevent it from becoming damaged.
On my Carrier unit the whole top is on a hinge and I just loosen it up an flip it into the upright position and out of the way. The outer frame moves up with the fan cage!
What is purple and what pink coil cleaner ?Please explain reason why to use them,how to use them and when!?
same; this was the first time i've seen the light trick
Thanks for this great video. My A/C company last year came out to do an annual service. They said I needed a Deep Clean of the condenser. It looked more like your unit, not your friends. But I said ok. They charged me $235. I watched him do it. He sprayed on the chemical on the Outside, waited 10 minutes then sprayed it down with the hose. I said to myself "I got ripped off, never again". I got that same cleaner from Home Depot and I am going to clean it myself, but the right way from the inside out. I even use my shop vac to clean out the pipe that the water drips out of. The only thing I can't do is go up in my attic to clean the coils. Thanks for the great video. I am a 73 young woman and I can do it!
I was just quoted $200 to have cleaned
It's impossible to clean the coil on the furnace too though 😮
I wouldn't call it "ripped off"
Experience is the greatest teacher but the tuition bill is high
My family has saved $15.00 to $20.00 a month on utility bills with me cleaning my family's air conditioner condenser coils regularly.
The only Issue I have is by the end your not sweating profusely and bleeding from a couple places you never realized got scraped. :) Excellent Video, thanks.
Agreed, if you're not bleeding you didn't give it your all.
Oh that’s definitely me too, always come out with some body part bleeding, lol. It’s like impossible to avoid, especially the sweating part, that usually starts before the actual cleaning of the coils 🤣 now I know what I have to look forward to today. Ohhh, and the mosquitos too, uugghh.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@freedomhigh2160 Another surprise I encountered as a now retired HVAC tech is yellow jacket nests.
You forgot the multiple mosquito bites, they love it when ever I pull a hose out.,.
RUclips is great. Here I thought "the coils" were some mystical entity inside that box that required professional (expensive) care. A hose and a can of cleaner? Yes, please!
There are 2 sets of coils. The coils being cleaned in this video are the condenser coils and is relatively easy to DIY. The “mystical” coils you’ve heard about are the evaporator coils located above the blower and requires more intricate details to clean. The evaporator coils usually stay cleaner if you regularly change your filter. It’s still a good idea to get them cleaned every so often though.
Same!
Don't forget to use power washer 🤣
Been at my house for 11 years and just performed this cleaning. Wow, there was a film of dirt and leaves on the outside. What a difference.
This is a great tutorial. I'm a brand new homeowner and I don't know if our A/C had ever been cleaned. Looked 5x worse than the example shown at 1:44, and was barely blowing any air inside our house. Used a combo of scrubbing bubbles and dish soap, and seems to be working a lot better now! Also want to note, there were about 100 spiders in our unit so I'm feeling very courageous after accomplishing that.
Awesome!
Um,, the outside condensing unit doesn't effect CFM on the inside. That sounds more like your evaporator coil. Be very careful when cleaning the evaporator coil, DO NOT USE CONDENSING COIL CLEANER on an evaporator coil, and that cleaner can eat up the evaporator material. They have a spray on no spray off required cleaner for the evaporator that works great on the inside on the furnace.
One thing you always want to do to save time, product/materials which = $$, is take a brush and CAREFULLY remove the heavy sweater off the front of the coil. They make special brushes for this, but it's basically just a small, hand held nylon bristled brush. Just use very light pressure and watch to make sure you're not damaging the fins! Once you have the heavy stuff off, your time and materials will be much more efficiently utilized.
🤣
Be sure to also change your indoor filter as well, you do not want to use one that is really dense as it restricts the amount of air flow which is not good...
Got your spidey senses tingling now? LOL
This video is so great! The editing and pacing is perfect. I did not have to skip around or change the playback speed to get through unimportant info. I usually don't leave comments, but I wanted to let you know that I am about this video.
Thank you very much for the feedback!
2nd-ed if it weren't a 95F heat index right now, I'd be cleaning mine!
