TOOLS USED IN THIS VIDEO: Klein nut driver:amzn.to/42rNL2I Coil Comb Kit: amzn.to/42zrVKH Coil Cleaner: amzn.to/3VEwj90 Compact nut driver: amzn.to/3HIILPh GET ALL YOUR FILTER NEEDS TAKEN CARE OF HERE: filterbuy.com/qYEa1J0knccjlwekk7Hc/ ALL MY FAVORITE HVAC TOOLS: www.amazon.com/shop/thediyhvacguy?ref=ac_inf_tb_vh
@@elvolution93 yous because i point a mo fo doing some DIY 💩 and saying is excellent ?? , if he had said this is how you can get by i wouldn’t have said anything
You gave me the courage to clean my coil. It took me about 5 hours just because I was extremely careful not to break or bend anything. My system is over 20 years old. It was not as bad as I thought but it was bad. Thanks for the detailed video.
Update: for the last several summers my AC would run nonstop on hot days. After cleaning my coil it runs and cool down the house and shuts off. My condensate is noticeably much heavier than before.
I have "cleaned" my coils on several occasions. I never thought about sliding the entire assembly out of the duct work! I did even think it was possible without discharging the system. Thank you so much.
Thank you for this, I got quoted $360 plus $150 for the diagnosis of a dirty evap coil today. I gave him the $150 and told him I'd like to wait on the cleaning. Now I'm fixing to save myself some cash 😂
A good idea would be to have a shop vac going while pulling out the dirt clogs, to catch the plume of dust. Also, if possible, if you seal around the filter's edge with painter's tape, you can almost completely eliminate bypass, keeping coils clean much longer.
That's a good tip about the painter's tape. The contractor who installed my unit when the house was built didn't even include a filter housing. The filter just lays diagonally in the duct. A real hack job. But using your tip could make it work better.
I am a homeowner and I've never known about this. I have lived in my home for 7 years now and when I bought it it was not in tip top shape. My house has been very musty smelling for the last month and I think this is my issue. Only thing is getting to the evap coils. It is almost unable to be removed like this, so I have my whole weekend set aside to tear into my a/c evap and condenser coil cleaning.... I'll bet they will make your look like it was spotless to begin with.. Thank you for the help on this. Got coil cleaner and a comb to get this done. Very helpful video, I owe you an adult beverage as you just helped me save a LOT of money.
This video is awesome. Our A/C was mostly inoperable. It wasn't able to cool the house anymore on hot days. Turns our filter didn't have a good seal and ton of pet fur got sucked up into the coil. We have 3 cats and big dog so it checks out. It was a hassle to get everything opened up but I was able to effectively clean the coil following your guide. Now our A/C is totally functional again. Thanks!
where your overflow shut off is, if you take the float off it and pour a cup of vinegar down that pipe that goes into your drain pain, once per month, you'll never have to worry about Alge buildup in your drain line again. Plus it keeps the drain pain clean of any alge growth.
Once a month would be a real PITA for me. Our air handler is in the attic and we live in the Charlotte area where its reaches 90+ multiple months a year. But I know that it would help a lot.
Just pulled the cover off mine.. 17 years old and still clean.. Im a smoker and i had a large german shepard for 12 of those years.. i was surprised it was still pretty clean.. a little discolored brownish but overall clear of debris. Always keep my filter changed!
@@Jackie-O.Louisiana I have no reason to lie to a bunch of strangers on youtube..Maybe its because i dont keep my house very cool or hot and turn it off when im at work.. Low usage i guess..
I had a local company in Jacksonville Florida called Waycoff's Heating & Air try to charge me $2100 to clean my coil. They also wanted $400 for their cheapest new thermostat. Then they told me I needed a new blower motor for $900 installed. All together they wanted $3400. When I bitched about the price, he tried to sell me a new unit. LOL I told them they were freaking NUTZ and to get out of my house. I asked around to all my friends if they new anybody that did a/c work. I guarantee somebody you know will know someone that does. I called the guy and told him where I got his name. He came out and did the coil cleaning for $400, the thermostat for $150 and he told me I didn't need a blower motor at all. Those technicians working for the bigger companies work on commission, so the repairs are overpriced and when you are in sticker shock, they try to sell you a new unit. Don't fall for it. Bunch of crooks.
