How to Clean Evaporator Coil in your Air Handler to INCREASE EFFICIENCY! EASY!

You should try to do this at the beginning of every cooling season. The coil outside (the condenser coil) gets much dirtier than the evaporator coil. In fact, after the first year in our home, I did not have to even brush the indoor coil. I just spray it down with evap coil cleaner (no rinse version) and let it do its thing. This will keep your system running at its best. If you do not have enough air flow across the indoor coil due to either a dirty filter or a dirty evap coil, the coil can freeze and the symptoms can mimic a low charge- leading to lack of cooling. The whole process on the evap coil can be done in less than an hour.
#evaporator #hvacmaintenance

[@ncwagner88]

After you spray it on, take a paint brush and run it in line with the fins, that will loosen up more dust and stuff on the coils. Other than that, great video. If you don't have a sprayer, a spray bottle will do as well. Peroxide, high proof rubbing alcohol, and water, equal parts in a spray bottle will do the trick as well and kill any bio. Again, run up and down the coil with it, brush it in. Then rinse. That works great as well

[@OGRH]

Thanks for the post, hope it does the trick... if I had known this strange buildup would occur I would have been doing this as regular maintenance. Funny what the AC man omits when discussing what to take care of... literally says change the filter regularly, and probably thinks in his head, see you soon bud!

[@caleblivaudais7573]

Thanks you so much for a straight to the point video!!! I have to do this to my coil

[@acidicpacific]

my man wearing a Rolex cleaning dirty coils in an attic

[@Samlol23_drrich]

I'm old enough to remember smokey and the bandit where Sally Fields asks Burt Reynolds if he ever takes off his hat...and his answer is "only for one thing" Well that may be TMI but that's the only time I take it off. For 20 years I've been wearing it 24/7. Takes a beating but it's meant to be used. Thanks for watching

[@shawnrossi6364]

I considered buying some sheets of magnet strips and putting them over the cracks on my AC unit. Therefore, I can remove them if I need to move the side. I ran into the same issue as you I had taped on my AC unit and had to cut it and was thinking man some magnetic sheets that I can cut the size would be perfect.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Thats a really good idea. Thank you for the suggestion

[@wesroberts1983]

Super helpful. Thank you!

[@lissyb5245]

Listen, sometimes we women don’t need a man when we have KZbin…..thanks for the help. I was able to cool my home without calling the neighbor since the husband wasting time. Thanks a million

[@Samlol23_drrich]

You know the old saying- if you want something to get done then do it yourself! Glad it was helpful. Thanks for commenting.

[@moonolyth]

Hah sometimes a man ain't worth nothing but a beer. Good luck to you... going have a beer and clean ...make my woman happy😅❤

[@mrsk8terforlife11]

Needs the man in the video but didn’t need a man ?

[@TheDonovanFisher]

​@Dalton just what I was thinking lol

[@mrsk8terforlife11]

@@TheDonovanFisher hard to stand up for strong independent women when they don’t even know what they are saying half the time 🤣

[@MultiHairypotter]

Nice and simple, thank you. I’ve herd about that foam cleaner and will be looking for it at one of the lumber stores nearby unless you bought it from an online source. Thanks again, it helps a lot.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

I think Home Depot has it during cooling season. If not, you can always try Amazon or supplyhouse.com. Thanks for commenting.

[@LiveeyePhoto]

Yes and no, I got some of it cleaned but there is a lot more I need to get. Thinking of bringing the hose inside and use a wet dry vac. What do you think?

[@Samlol23_drrich]

What makes you think its not clean enough? I wouldn't blast the coil that hard. If it were easier, I would have brought a hose upstairs. I would suggest using gentle pressure

[@wendyandmattschick7757]

I recommend distilled water to rinse but my tap water is extremely hard.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Not a bad idea. You don’t have a softener?

[@LiveeyePhoto]

Yea I don’t have an a coil either. My AC was not holding the temp so I bought a new filter, did not help. Went outside to spray cold water on coils outside did not work. Took the filter off again looked at the coils inside and they were so dirty. Our wash machine and dryer are right near the air handler so I think a lot of lint comes into play

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Did it work?

