When you undertake cleaning of your air conditioner, you have to follow some steps in order to make sure not to miss anything. Cleaning is easy enough and you dont need to get an AC contractor to do it for you, well, unless you want to! Your domestic air conditioner has two basic parts that you must make sure to clean. You have to make sure that the inner and outer coils are clean and free form dirt or grit. You also must make sure that the filter has been cleaned in order for it to work effectively.
As we have mentioned, you must always take care to clean out your filter. This is something that you can do daily, weekly or monthly though the longer it stays without being cleaned out, the harder it might be. If its during high heat season where there is a lot of dust, you can try to check out your filter and clean it at least once in two weeks. Depending on where it is located, you will have to remove it from the air conditioner and clean out the dirt by either using soft brush or a cleaner. If it has too much grime, you can soak it up for a bit before washing it.
The thermostat plays a very important role in your AC and you should make sure you inspect it when cleaning your AC. You can make sure its working in its best condition by reducing the temperature or setting it at high and observing how your AC responds. If it doesnt seem to work the way you expect it to, you might have to call a technician to take a look.
Your air conditioner has coils that help in condensation and heating process when your air conditioner is running. You will have to clean the coils as they could have a layer of dirt or worse, grit that has formed when the condensed air and the dust particles collided. You have to make sure you do not damage the coils during cleaning and that you use only water and a soft cloth. Afterwards, after the coils have dried, you need to turn on the AC and have it at a low setting so that the condensed air can further clean out the coils. You will also be able to tell if the coils are working properly.
After everything has been cleaned out, you can use a soft cloth to clean out the outside parts of your AC just so you can get rid of dust or smoke fumes that could have accumulated.
Before you begin any work on your air conditioner, you have to ensure you have turned off the power. Working on an air conditioner that is own puts you at a very great risk as you could end up being electrocuted. After turning off the power, give your AC time to cool off before you start working on it. After cleaning, make sure every part that you washed is dry before turning the AC back on.