Ok lets start at the beginning . What type of system do you have ? Do you have an airconditioner and a gas furnace or do you have a heatpump and electric furnace ? This WILL make a differance on cleaning your evaporator coil. You need to get to the bottom of the evap coil in order to clean it properly . On a heat pump system this is fairly easy simply remove the panels on the front of the unit and the coil should be slanted from one side to the other which means you can get to the top and bottom of the coil fairly easy. With gas heat you will have an evap coil sitting ontop of the furnace ( possible inside a seperate case but not always ). This coil is a bit more of a pain in the backside to clean . You will have 2 options 1 pull the coil out of the case ( carefully so you dont kink the lineset )
. The other option is to ( again very carefully ) remove the upside down triangle shaped inner cover off of the front of the coil ( did I mention be extremely carefull if you choose this option ) there are TINY refrigerant lines on the front of the coil that you can break by pushing on them with the traingle cover .
Ok now that we have access to the coil we will need a decent 1 or so gallon garden sprayer and a gallon of " evaporator coil cleaner ) you can get the cleaner from most HVAC supply houses while you are there grab a set of coil combs . You will also need a pair of safety glasses " you dont want this **** in your eyes it will fuch them up " . Once you have gained access to the bottom side of the coil get your flashlight and have a look up in there and see what it looks like . Is there a blanket of pet hair on the coil ? Well then remember those combs we got
your gonna need one and a plastic grocery bag . Take one of the combs and " lightly " did I mention " lightly start combing the blanket off the coil " hint once you get it pulling up you can usually pull large sgeets off with your hands " . Ok now that we have the blanket removed mix up a half gallon of coil cleaner per instructions " this half gallon includes the water you will be mixing in not a complete half gallon of cleaner " . Ok now start spraying the top of the coil with the cleaner get a decent coat on the top . Now start spraying the bottom side of the coil. You should use up what you mixed up on the coil .
Ok now while we let that sit 10-15 minutes lest go rinse out the sprayer and refill it with 1-2 gallons of fresh water " depending on how big a sprayer you got " . After the cleaner has sat for 10-15 minutes per instructions on the coil cleaner label
start on the top of the coil with the fresh water and spray the topside off . Then start spraying the bottomside starting at the top and working down . Depending on how many years it has been since this was done it may take more than one application to get all the **** out of the coil . You will see little black dots of stuff running down the coil as you spray it once you stop seeing the black stuff comming out of the coil you are done .
I went to a house on sunday where several " techs " had been recently and couldnt tell the woman why her AC system wasnt cooling her house . "
One of the techs even cleaned the evap coil 2 differant times " . I got there and freon levels looked good but the temperature drop across the air handler was only 10* . I told her we have a problem and asked when the last time her coil had been cleaned . She told me it had been done twice recently . I at this point pulled the front panels off of the unit and looked at the bottom of the coil . EWWWW yuck nasty
. I gave her my flashlight and asked her to take a look . I asked her if it looked clean needless to say she agreed it didnt it was **** nasty .
I spent the next hour using a gallon of coil cleaner and so many gallons of clear water " I lost count " to actually clean her evap coil. I told her when I was done that I wanted to come back in a month " didnt want to empty her purse then " and clean it again as I was sure there was still more gunk in the coil. She agreed to call me in a month for another mass cleaning . I talked to her today to see how it was doing and she was happy to say it hadnt gone over 80* in the house since sunday . I told her one more good cleaning and we should be able to keep the house even cooler .
Oh yeah air filters " I but the pleated filters from Lowes that come 3 in a pack for around $7.50 " not the 3M ones they **** and are expensive " . I do not recomend washable filters as you will not get them completely clean and lets face it $2.50 a month for air filters really isnt that expensive anyways and yes this means change it one=ce a month I dont care if the package says " good for 90 days " .
Oh yeah I agree to check the blower for dirt as long as you are in there however "DO NOT TAKE IT TO A CARWASH " . Blower wheels have little weights on them just like the wheels on your car and if you remove one with high pressure water and dont notice it missing then your blower wheel will now be off balance and piss your furnace off
. I take the whole squirel cage outside and use a water hose on it with a decent nozzle on it . i then let it bake in the sun while I go back inside and finish cleaning the rest of the system " turn it upside down so that all the water runs out of it and the motor " while you are inside cleaning
.
Rick
