Why?
Why clean your AC coils? Every hour humans lose around 200,000,000 skin cells. Over a lifetime a human will lose around 77 pounds of skin. Gross right? Well the more disgusting part of human “shedding” is that skin particles make up the majority of pollutants in your home. This fact alone can make you want to take a step outside and get a breath of fresh air completely free of the particulates you and loved ones are shedding inside your home. Stepping outside will seem like a good idea until the Texas summer heat is in full swing and there is little difference between outside air and the inside of an oven. However, you shouldn’t worry, the AC unit you have installed in your home regulates not only the indoor temperature, but also catches gross things like dirt, skin, and hair in its filters, and gives you a steady supply of cool outdoor air.
All of the above are very good reasons you should make sure to change your AC filters at least every 90 days, it helps keep your air clean, and keeps the coils of the unit at maximum efficiency. That being said— life happens. Your outside condensing unit gets its coils clogged up. A roommate or child turns the AC fan from auto to on (always have it on auto) and the inside evaporator coils get filled with all that gross stuff you don’t want to breathe in (or think about). You forgot to replace the filter (it happens to the best of us). Clogged coils means that less air passes over the part of the unit that gets all the work done, which means less air gets cooled, your house is warmer, your AC works harder, you have a unit at high risk of freezing up or breaking, and your electricity bill goes up.
This can be a simple fix. For the outside condenser unit you can take a hose and spray out the coils until you get all that gunk removed. This may not always work and so our team has specific condenser cleaning products that make sure the job gets done. But the problem isn’t always so simple. If your inside unit, the evaporator coils which are protected by your filter, gets dirty then the job gets much dirtier and much more difficult. For one the dirty coils may freeze up and we will have to remove them and thaw them out, which is a hassle without the proper tools and know-how (and may result in damage to the unit if done incorrectly). Even if there is no ice we will have to lay under your unit in most cases (think like a mechanic under a car) with our cleaning agent and brush it out. In extreme cases a coil may have to be removed to effectively clean it.
Cleaning your coils.
These jobs are typically very dirty and entail brushing all of the pollutants out of the system and onto yourself (which is why protective equipment is very important). We get the coils from looking like this:
To This:
Having a working AC is a must have, whether it’s to keep your lungs clean, or to provide a bastion from the egg-frying heat that us Texans are used to. So what else can you do to make sure your coils stay clean, and your AC stays working aside from just changing your filters? As a rule of thumb always keep your fan on auto, it will keep your AC from overworking itself or from wearing your filter out too fast. You can upgrade your air filters to higher-quality as long as the filter is compatible with your unit. Finally, scheduling maintenance every six months with HVAC professionals (like those here at 7K) will keep your units up and running and identify problems before they become a money sink.
Stay cool!
Sources:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161129114910.htm
https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/inside-story-guide-indoor-air-quality
Cheers!