It’s that time of year again with the temp hits 90 and I have to haul up the 100 pound AC window units, take them outside, take’em apart, clean them out, put them back togther, and get them in the windows.
This year, I began wondering why AC units are designed the way they are so that I have to through this tedious cleaning process each year. They’re set up so the intake air comes in from the side-vents, and then the fan pushes the air through the fins in back.
The problem with this is that as the season goes by, the inside of these fins begins to get caked with a blanket of pollen, dust, dead bugs, and the like to the point where I’m guessing it’s only pushing 25% of the air it did at the beginning of the season. Cleaning this is akward at best, requiring me to use a combination of the hose and a toothbrush with my fortuantely skinny arms crammed in an uncomfortable position inside the unit.
Anyone know why they’re designed this way? Why doesn’t it suck the air through the vents and out the sides, thereby causing the OUTSIDE of the fins to get caked up, which would be a LOT easier to then clean?
Barring that, the other thought I had was to get some standard furnace filters, cut them to size, and tape them over the intake panels on the sides of the AC unit. At the end of the season, I’d just toss them and put some new ones on come spring. Does that sound like a viable idea? Is there some issue I’m overlooking that would make this a bad idea?
Replies
Sounds like it would work as long as they are the light kind of filters. I did maintenance at a place with a lot of air conditioners and they had a yearly schedule for cleaning them. They used a cleaner made for washing the fins clean. The cleaner they are the more efficient they ar at transfering heat. We just sprayed it on, let it set for a while, and hosed it off with a nozzle.
They build them that way because it works and has for decades. I guess you have found out that you must take off the outer shell to clean them right. At least you figured it out which is more than I can say for a lot of people. I guess you could put filter on the outside but would not look to good also assuming that you could access the filter from the outside.
Maybe you are wondering why the fan doesn't suck and have all the dirt on the outside where it is easier to clean? You probably noticed that there is a bulkhead between the front part and the back part. I bet what you didn't notice was that the condensate from the front part drains into the back part through a small hole (gotta keep that clean) and goes into a pan under the rear fan and then overflows outside. You also noticed that the rear fan has a ring around the blades and this is called a slinger which picks up the condensate and the fan blows it onto the condensor which help keep the condensor cooler and more efficient (and dirtier). If the fan was going the other way the condensate couldn't be used and the efficiency would drop.
And that's a definite maybe.
roger
good point on the condensate! Yes, I agree, perhaps filters would look a tad ugly, but, then again, so does the AC sticking out my window ;o)Odd that there isn't a ready made AC filter product out there, 'cause cleaning thse things sure is a PITA! ;o)