The air conditioner is designed to create a comfortable indoor climate, which helps a person survive a hot or cold period or season. But, like many devices, not only an industrial air conditioner, but also a household one requires some care and maintenance for stable, high-quality work. Otherwise, there is a possibility of a breakdown or, worse, a negative impact on a person’s well-being and health. Organizations that install air conditioners often provide AC cleaning services for the maintenance of such equipment.
In no case should you regard this as a reason to make money on you. But a real need for both the user and the air conditioning system itself.
And as mentioned above, if you do not carry out diagnostics and washing in a timely manner, this will shorten the life of the air conditioner and may increase electricity consumption, not to mention a threat to health. It is recommended to call specialists from the service center 1-2 times a year.
Is it possible and how to clean the air conditioner (AC) yourself?
The answer to this question is a tumultuous yes/no. Of course, you can clean the air conditioner filter superficially and wash the indoor unit without problems. Wipe it from dust – this process is not difficult:
- Disconnect the air conditioner from the socket;
- Open the cover of the indoor unit;
- Take out the filter, clean it with a vacuum cleaner, then rinse with water;
- Wipe the dust in the indoor unit;
- Replace dry filters carefully.
But this is only the surface of the iceberg, since the main duct AC cleaning of the split system must be carried out using special equipment. And in general, the whole complex can hardly be called “cleansing”, rather it is cleaning, diagnostics, and prevention.
What happens if you don’t clean and troubleshoot your air conditioner?
Unfortunately, there is often an opinion: “Why clean the air conditioner if it works so well?”. However, it’s vital to remember that air passes through the filters and the system as a whole. Containing dust, bacteria, and other microorganisms that, if not cleaned, will linger on the parts of air conditioners. And over time, the more such harmful particles accumulate inside the device, the air conditioner, instead of purifying the air, will pollute it with a greater concentration. And this is just one of the many possible causes of respiratory disease, poor health, and allergies.In addition to the above. The collection of dust inside the device leads to its overheating, which can lead to damage to the inverter or non-inverter air conditioner, as well as increase electricity consumption. Therefore, the service life and quality of the device, depends on how often the air conditioner is cleaned.
How often should you clean your air conditioner (AC)?
The answer to the question “How often should I clean the air conditioner?” completely depends on how often the split system is intensively used, the level of air pollution.
Basically, cleaning the air conditioner at home should be done once a month or according to the degree of contamination of the filters in the indoor unit. But we should not forget about the external block. It may be necessary to clean the radiator, blades, drain piping and heat exchangers. But this task should already be entrusted to specialists from the service center, since it is not recommended and difficult to carry out such work on your own without special skills, knowledge and equipment. Let’s briefly consider
how the maintenance of split systems and cleaning is carried out:
- diagnostics – before starting work, it is necessary to diagnose your inverter or non-inverter air conditioner, the specialist disassembles the indoor unit, checks all connections of wires, pipes and conducts a preliminary inspection;
- Cleaning the turbine of the indoor unit. This action is carried out using a steam device at a temperature of 120 ° C. A special antibacterial agent is applied to completely destroy and remove bacteria and microorganisms;
- Blowing out the drainage system. So that the air conditioner does not leak into the room, the master blows a drain to drain the condensate out;
- Cleaning of the outdoor unit. With special, professional equipment under high water pressure, the master cleans the heat exchanger of the outdoor unit. A dirty heat exchanger can cause a drop in the performance of a split or multi-split system;
- Freon Pressure Check . This action takes place with the help of special equipment and, if necessary, a specialist will refuel freon;
- Performance Testing . And in the end, the specialist checks and makes sure that the air conditioner is working correctly after the actions taken.
