Are you sick and tired of paying huge utility bills during the summer months? Have you noticed that your air conditioner seems to suck up more and more energy as it struggles to cool down your home effectively? The fact of the matter is, your AC system is going to become less efficient over time, especially if you don't regularly maintain it. There are many different components in a central air system that can reduce efficiency or completely fail over time. This article focuses on one particularly vulnerable component in the system. The evaporator in a normal AC system needs to be cleaned on a regular basis if you want your AC to be efficient.
What and Where is the Evaporator?
The evaporator is a complicated mechanism that (to put it simply), enables the refrigerant to absorb heat. By absorbing heat in the furnace compartment, it allows the furnace blower to pump cold air into your home (when you are running AC) or pump cold air out of your home (if you are running your heat). As you can see, it is vital when it comes to heating your home too. The whole process is a little technical, but cleaning the evaporator is simple.
The evaporator is almost always in a separate box, which is attached to the top of the furnace cabinet. It is smaller than the main furnace compartment. There should be an access panel on the backside that you can open up without any tools. Most residential furnaces have an A-frame evaporator, with the vital coils mounted to the outside walls of the A.
How to Clean the Evaporator
When cleaning the evaporator, it is most important that you clean the coils. These are the active part of the evaporator and they are exposed, making them the most likely to get dirty or moldy. The coils are usually aluminum or copper and they can get dirt caked onto them. You don't want to just scrape all the dirt off because you could end up damaging the coils. Instead, you should try to use a hose vacuum. This usually works unless the dirt is moist and caked onto the coils. If so, you should carefully use a scrub brush to knock the dirt off. Then, vacuum all the resulting debris out of the evaporator box.
This simple job will only take a few minutes and it won't cost you a thing! When you need assistance, make sure that you are calling for professional HVAC repair.
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