Agreed! ^ 👌🏼
Totally agree. Very well done.
I’m learning this stuff way late as a homeowner. Great video that I wish I had seen years ago. Thanks for posting.
Thank you so much for this. I was able to confidently clean mine today when a company previously tried not only to tell me they would do it for 2k, but encouraged me to REPLACE MY ENTIRE SYSTEM over it being dirty for a lovely 20k. This is not a joke.
I'm glad I had a feeling something was off and remembered I'm a capable badass and could probably do it on my own, then went to youtube and found this. I was FLABBERGASTED to see what was VERY poorly explained to me was so simple to do on my own. Certainly doesn't require an entire system replacement.
Yepp, I'm a young woman if you were wondering. 🙃
I'm so glad you were able to find this video helpful! Great job being a capable badass!
Wasn't wondering...gender is not a factor to being able to clean your AC and use a screw driver....but as we all learned...knowledge is power...
Your style and pace of speaking suits my elderly mid-West American ears very well.
Thanks for watching!
HVAC in Alabama here. Good video. We use a stronger foaming cleaner but the mere spraying through the coil fins with water will help a lot. I would add that when there is a lot of debris on the outside, brush or blow off as much of that as possible before applying the coil cleaner. As stated in the video, be sure to spray straight through the fins because even water can bend them. I've spent MANY hours straightening coil fins. The flashlight test is a great idea.
thanks for the extra tips. I am about to tackle an old unit that is caked in dirt. I appreciate this video and your extra information. I wonder if I should brush/blow off the dirt, then run water from the inside then do the spray foam?
Can anyone suggest what is the best AC unit out there?? is Rudd a good brand? I was given a quote of 7,500 is this ok? Please advice
@@hildyr1052 get multiple quotes and compare, most companies do free quotes for system installs. Stay away from Lennox they have been having issues with their coils.
@@cclopez3697 Thank you so much for the advise, i will do that tomorrow monday,, thanks again,,
Just did mine today. There was a thick layer of dirt on it, and I figured, why not try my utility brush first to get rid of as much of that as possible. It was gentle enough to remove 98% of the layer without damaging the coils. I got the A/C Saver foam from Home Depot. I was disappointed-it barely foamed and just did a stream, so I put it on about 3 times. What foaming cleanser do you use, or is it something only available to HVAC workers?
I did this back in the Spring of this year and was amazed at the debris that I washed out of my condenser's coils. It made about a $30 a month difference in my cooling bill. Amazing! Thanks for the info and tutorial.
I’m a retired single woman into diy. This year I spent over 400 for service to 2 Trane units. The tech recommended I clean the units more often. So here I am. I really like the power tools. Sometimes they get away from me 😖. I already learned how to flush my water heater. That was a big mess but done. 🤪
Thank you so much for this! This was a great tutorial! Thoroughly explained each step, gave us the proper warnings, and showed each step in the process. You got yourself a new subscriber!
My A/C is 15 years already, still running smooth. Very important to do this!! Great video
Thank you for being so pleasant to listen to.
Great video! I work in HVAC/R distribution, Johnstone Supply, and this was a very easy to learn video, think I’ll clean my Trane this Saturday, thanks for the reminder! LOL
Thank you for this video! My AC quit yesterday, so I let it cool down and it started back up again. Today, I cleaned the coils and put a new filter in. It seems to be running better. Thanks again, excellent video!
Thank you for the easy tutorial I have to get myself up on my roof and I was pretty worried about how I would clean that thing out but it looks to be a lot easier than I thought it would be so thank you for the good tutorial
Thank you for this video. My central air was not blowing cool air. I followed the steps in your video, and it worked like a charm.
Great video, thanks you! And may I also add that the levels on your background music are PERFECT. A really nice touch that I've seen a lot of other video makers get wrong.