As an HVAC self-employed contractor in So Tex, that is the reason the big boys have a fleet of new trucks whilst I, drive a 23-year-old mini-van with no AC. I just can't make myself charge that much for any repair or cleaning. I guess I'm old school or a fool or both!
@@livingyourbestlife711 Good for you. I'm sure your customers appreciate you and if they are anything like me, they'll recommend you to all of their friends. Stay COOL!! 😁
@@Franchise38 Honestly, if I had it to do over, I might just try to do it myself. I'm sure there are plenty of videos on TH-cam on how to do it. Literally only took the guy about an hour for $400. It's not rocket science. Might save you even more money. But if you want to pay someone, I would start asking friends, family and coworkers if they know someone. Somebody will.
Good info, thanks. I checked filterbuy. Unfortunately, they do not list the static pressure drop (in inches of water column) that their filters cause. Filters are one of the most restrictive elements of an AC system. I switched from a MERV 11 - 1 inch filter to a 4 inch filter which had a low static pressure drop. My CFM at the return grill went from 980 to 1300. It was much quieter, as well, as there was less air friction. After cleaning the evaporator coils and straightening the return grill fins, my CFM is now up to 1750.
Thanks very much for an excellent tutorial that takes the daunting cost of having someone diagnose an HVAC system and put it into proper perspective . Well done young man .
what is so daunting about it? everyone has the knowledge oi the world in the palm of their hand today and that takes all the challenge out of it. The only thing an hvac technician will do that you cant do is work faster at a job. Anyone who does anything all the time gets good at it. Doing this the first time for anyone will just take longer but the results will be the same or , in most cases, even better than what you pay someone else who doesnt really gaf about your hvac system past the bill hes giving you.
I have done this a couple of times. I have found that on some of the hard to get to screws, or even most screws, you can just buy a roll of the silver metal tape to secure the panels in place. next time all you need is a utility knife. seems to me a shop vac with a brush head would do a good job of cleaning the coils but the spray wouldn't hurt as well. screws will almost always take a 1/4 or 5/16 socket. (1/4 in drive). Don't forget to put a towel or newspaper at the bottom to prevent all that crap from falling down into the furnace. check the drain pan. Thanks for the good video.
Honestly I’m amazed we haven’t figured out a better design by now for heat exchange in our central air systems. I know there’re plenty of people out there that don’t even know they’re supposed to change a simple filter, but even from a serviceability perspective there’s got to be something…better.
There is no reason we can''t create a marketplace standard for quick & easy access panels designed for the consumer to easily clean evaporator coils, but no. It gets far worse than this for many systems, and it all happens because governments aren't doing their job in creating proper serviceability standards. This could all have easily been corrected decades ago, but we ignore the problem year after year, expecting an industry to correct it for us which has zero interest in doing so.
@@uvhciM true, the problem is that from the consumer perspective it costs a lot of money to implement any of these changes, so it doesn’t happen quickly even once they are available. But that’s just it, they’re really not available at all, even today. Like you say, it shouldn’t have been difficult 20+ years ago to design the newer generations of these coils to have some sort of access panels and drain systems to divert the runoff, or even change the typical straight vertical coil-over-fan so that there was a better layout in place for cleaning without fear of everything falling straight into your fan/electrics etc. I will say a lot of the issue is that in a lot of cases the utility space is a huge limiting factor to the install that complicates things, in that the final product is hardly ever as nice or what you have in mind. Compromises have to be made. So it is difficult to produce a simple modular type system that will fit every scenario and work as intended, but I would definitely like to see some productive conveniences implemented that would make it easier for the tech and homeowner alike to service and maintain, as well as allow the systems to last longer.
