A/C coils clogged up due to dryer vent

[BeeMaster2]

After I checked out my brother?s AC unit icing up I decided to check out my main AC unit. At first t thought it was also froze up but upon further inspection, I realized that it was covered in a thin layer of dust bunnies. When the house was built, I made the mistake of not planning where utilities were to be installed. The dryer vent is in the front of the breezeway and the AC condenser is ten feet away downwind of the prevailing winds. I never liked where they installed the condenser because it is right behind the chairs on the breezeway.
I took the covers off of the condenser and here are the pictures of it. I have been noticing that my electric bill has been going up and up for quite a while now. Now I know why. By the way I checked the second AC condenser on the opposite side of the house and it is very clean. I can see through the coils.
The first picture is looking through the vents, the second one is what it looks like with the cover removed and I had already started cleaning it. The third picture is the second side and then the third side.

[BeeMaster2]

The next picture is the back side with cleaning well under way. The second one is the inside of the cover. If you are doing this yourself, be sure to clean them also. The third picture is after the initial cleaning, I then went back and brushed the coils until the dust stopped coming out. The last picture is all of the dryer lint that I removed from the condenser.
It is not a hard job to do, just try not to lose the screws. I?m expecting my electric bill to drop by a lot.
Jim Altmiller

[Terri Yaki]

Yeah, that's a lot of lint. Now to figure out how to solve that issue.

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
That is 8 years of build up. The correct answer is it should have been placed on the backside of the house not close and down wind of the dryer vent.
Jim Altmiller

[Terri Yaki]

Terri,
That is 8 years of build up. The correct answer is it should have been placed on the backside of the house not close and down wind of the dryer vent.
Jim Altmiller

I'm thinking it's kind of late for that and that your next best solution is some kind of barrier to keep the lint off of it. Something like a screen in between them somehow.

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
I would have to build a tent over it made of netting. Not too feasible. I will have to keep an eye on it. We have been living here for 8 years so hopefully it will bee okay for a few years.
Jim Altmiller

[iddee]

Not a tent. Just a porous bag tied over the vent, changed as needed.

[BeeMaster2]

I can do that, it will have to be a large one. I?m thinking about a 5 gallon paint filter.
Jim Altmiller

[Terri Yaki]

Something makes me think I've heard of women's stocking filling that position. Plenty of surface area to last a while.

[animal]

Jim,
I hate to say this, but the coils aren't clean. You've finished with the first step. I would have done it with a garden hose from the inside, but as long as you haven't bent the fins, you're doing great. If you have folded some fins over, you can get a fin comb from a refrigeration supply store (or probably Amazon) to straighten them back out.
After 8 years the coils of both units are sure to be dirty and oxidized, which cuts down the efficiency quite a lot.

On outside units, this means shutting power off and removing both the outside case and the fan assembly. I would start by flushing the coils and base with a garden hose and cleaning out the drainage holes on the base. Being super careful to not use too much pressure and bend fins. Then mix up a foaming coil cleaner (caustic soda based stuff is as good or better than acid based in almost all cases and easier to deal with) in a pump-up sprayer and spray coils thoroughly from the inside .. so when it foams up, it tends to push the gunk towards the outside of the unit. Let it work until the foam quits "pushing". Spray any problem areas again heavily and other areas enough to keep them wet. When done, flush thoroughly with water from the inside out and reassemble unit.   

on the inside, I usually use the spray can detergent stuff sprayed from the outlet side of the coils to push gunk towards the air intake side .. unless they're really nasty .. then it's usually like the outside coils except rinsing with another pump sprayer and with a shop vac handy... because it can get really messy.

[BeeMaster2]

Thanks Animal. I didn?t damage the fins. I use a fine plastic brush. On this unit before I started you could not see through it. You can now. On the second unit I can see through it. Maybe some day I will give it a caustic cleaning. The fins are still shiny. I didn?t see a lot of white buildup which by the way is actually a bacterial that eats aluminum.
The next time that I have to clean it I will keep that in mind.
Jim Altmiller

[buzzbee]

If you have a good compressed air supply, we use what is called an "air  comb" in the auto repair business to clean out radiators and a/c condensers.
It is surprising how many people have their systems recharged and the air only blows cool at highway speeds.
Some places don't bother with the blowout on an a/c service.

[Michael Bush]

I only have a couple of window units, but they get clogged badly from the cottonwood cotton.  It gets rained on and becomes glued on felt.  I don't envy you cleaning it up...