Your air conditioner, no matter how energy-efficient it claims to be, will lose its effectiveness over the years if it is not properly maintain. Most importantly, you need to make sure the condenser coils on the outside of the unit are kept clean, straight, and free of dirt. This article explains how to straighten and clean condenser coils on an exterior unit. It is a simple but effective do-it-yourself project that doesn't require any special tools or supplies.

Prepping to Clean the Coils

But, before you start to work on your coils, you want to make sure you turn the power off to your unit. To be safe, hit the actual breaker switch so there is no risk of your AC powering on while you're working on it. You don't need to remove the protective cage from your condenser unit to easily clean the coils, but some people prefer to do it anyway. It mainly depends on how difficult it is to remove the protective cage, and this depends on the brand and model of your unit.

Straightening The Coils

The only tool you might need to straighten the coil is a flat head screwdriver. You can also find coil straightening combs, but these don't always work great. Especially when you consider that different air conditioner manufacturers have different coil sizes, so not all combs work well with all brands. A flathead screwdriver will work fine but might be time consuming if you have an unusually large amount of bent coils. The goal is to make the gap between the ridges even. Of course you won't be able to make it perfect. But, it is important to make sure the ridges are not touching.

Cleaning the Coils

Once your coils are straightened, you should clean them. Since the coils are exposed to the elements, it is not uncommon for dirt to get stuck in between the ridges. This can hamper the functionality of the condensing process just as much as bent coils do. The best way to clean the coils is to spray them down with some all-purpose metal cleaner. Let the cleaner soak in a break down the dirt. Then, wash it out with a powerful hose stream.

Finally, you can turn your condenser power back on and start to enjoy a more efficient AC system. Best of all, this simple project is basically free and only takes an hour or two.