I watched your Water Heater video first (because the HOA advised everyone to flush the tanks, which I had never done before) and learned a lot from that. Many videos later, here I am, cleaning out my AC unit's coils! Haha, I think I may have missed the day of school that they gave the manual on how to do preventative maintenance on all of these appliances. Thank you again for making such concise, easy-to-follow videos. Your manner of speaking makes me feel like a friend is next to me giving me pointers on what to do. I'll keep an eye on your channel for more things I should be doing around the house.
Nice job! Never thought to do this myself, only hired people to "tune up" my AC every few years. Looking forward to doing this process now. Thanks!
You can do it!
Thanks for sharing the process and making it simple. I feel confident I can clean my unit now!
Thanks Immensely for this Video. I never thought it would be so easy to clean the outdoor unit!
Roland Singh, Canada 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Watching from Australia. I had never seen anything like this. Interesting and helpful.
Nice video, the dryer duct work cleaning video brought me here. Going to be looking for larger attachment pieces for air duct work, not just dryer ducts too. Great videos. To the point, no silly nonsense, calm, helpful, and carefully informative
Had to take matters into my own hands after the landlord sprayed it off with water for like 2 minutes and called it good. I did it myself and can seriously feel the difference. It was struggling to keep it 76 in here and now it’s running 72 and CRISPY. 😊
Nice and simple. Straight to the point. Thank you
Thanks for the education on prolonging my system.
This was an EXCELLENT video! Clear, articulate, with excellent video. Thank you very, very, much!
This is what i call, senseful explanation, keep it up!
Great video! Never crossed my mind that this was even needed but now that I know I will be cleaning my condenser ASAP
In a word: skills! Thank you. Practical, succinct and to the point. Well informed and well edited. Continued success.
Wow, thank you 22 Morse!
Best and most thorough video I’ve seen of cleaning this thanks buddy
Good video.
I also use the “flat” option on the hose nozzle for a more even spray.
Beautiful detailed instructions with no verbal diarrhea what so ever!
Totally agree. Verbal diarrhea makes me feel sick and I have to leave.
Awesome video brotha! I'm cleaning some coils at my school tomorrow, now I can walk in with some confidence
Watch Video with my twin sister and we cleaned her unit. Was dirty no doubt. Hopefully it solves her AC issues - at least if she has to call AC repair her unit will be C L E A N!! Easy to understand Video put her mind at ease and gave us confidence and got it ✔ done so Thank You for your video...
Thank so much! Very straightforward to the point! God bless!
Truly a well done video and exactly what I needed. Thank you.
Thank you for posting it, should help me cleaning my too, your video is pretty good and good job to make it flow better air.
Thank you for educating in a simple way.
Thank you much for all DIY video, now I realized I have a lot of work to do.
Very helpful , I do really appreciate what you are doing.
I really appreciate this video. Good man!! My system was failing every five minutes until I followed these instructions. I'm back at 65 degrees inside with 98 outside. Thank you, Blessings!!
Glad it helped!
Thanks! Another great video! This was easier than I thought. I had the exact same fuse box to remove power. I had quite a bit of water pool in the unit so vacuumed it out with a shop vac and let everything dry an hour or so before replacing the fuse. AC working like a champ!
Awesome job, Christine!
He did a VERY GOOD JOB of explaining the cleaning process step by step. I'm a new homeowner and just be looking at this, I can do myself......thanks...
Very helpful. I wasn’t aware this needed to be done annually. I’ve been in my house for four years and it’s never been done. So, I will be doing that this week!
Good luck!
@@AmplifyDIY I just purchased my house and the line comming off the unit is freezing/Frosting over I've got a new filter in my furnace could lack of air flow due to dirty fins cause that?
@@tylerh1930 I would have someone look at it. When this happened to us it was because of a coolant leak.
Thanks for your video. I just ordered a bottle of cleaner and ready to clean the unit.
My OCD was very satisfied during this video thank you for the info!
Great Video. Easy to follow, showing before and after. Thank you!
Thank you. Well produced and explained for people like me who know nothing about this stuff.
I just cleaned my 2 AC units using this method thanks to this video. Thanks for the easy to follow instructions!
Great video! It's winter now, but definitely going to do this in the spring! You make it look so easy!