[@nakfoor1846]

It seems to me it would be good practice to spray water from the opposite side to eject the dirt from the side it came, rather than deeper into the coil. But with your setup that might not be possible to contain the water. What do you think?

[@Samlol23_drrich]

I think in a vacuum you’re right. But in practice that’s not possible with the type of coil I have and the direction of air flow. Also, the stuff I used is rinse free, which means it’s meant to dissolve the dirt and have it run through the fins and drip into the pan and out of the house. So I basically just helped that process along. For a condenser I agree. Best to spray inside the unit to outside. For a slant evap coil I think what I did was fine. Both of my AC units were installed in 1989 and are running strong as I type this. So you tell me if it’s working.

[@dallaspilotcar9293]

Hey, this looks like my ac and my is a horizontal slope coil However, there is no plenum only the large intake duct is directly over the coil. The coil gets really dirty.

[@Monzt3r]

everyone on youtube says no rinse cleaner and then proceeds to rinse it. *shrugs shoulders*

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Cause it does t have to be rinsed off. It’s removed by the condensate water, but it’s still removed. Not like I’m removing it rather than leaving it forever. I would think it gets cleaner using water pressure in addition to the cleaner. It probably does. The reason it says no rinse is cause if it didn’t nobody would buy it.

[@wayne69wayne69]

Can you put a indoor coil under the house meaning the crawl spaces or do it have to be a outdoor coil??

[@Samlol23_drrich]

You can put the air handler in an attic or basement. I've never seen one in a crawl space but you should ask someone in the field. I'm not. Sorry.

[@xisotopex]

is it necessary to rinse the coil cleaner off of the evaporator coils?

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Nah. I dont think so. The coil cleaner i used was "non rinse". In other words as it produces condensation it gets rid of the cleaner. But I figured it couldn't hurt to rinse it off. Thanks!

[@karlthompson693]

If the condensate drain is clogged, would it cause the coil to freeze ? I cleaned the coil 2 days ago with that spray/foam but today it started freezing again… help !

[@Samlol23_drrich]

No, unfortunately the coil will freeze if you are low on refrigerant (ie leak in the system), or low air flow cause the air filter is clogged or there is something wrong with the fan in the air handler. I would start with the easiest thing- the filter.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Watch this if you are interested. It explains in a lot of detail. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHi9noSZgb9ga6csi=hTaOCmVPoJ4AM-bE

[@vin.handle]

How often do I need to rinse the coils? Once a year? Once every 2 years? Thank you.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

I'm a dentist so take my response as not from an expert. I do it once a year.. it probably depends on where you live how often do you run your AC, and if you have any pets. Warm climate, run ac a lot, have 3 dogs and cats= clean more. It's probably more important to clean your outdoor coil. I do that twice a season

[@vin.handle]

Thank you. Much appreciated.@@Samlol23_drrich

[@dps6198]

The real test is does it clean all the way do the other side. The fins are very thin and very close together. If that isn't cleaned regularly then you'll never be able to get all that crap out from between those fins.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

You're right. Thanks for commenting

[@scottreal-time1778]

I see you have big insulation blocks taped on your unit does this help?

[@Samlol23_drrich]

I wish I knew the answer to that. I know it makes me feel like it’s doing something. Our house has a lower attic that the prior owner planned to finish but never did. When they moved out they left us at least 15 rolls of high R attic batting insulation along with a lot of sheets of thick styrofoam insulation. I’ve been using it on various things, and since it was sitting around I figured it couldn’t hurt to over insulate. So I made a box and enclosed the whole house exhaust fan, and put it on the return plenum as well as the air handler. I would think if it was helpful other people would’ve done it. I know I can’t make it worse.. thanks for the question

[@barbaraadams8219]

Mine froze up last year. D you suppose it self-cleaned?

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Did you get the issue fixed? They freeze up cause of low airflow or low refrigerant usually. Could be a dirty filter or dirty evap coil. If you got the issue fixed I would still clean the coil with a chemical. It gets the dirt out from in the fins. I don't think the ice self cleaned it though.

[@T_TiMe-os1om]

Did your house smell like the cleaner after you were done cleaning? If so how long?