I was watching a “pros don’t want you to know this secret” short about cleaning your condenser unit and it reminded me about my pet peeve with those too. Back in the early 90s at least some of the units came with a fan guard that was removable *without removing the fan and motor assembly* from the top of the condenser. Why TF did they ever do away with that design that allowed for easy access to flushing the condenser from the inside out by any homeowner?? Or was the risk just too great that some idiot would forget to pull the breaker and chop their arm off… we’ve become either so reduced by the lowest common denominator or whatever saves the mfgr $.75 on the assembly line, one or the both, but either way it’s entirely fd us for decades now.
I had a large HEPA filter installed in the main collector before the evap. Simple access quick change. Last time I looked the evap looked like new. It was under 1000 bucks extra and worth every penny! Disgusting what gunk is in the air inside a house!
Your a good man Charlie Brown! Best video I've seen to date, by far. Great presentation, detail oriented, with solid recommendations. Thank you & keep up the good work!
At minimum, read the section with ***** (It may help a few people) Great video to bring to our attention the need to service our HVAC which may decrease seasonal allergies and prevent an early HVAC demise. After watching, I anxiously took a vacuum, soft rubber (not foam) self-sealing 7/8" water pipe insulation, sissors and a hand swifter to the 2019 installed HVAC I have. Although it's much more difficult to attempt to pull out the coils, I took a hard look at the intake, filter and HVAC surface areas anywhere I could reach. Everything in reach, including electronics, received some sort of vacuum/wipe down. The swifter picked up some fine dust somewhere in unseen corners. I'll leave the A frame coils alone for now. ***** To prevent dirty air from getting around your filter and into your HVAC. As for the 7/8" soft rubber self-sealing water pipe insulation, I cut it straight up the middle (long way) so I had two long lengths, each with one sticky pull tape edge. Measuring the length of the filter I cut two equal pieces of the insulation. I put the filter back in (a 5" thick filter) pushing it as close to the fan as possible leaving an intake side top and bottom gap between the filter and housing. Now I know where the cut half pieces of insulation are going to be placed and how. A trial run was performed prior to removing the sticky side cellophane protection. Now pulling off a small length of sticky side cellophane I pressed each section into the area in front of the filter, (air intake side ONLY) top and bottom, so that the incoming air has nowhere to go but over the soft rubber insulation and through the filter. Since the rubber presses against the filter and the filter can still be easily replaced, I didn't need foam strips placed around my filters anymore. Each 6ft length of soft rubber (not foam) self-sealing insulation was around $7 at Lowes. I only needed less than one for the job and it will last the life of my HVAC.
Amazing video! My unit is rather new and I’ve only had one summer of AC use. This year it’s spewing out a barf moldy smell! From what I read. My coil needs cleaning. The installer is coming out tomorrow. I’ll see how techs want to clean. I’m skeptical he’ll do a thorough job but I’ll show him this video if need be! The right side panel I can open. Left side the panel is 1/3 in front and warps to left side. Not sure if will slide out. We shall find out!
2 gallon pump sprayer from the reverse side works pretty good too. Blows any chunks back the way they came. No chance of bending fins with low pressure. Garden hose on spay is just going to make an absolute mess. 1/8" foam tape on the filter frame on the side of the blower will form a tight seal once the blower sucks the filter tight with the filter frame. Not thick enough to cause problems pulling the filter in and out.
Bought a Steam Machine for just this reason. Figured I'd get at it with the shop vac as much as I could then then use the steamer to push any dust back from the direction it came. I'm hoping can access everything.
My A coil is over 20 years old and is clean underneath. Using a pleated filter (not high merv, a merv 8 max) and having a proper system that forces all air to pass through that filter and not be missed is key.
Great video! We used this to clean our system, and it fixed our issue immediately. However, about a week later our evaporator coil is a solid block of ice. Air filter has been changed, so now we're lost.
@@johnnybhoy4278Exactly what I was thinking too. I'd be nervous even pulling the A coil out of the plenum to clean it even if there was play in the line set tubing. Too much of a chance to cause a leak at the connections, in my humble opinion. Which sounds like what happened here.