This one really is pretty easy. Good luck with yours in the spring!
Thanks very much! Both this and your video on flushing a hot water heater are very helpful and inspire confidence for new do-it-yourself'ers.
Thank you! I'm happy to answer any questions you run into with either job. Good luck!
I just bought my 1st home near Phoenix (with two AC units). Good to know - thank you for sharing your knowledge!!
Glad to help, and good luck with the new home, Jim!
I don’t know what you do for a living but I honestly can say, you should be an instructor/ teacher 👨🏫
My dad doesn’t know how to do anything so I have to do everything by myself.
thank you for showing me how to do this!
ha ha get married husband will do it
Thanks RUclips, I had planned to do nothing this weekend. Not a huge project but still something. Thanks for the vid.
Actually the video is a big help for I just bought this house last year 2021 and this is the first time I’ve ever had a AC unit that wasn’t a window ac thanks
Why 430 dislikes??? This video was very informative. People Are Haters
I already know about this I just find videos like this very entertaining and satisfying.
I don't even own a home and this is the second video I've watched on cleaning coils...
Great easy to follow tutorial. Can't wait to clean my condenser this week!
Your videos are some of the best RUclips content I have run across in months. Thank you.
Wow, thanks!
Great video ! I had a lot of debris in the inside bottom. Thinking about putting a piece of window screen over the top during the Winter so all those leaves don't get in there.
Thanks for the tips. Good choice of music too!
Thank you. You have the best DIY video for this type of maintenance. Simple, easy to understand and excellent content. Much appreciated!
Wow, thanks Enrique!
Thank you. Very simple and very effective.
Thanks! Clear and simple explanation, excellent imaging. Good thing i watched this before doing what i had originally thought to do!
Same here!
Disconnect the power, very important That advice by it's self, makes this a great video.
This is good advice. I would get slack on cleaning mine, ---I would often skip years when I was working and too busy making a living. Now that I'm retired, I plan to clean it every year . AC units are too expensive to neglect.
Your channel is excellent. Adding this to my list of jobs for spring when we bring the AC back on. And planning refrigerator coil clean this weekend.
Awesome! Thank you!
I currently live in the first house I've ever bought. I've been here for 7 years. I didn't know this was a thing. I am going to clean mine out this week. The AZ heat causes the AC unit to run just about 24/7
I'm in the same boat.. Own mine for 6 and I didn't know anything about this. Doing mind tomorrow using this vid.
The other things to be maintained are the Filters inside the home, if theyre dirty/old then air flow will be restricted. And also the condensate lines/pipes which can also cause issues if they get blocked over time, but thats something that should be researched or left to an HVAC Tech to handle.
Great video! I moved into a new home and the AC clearly hadn’t been maintained. After following this procedure, I’m happy to report the AC is beating the Nest thermostat estimates for time to cool by more than 25%!!! Note: if your ac hasn’t been cleaned ages, you may need multiple cans of cleaner. Proud to report I did this all on my own as a petite woman.
Great job, Meg!
Best video on cleaning an a/c condensing unit
You just earned a sub. I've been trying to get into DIY myself, and this video was exactly what I was looking for.
Love the tutorial. Im not sure why it has any thumbs down? Everything was easily explained and did not have to replay any part to try to understand the process. Thank you so much for making sense of everything.
I really appreciate the feedback. Thanks!
because it's taking money out of the pockets of the over priced AC company's LOL
My AC unit was WAY beyond needing a cleaning. Excellent video. I wish I knew that was a thing (and was as easy as it was) before I wasted energy over the last couple summers! 🤦♂️
Glad it helped!
Thanks for the video, I almost broke out the pressure washer. Glad I saw this first!
Holy smokes, thanks for this video. I've watched others but this one helped me understand the why and not just the how. Excellent pacing and info. I'm going to try this tomorrow or next weekend. Cheers!
Glad you liked it!
Great example of a clear, concise, well illustrated how-to video. Well done!
Many thanks!
Thank you for taking the time out to teach a new homeowner some very valuable DIY. Much appreciated. God Bless!!!
