For those of you that have what is known as central air either in a house or an apartment condo whatever consider yourself lucky these usually work pretty good and are mold free.
Swamp coolers, which can only be used in dry arid hot conditions such as the desert Southwest US are different design which we covered last year.
I have a smaller older home which I have not yet installed central AC because of the cost. So I use a window unit in my bedroom and one of the portable indoor AC units in my living room on days above 85f.
The window units are not as high-quality design as they used to be. They do not have drains in the pan anymore because they supposedly are designed so the impeller in the water makes it more economical to run and satisfies the US energy requirements. However, this newer design in the last 10 years promotes mold growth, the old ones that actually had a drain did not have that Problem.
The fins on the outside also collect a lot of dirt debris. Do you live in an area that has cottonwood trees that float and cotton get stuck in there.
Every spring or early summer before installing my AC unit, I bring it out to the sidewalk. Take the cover off, protect the electronics with plastic and a bath towel over it. Then I tilt the whole unit on its side spray some mildew and mold remover killer on the inside impeller, let that soak for a while, also on the foam insert that you remove. I spray that and clean it also. Then with it tilted on its side and a 2 x 4 under one end of it so it’s actually even more of an angle, I take the garden hose to it and a toothbrush if I need to , get back to move. You can flush it from the back but actually remove the gunk. You need to access that from the inside The impeller
openings with the garden hose. once all the crap settles down to the side of the unit since it’s an angle I just pull the junk out with my fingers and hold it down more thoroughly tipping it over and draining it. I’ll leave it on for about
half hour if it’s windy , then I level it bring it inside and set it on my indoor front door mat and place off fan on it to dry. You cannot run these for probably eight hours after they’ve been sitting on their side. It’s just the mechanicals of the gas in the unit how that works. Once it’s all dried then I install it in my window.
Without Thorough cleaning you can reactivate dirt , mold and cause a lot of problems for your health
Excuse me if this needs editing I talked into my phone out on the sidewalk while I’m waiting for this thing to dry. iPhone dictation is noted for not Working so well anymore. It actually gets worse with every update lol.
If really confusing, I will edit later
Post Edited (astroman) : 6/16/2024 11:31:08 AM (GMT-8)