How to Clean the Indoor Coils of a Central Air Conditioner

Properly maintaining your air conditioner is vital to keep it running efficiently and to avoid costly repairs down the road. You should clean the indoor coils of a central air conditioner at least once a year as part of your annual spring cleaning and maintenance. By staying on top of this simple chore it will be a quick job and will extend the life of your unit.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Vacuum cleaner with brush attachment
• Coil brush
• Coil cleaner
• Towel

1. Lift the cover off the air conditioning unit. On most units the cover slides right off, but some may be attached with screws. You can unscrew these and set them in a safe place until you reattach the cover.

2. Vacuum the coils with the brush attachment.

3. Spray coil cleaner onto the coils if the vacuum does not remove all the dust or if they are particularly dirty. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes and then scrub the coils with a coil brush to finish dislodging the dirt.

4. Wipe the excess cleaner off with the towel and vacuum once more to pick up any debris that were loosened while cleaning.

5. Slide the cover back on the air conditioner. Reattach any screws.

Tips & Warnings

• Cover the knobs with plastic wrap to avoid getting cleaner in the electrical components.
• Do not use canned air to clean coils. It will blow debris into the circulating air.

Resources

• A handy home maintenance schedule to keep your home in top shape.