🤘Thanks for taking time to show us. Great job
thanks for this man and straight to the point, good job
With my AC unit, it had not been cleaned for years by the prior owners. The leaves and debris had broken down into a a few inches of soil. It is difficult to be too critical with it being a 1979 Lennox that had been running whisper quiet for the last 12 years. At some point, I have to believe the compressor was replaced at some point. It is a Copeland scroll, I believe.
You inspired me. I did this last week, and the A/C air has felt much cooler since then. I can only imagine this means I'll use less energy, as the A/C will hopefully need to run for shorter durations to cool the house equally.
Incidentally, I believe it had been 15 years since my A/C was cleaned. Wasn't too terribly dirty, surprisingly.
Nice work! Yes, your system will most definitely use less energy now that it has been cleaned. How carefully do you track your energy use? Do you happen to have a thermostat that can show you historical runtimes for your system? I'd love to see a before and after with actual numbers.
@@AmplifyDIY I have a Nest, so it should be there. But I'm reluctant to put too much stock in the numbers given daily temperature variance has been pretty high of late.
But heck, I'll look at the data and make insane conclusions anyway!
I have a honeywell, and it emails me monthly reports each month that compare that month's usage (i.e., actual A/C runtime per day) to the prior year's... complete with average daily temperatures etc. Armed with a bit of data, it should be relatively easy to determine if your system is running any more efficiently after the cleaning. Still, any conclusions will mostly be for the "gee-whiz" file, I suspect.
@@AmplifyDIY Welp, as expected. I cleaned it on August 17. Temps were slightly lower the following week, but usage remained the same (or increased): thesmithfam.org/temp/ac_usage.png (left axis is usage in seconds, right access is high outside air temp for the day in F)
@@HeyItsMeDave Really interesting data! As I look at the graph, it looks like the week previous to when you cleaned your condenser the AC ran more at lower temperatures. For instance, look at Aug 8 - the high for the day was around 80F, but the AC ran as long as it did on Aug 24, when the high was over 90F. Similar result for Aug 11. Out of curiosity: What year was your house built? Do you happen to know how well your attic is insulated?
Thanks for this video! Great explanation without too much unnecessary talk
Glad you enjoyed it, Cristela!
Thank you! Finally a fellow tech that shows the proper way to clean the condenser! One guy used fire and almost everybody else sprays from the outside in! Thank you for not being ignorant and posting a great video.
You are welcome!
Thank you gor your time and Your saving me money
Great video. Thanks! looking forward to following your steps and getting my HVAC in tiptop shape. Just had a technician from an HVAC company come out and told me I needed to clean it and the cost is $425. So happy to buy the coil cleaner linked in your comments for 14 bucks and save myself some cash. :-)
You can do it!
That price is insane. We have a local company that does the flush as part of their yearly "tune-up" for $90. Yeah, it's still cheaper to do it yourself, but nowhere near the price you were quoted.
Very easy to understand video! 👍All home owners should watch it to save some money on their AC maintenance
Thanks 👍
Excellent training video. Thank you for sound advice! I am very experienced handyman and know when recommendations on youtube are sound or not.
Awesome, thank you!
Thanks so much... great advice
Simple and clear instructions, great video 👍
Hey thanks, this is something I noticed on my condenser and wanted to do something about. Today's project!
Hey I am a first time home buyer and I just wanted to say thank you for this informative video.
Well done Sir! Great video, perfect explanation, nice easy straight forward approach and no annoying hip hop music drowning out the instructions.
New home owner here my a/c is about 13 years old so come summer I’ll give this a shot
AC tech was here working while I watched this video...tech gave me estimate on doing this same thing for $349 dollars...OMG! I am so thankful for your video, as a DIY person I can now confidently do this myself...THANK YOU!!!!
Thanks for posting this :) weve been renting our house for 4 years now neither us or our landlord has cleaned out the central air. Will have hubby do this tomorrow:)
Its 2020 do-it-yourself
...sounds like a "honey-do" to me.