[@Samlol23_drrich]

No odor at all. The coil cleaner is completely odorless as I recall and there was no smell after the cleaning was completed. Of course I did rinse it off rather than leave it to drain away slowly. Definitely worth doing. The first time I cleaned that coil after I bought the house I could see a huge difference. It was filthy. Now I do it yearly, so not so much visible dirt. Good luck. It’s well worth the effort , especially if your air handler is fairly accessible.

[@TheDanielRodriguez]

Did you need to shut the power off first?

[@Samlol23_drrich]

I guess the answer is yes. Although it’s not necessary to pull the power for safety, you don’t want the ac unit to come on while you are cleaning the coil. I have a shut off switch next to the air handler to turn that off, so I usually just set the thermostat 10 degrees warmer than it is in the house (which will prevent the unit from running for a while) plus flip the switch. Good point. Thanks for commenting.

[@TheDanielRodriguez]

@@Samlol23_drrich Sorry for the silly question. Great video! I was just double checking! 😁

[@jaymeez]

You’re supposed to let that cleaner sit for a few minutes to actually work aren’t you? Seems like you rinsed it off right away

[@Samlol23_drrich]

Yes. The edit at 1:30 or after spraying it on was leaving my attic, cleaning out any insecticide residue from my sprayer, filling it with fresh water, and lugging it to the attic. Probably about 10 minutes. You shouldn’t rinse it right away. Thanks for commenting

[@photographyinflight4183]

Come on dude, you want to sit here for 10 minutes on the video to watch it soak? Of course he edited out that boring time.

[@bomark2002]

What kind of water sprayer did you have there?

[@Samlol23_drrich]

It’s a battery powered backpack sprayer for pesticides. It’s made by flowzone I think it’s the original typhoon. I used to just let the evaporator chemicals sit there and slowly drain away with the condensate. But then I realized on the outside condensing unit coil I spray it off with a hose end sprayer, so why not try to dislodge some of the dirt in the evaporator coil with pressurized water. Really anything like that would work, even a ten dollar pump up sprayer for chemicals from Home Depot.. thanks for commenting

[@bomark2002]

@@Samlol23_drrich yea man that was an awesome idea

[@OmarGonzalez-ye5sy]

Could I just use my regular water hoes , they are very long and bring them up in attic and spray it down that way ?. That typhoon is expensive lol

[@tanklergaming103]

@@OmarGonzalez-ye5sy distilled......

[@chrisjenkins203]

@@OmarGonzalez-ye5syyou can use a spray bottle, if you prefer to rinse the foam off, prior to the unit turning back on. Otherwise, the natural condensation that forms when the unit runs will also rinse out the foam and trapped/dissolved debris.

[@Thisishard2333]

Listen folks. Use quality filters in all your returns.Stop the dust before it gets to your air handler. I always hear use a cheap filter but change it often. Sorry BS. It’s the same cost . No way should it ever ever get that dirty.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

I wish you were right. But unfortunately you're not. Watch any video or speak to any HVAC expert about which filters to use. The good ones restrict too much air flow- and choke the systems which could lead to icing up of the coil. I go with as low as I can find - 3 or 5 on the made up home depot scale in order to boost airflow. Dust particles are so small many will get in regardless of how good your filtration is. Even my HEPA filtration in my dental office has crap get through. Thanks for commenting though- it would seem you are correct if one didn't know better. (Not trying to be insulting at all. Just saying it's intuitive to think a better filter would decrease cleaning.......)

[@djcl4967]

@@Samlol23_drrich So right.

[@chrisjenkins203]

It’s nice to see that this comment has been corrected. Spending extra money on “heavy duty” filters is not only counter productive for the unit but it’s just a waste of money.

[@rngri45rusty97]

The whole purpose of that cleaner is that it needs to sit on the coils for 10 or so minutes so it will foam up and push the crap out. Rinsing immediately accomplished nothing.

[@Samlol23_drrich]

I guess you didn’t read through the comments because I answered that years ago. of course it needs to dwell for at least 10 minutes to get into the coil and work on the dirt. The video is edited for time. I should have put a little chyron on the video mentioning that. Heck the stuff I bought isn’t even supposed to be washed off. Appreciate the comment though cause if I washed it off immediately you would be right.

[@chrisjenkins203]

Did you want to watch a video that included 5-10 minutes of watching the foam work? Of course that in between time was edited out.