How to Properly Clean Your Air Conditioning Unit

As the hottest months of the year approach, homeowners may be concerned with the reliability of their air conditioners. The best way to ensure that your air conditioner stays running when you need it the most is to engage in thorough, regular cleaning. However, having never handled the process themselves, many homeowners feel intimidated by the process of cleaning their air conditioner. Fortunately, cleaning an air conditioner is not as difficult as you might think, and is actually quite simple when you learn the process. Read on to discover how to properly clean your air conditioning unit and find out how ServiceWhale is your best choice to access your city’s best air conditioner contractors.

Make Sure to Shut Down Your Unit

The first step of any maintenance project, including cleaning air conditioners, is ensuring your safety throughout the project. Before starting any cleaning tasks, it is important that you completely shut down your air conditioner. Make sure to shut down the breaker that your air conditioner is located on, removing all power from the unit. Not only will this making the cleaning process much easier, it will also protect you from any accidents that could possibly occur while working with such delicate machinery. Remember, though, if you are not comfortable with this process, you can use the resources provided by ServiceWhale to find a professional air conditioner contractor near you.

Remove Any Debris

Now that the power is shut down, it’s time to get down to business. First, you should use a wrench or a screwdriver, depending on your unit, to remove your air conditioner’s fan cage. With the cage removed, you can clean debris from the fan blades, as well as from the entire of the unit. Once this is done, you should also try to clean the area directly surrounding the unit of any excess debris. This will make future cleaning jobs much easier, since your air conditioning unit will have accumulated less dirt. Next, you should take your garden hose and spray between the fins of the unit, removing any dirt that may have built up since your last cleaning.

Clean Your Coil and Air Filter

After you’ve removed the surface dirt, you need to move on to the guts of your AC unit: the evaporator coil and the air filter. The evaporator coil is a very sensitive, integral piece of equipment, so it’s important to treat it delicately. Lightly brush away any dirt on the coil, and then spray it down with commercial cleaning foam. Allow the foam to dry before moving on.

Next, you need to clean the air filter. Using a rag or dust cloth, brush away accumulated dust and dirt from your air filter. If the accumulation is too much to clean off, or your air filter is older, then you should consider replacing the filter instead of repairing it.

With all the cleaning tasks complete, you should re-attach your fan cage and then restore power to the unit.

Get Cleaning Help from Air Conditioner Contractors

Although cleaning an air conditioner can be handled easily by most homeowners, there is no shame in deciding that you need a little help. If you find that the task is a little too much for you, then you need to get access to top rated air conditioner contractors by using ServiceWhale. We specialize in connecting our users with their city’s most qualified contractors, and we can help you find the right professional to clean your air conditioner. Start using ServiceWhale’s request wizard today and find a contractor quicker and easier than ever before.