Regular Coil Cleaning Keeps Your Air Conditioner Working Efficiently

Keeping an air conditioning unit well maintained increases the life and efficiency of the unit. The most important components to clean within an air conditioner are the evaporator coil and the condenser coil. For maximum AC unit functioning, homeowners should have a heating and cooling professional perform preventative maintenance on the AC coils in their home at least once a year.

The coils in a air conditioner are usually made of copper tubes or aluminum fins. There are two of these coils in each unit. The evaporator coil provides indoor cooling by absorbing the heat from the ambient air inside the home. The condenser coil then sends this heat off into the outside space.

As this process continues, air is constantly moving across both of these coils, exposing the coils to various contaminants, such as dirt, pollen, dust and even moisture. These contaminants begin to cling to the coil, making it dirty, and lowering the efficiency of the heat exchanges.

When the coils become contaminated in this way, the coils have to work harder, taking in more energy, to accomplish the required heat transfer. An air conditioning unit with dirty coils can use from 30 to 37 percent more energy than a unit with clean coils. Furthermore, the unit's ability to cool at all can be reduced by up to 30 percent, resulting in an inability to properly cool your home.

In addition to being less efficient, dirty coils force the entire unit to work harder. This means that without proper preventative maintenance, including regular coil cleaning, dirty coils can deteriorate. This can lead to expensive coil replacement, and even the breakdown of other components in the air conditioning unit.

Not only do the coils becoming coated with contamination, but the pan beneath the condenser coil also becomes dirty with moisture, pollen and dirt. This eventually turns into bacteria, mold or mildew, which can impact the quality of the indoor air.

The best preventative maintenance for an air conditioner is to clean both coils regularly, preferably beginning the cleaning regime when the coils are still new and clean. Cleaning the coils once a year is usually effective, though units that receive a lot of use could benefit from semi-annual cleaning.

Coil cleaning involves compressed air being blown, at low pressure, across the aluminum fins or copper coils, to remove dirt. Sometimes, a soft bristle brush is used to wipe the coils, though for dirtier coils, a mild solution of detergent and water may be needed. In severe cases, more aggressive cleaning solutions may be called for.

Coil cleaning should be done by an experienced professional, at least once a year. Keeping the coils on your air conditioning unit clean will help your unit cool better, use energy more efficiently, and last a long time.