Great video! Super example on showing the pitfalls of no filter or leaky filter. Definitely a mixed bag on how accessible each installation's A-Coil will be. I was wanting to see a wet/dry shop vac in there somewhere, but ultimately your cleaning was all good. I guess coil access will determine if this can be done DIY or not. I also have a Bryant, but mine has a 4" filter box so that is a plus. Thanks for making the video.
Man, glad I bumped into this video. Never knew that evap coil had to be cleaned too! EEEK! My unit is around 4 or so years old and never did that. Sure am gonna do it now! It was hacked into my 1962 williamson furnace. Guy did a great job, but I can imagine it's not air tight to say the least.
Our HVAC system is 20yrs old, low on an expensive outdated coolant, and constantly freezing up, making summer grueling. We've been here 5 years, moved from a place where HVAC isn't common because the weather is nice, so we never knew it had to be cleaned, and nobody ever offered it to us. They tell us the whole system needs to be replaced for $9,000 which we can't afford and dont have enough credit for financing on. I'm not doubting the low coolant is the main issue but I do find it curious nobody told us the coil and compressor should be periodically cleaned. Since we can't afford to replace it, and thanks to coming across your videos, I'm now going to try cleaning both myself to at least reduce the hurdles in front of our poor crippled HVAC. I wouldn't be surprised if it helps a little.
Don’t forget this guy is an hvac scammer. He makes more money than a technician does by playing customer’s advocate and causing dialogue of distrust and anger in his video’s comment section. He is just as bad as the guys running around in vans ripping people off. He has just mastered a soft way of doing
Great video! Your video gave me the knowledge I needed to do the job!! I used the "remove the A-coil cover" method and left it inside the furnace. 9 screws to get the outside cover off and 8 more to take off the A-coil cover. It was remarkably clean given that it had NEVER been cleaned before in it 22 year life. I was expecting it to look a lot like yours did! There were about a dozen small dead insects stuck to it, so I used a brush attachment on our Dyson vacuum cleaner to remove them. I have a 1 inch filter that is hard to get in and out, but it must not leak very much. (2 years ago I forgot to change my filter for about a year. Not recommended, as the $850 blower motor died shortly thereafter.) I also vacuumed up about a dozen somewhat large dead spiders from the condensate drain pan. I took a picture of it and tried to paste it in this comment so all could see, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.
Man, I never knew about cleaning this!.. I've been in my home for 15 yrs and I have never cleaned this ,obviously. My system is a american standard from 1995.and runs great. I could only imagine what mine must look like , especially if yours was like that in 3 yrs. I have done some renovations and have a dog. So I know there's gotta be a lot of build up! Can't wait to do this! Thanks for posting this video
Just did my mothers house A frame, it’s a over 20 year old Lennox pulse air system and I think it’s never been cleaned. First having a a/c heat combination is something the installers told my father not to do. And I can definitely agree. The air volume isn’t enough the vents are located for heat so the A/C will run for hours. It’s an older house but I had the attic insulation redone and it did make a difference. I have the same size house but it’s a ranch with a separate A/C system and it is much more efficient and comfortable. So cleaning was a total pain can not get access like yours. If anyone is going to buy a setup like this knowing what it will take to maintain or repair things should be a huge consideration. Also when buying the no rinse cleaner I was concerned about when the heat would come on if there could be an issue with the cleaner used and fumes when heating. If anyone knows if this is a consideration let me know.
This coil looks like it had a filter problem. You had said your filter wasn't sealing very well ? I've just never seen an EVAP coil with this kind of dust all over it. You did a good job cleaning it as it certainly needed it. I've only heard of cleaning the condenser coil outside if it's exposed to dusty conditions. I've even cut my unit off before while cutting grass etc with lawn mower around the unit so it wouldn't suck dust and dirt into the fins while running.
