Cleaning a coil. It’s a job that seems like it could be a little complicated, maybe messy, and falls in the category of something I never thought I would do. (That’s what dads and boyfriends are for, right?). So when I found out I was going to have the experience of cleaning my first condenser while at work, I didn’t know how well it was going to go. First of all, it was HOT outside. Secondly, I was wearing a dress. Didn’t seem like the optimal “coil cleaning conditions” to me.
We went outside and inspected the condenser and found that it had been a little neglected and probably needed to be cleaned to get the dirt/grime/leaves off. First, I needed to pick a coil cleaner from the wide array that Nu-Calgon offers. I chose Cal-Green from the Green Select product line. This particular coil cleaner won’t kill plants or grass around the condenser. More importantly, if an innocent little animal happens to drink up some of the Cal-Green that ends up in the grass it won’t hurt them! Even though Cal-Green is a safe product made from natural ingredients, you should always wear goggles and gloves when using coil cleaning chemicals. After the product was ready to go, I was shown two different ways to clean the coil. The first option was using a pump poly sprayer. The poly sprayer worked very well, and I was able to quickly apply the Cal-Green to the condenser. However I preferred the second method using a coil gun. The coil gun easily attached to the hose and did the work for me and sped the process up even more!
Cal-Green is a non-foaming coil cleaner but I could see very quickly how well it cleaned the condenser. Once the Cal-Green is applied you want to let it set for about 5-10 minutes to get maximum cleaning effects. After giving the Cal-Green about 5 minutes to soak, I rinsed if off with water and voila it was clean! The whole process was very easy and took less than ten minutes.
If you need to have your coil cleaned, contact a licensed HVAC contractor to clean your unit. Contractors use the strongest chemicals available and have the materials to get your coil good as new.
