iwannadie
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Gilbert, Az
I decided to clean my ac condenser and share my method and results.
Reason for cleaning? Well, it is a 97 and as far as I know the condenser has never been touched, years collecting junk. Az doesn't have much of a bug problem and the dry heat seems to turn the ones that do collect into dust pretty quick. I have been without ac for about a year and got the ac fixed recently and then I noticed my temps were pretty high with the ac running. According to my ultragauge(have confirmed it with an IR gun in the past) I was going over 220 with max ac and outside temps over 100-110. If I sat and idled the temps would creep up pretty fast. My cooling system is in good shape all well maintained etc.
I used Web ac coil cleaner, about 6 bucks at home depot and used the entire can.
I removed the headlight bezels and grill to get access to the condenser. I used a shop vac with brush attachment to pull all the loose stuff out first.
Sprayed the cleaner and let it foam up then respraying twice before the can ran out. 1 can seemed like it was just enough.
Used low pressure water to rinse all of the cleaner out. I was kind of surprised how much rinsing it took to get it all out. I feel like alot made it past the condenser to the radiator which is good.
Using compressed air I started from behind the radiator back flushing junk out of the front. With the shroud and fans in the way it took some effort to get as much as I could from that side.
Moved to the front and went up and down each row blowing the fins out a few times.
Right away I noticed that I was seeing daylight through the condenser, I didn't see day light when I started. Taking it for a test run my ac felt noticable colder. My temps were much better and hovered right around 210 with ac full blast. Stopping and idle I would creep up to 212 and worst I saw was 215. Once moving the temps went back to 210 pretty fast.
So, I feel the 6 bucks on cleaner and maybe 15 minutes were well worth it. Just seeing daylight through the condeser after cleaning was a huge difference.
Maybe before buying a new condensor like I was about to, give it a good cleaning and see what happens.
Reason for cleaning? Well, it is a 97 and as far as I know the condenser has never been touched, years collecting junk. Az doesn't have much of a bug problem and the dry heat seems to turn the ones that do collect into dust pretty quick. I have been without ac for about a year and got the ac fixed recently and then I noticed my temps were pretty high with the ac running. According to my ultragauge(have confirmed it with an IR gun in the past) I was going over 220 with max ac and outside temps over 100-110. If I sat and idled the temps would creep up pretty fast. My cooling system is in good shape all well maintained etc.
I used Web ac coil cleaner, about 6 bucks at home depot and used the entire can.
I removed the headlight bezels and grill to get access to the condenser. I used a shop vac with brush attachment to pull all the loose stuff out first.
Sprayed the cleaner and let it foam up then respraying twice before the can ran out. 1 can seemed like it was just enough.
Used low pressure water to rinse all of the cleaner out. I was kind of surprised how much rinsing it took to get it all out. I feel like alot made it past the condenser to the radiator which is good.
Using compressed air I started from behind the radiator back flushing junk out of the front. With the shroud and fans in the way it took some effort to get as much as I could from that side.
Moved to the front and went up and down each row blowing the fins out a few times.
Right away I noticed that I was seeing daylight through the condenser, I didn't see day light when I started. Taking it for a test run my ac felt noticable colder. My temps were much better and hovered right around 210 with ac full blast. Stopping and idle I would creep up to 212 and worst I saw was 215. Once moving the temps went back to 210 pretty fast.
So, I feel the 6 bucks on cleaner and maybe 15 minutes were well worth it. Just seeing daylight through the condeser after cleaning was a huge difference.
Maybe before buying a new condensor like I was about to, give it a good cleaning and see what happens.
