The other day I was in front of a customer’s home in Flower Mound. I looked up and it appeared to be snowing. It was cottonwood trees raining down their little cotton seeds.
As an AC guy my first thought is, they are getting sucked right into every AC unit in this neighborhood, forming a thin blanket on the outdoor unit and dramatically reducing the unit’s ability to cool the home.
This time of the year means there is all kinds of stuff in the air. Dirt, dust, pollen, dog hair, grass clippings, and cottonwood seeds. They get stirred up in our yards and often get sucked into your outdoor unit. Once this film starts to build up on your outdoor coil, as little as 1/32 of an inch thick, your system performance is degraded, and your electric bill can go thru the roof.
What can you do? Simply clean this debris/film off your outdoor unit yourself by rinsing down the coil of your outdoor unit with low pressure water from your garden hose.
First, disconnect the power to the unit at the electric panel on the outside wall right there by your outdoor unit. Open the panel and turn off the breaker or pull the fuse plate.
Next rinse the fine vertical aluminum fins on your outdoor unit from the top working you way down to the bottom on all four sides. While wet you’ll likely see a film resembling you dryer vent screen. Rinse all this away with no more pressure than you can create by the old school thumb spray.
Don’t feel uncomfortable doing this yourself or have a unit where the coils are not accessible due to a louvered shroud? Contact us at forcehomeservices.com. It would be our pleasure to serve you.