Yea that’s a good practice to turn it off while mowing around that area. I’ve seen coils this dirty, but I didn’t suspect my own coil that’s 3 years old to be this bad. Yes it was a filter issue for sure. Now that it has a nicely sealed Honeywell it will never get remotely close to getting that dirty. Cheers
I bought a house in Florida while I was still out of state. I had an a/c company do maintenance every 6 months for 2 years. Also, I needed a gardener to mow the front/back yard because the tenant was a busy single Mom. Anyway, when I moved into the home, the condenser coil was just totally stuffed with grass clippings, dirt, etc. The unit running while a big riding mower cutting the grass was the cause. Now, after I got it cleaned out, I like you, turn it off and I use a push mower around the unit to keep it clean.
My breathing is labored just watching you clean that blanket of dirt off those coils. Wow! If that AC could speak, it'd be saying, "thank you, I can breathe again" What a satisfying feeling afterwards I bet.
Great video Dave! Going to do my sons when we visit him next month. His filter is not a good fit and going to see what I can do to improve that. Thanks again! Love your channel !
My filter space is 4” too n what I do is use 4 1” old style filters n spray the lead one with furniture polish. I change out the leader n put a new one in back alternating the filters so they all eventually get replaced. Cheep n works well but the big key is the furniture polish on intake side of the lead filter. I only have to change filter every 6 months. Another way to tell if a-coil may b dirty is to check ur air supplies for debris around them. Also vacuum the cold air return grates n well around them !! A little time saves big bucks n a huge head ache later. Good vids by the way !!
One of those jobs that you hate doing, but you hate it even more if it broke because of lack of maintenance. Great job and excellent video tutorial! PS, I probably would’ve used a vacuum cleaner (extremely carefully) with bristles and one of those 2 gallon sprayers that you get from the garden department. Because you can pump those with air and get a continuous stream.
Not the easiest job, not the hardest, but being up in the attic in southwest Florida is not fun, which is why I did the air handler early in the morning. Made a huge difference. My system wasn't keeping up in this extreme heat, and now it's working perfectly.
Dear Dave, first and foremost, thank you so very much for making these amazing video that are helping so many new DYIer people like myself to be able to diagnose and fix things ourselves. I just found out that you live in the beautiful state of Utah and so do I. After this video, I ran down to the basement and found out that the HVAC system that I have is slightly different from the one being shown in this video. My home was built in 2020 so I'm not sure if that makes a huge difference but it looks like, for my case, they use the two large in diameter PVC pipes for the exhaust and return that are located right in front of the evaporator coil assembly. I'm not sure if there's way for me to slide the coil assembly out without having to remove the PVC pipes. Also, I think the system that I have called "up flow" where the evaporator coil assembly is located on top of the furnace assembly. I hope you will make a how to video like this one but for newer system. Thank you again and you just earned another subscriber :)
Hello there! Unfortunately if the pvc intake and exhaust pipes are right in the way, they’d need to be removed. Some furnaces are definitely not made with cleaning the coil in mind. But the pvc pipes can be cut and a coupler can be used. Sometimes the intake is not glued in place but you’d just have to see how your furnace is done. I’m sure I will do another Evap coil cleaning video soon so I’ll try and make that with a high efficiency furnace with the pvc tubes 👍🏼 cheers
@@diyhvacguythank you so much, Dave! I appreciate the comment and shared knowledges. I have learned so much about HVAC just from watching your videos. You’re the real deal, sir!
@@diyhvacguySame problem I have. My 90% furnace has the PVC exhaust/intake pipes. It's only a year old, but someday I'll have to contend with this problem more than likely. Thank you for all your helpful videos!! Much appreciated!!
Awesome vid, took a class for homeowner(became one last year 😎)/to become a tech if I choose. Mainly helped get me EPA cert for refrigerant. didn’t get a lot of hands on guidance for cleaning an evap coil. Which kind of was a drag. But so stoked to find this video/tutorial. Definitely going to be giving my Evap coil a clean. Noticed some water leaking out and getting on the filter. Thanks dude, much appreciated and props for being in the trades. Trade jobs deserve more respect!
Nice job. 👍 I thoroughly clean my condenser coil every couple of years, but I don’t see a way to clean my A coil box up in my attic. It’s completely sealed with no access door. I have a Lennox, horizontal installation. It cost me $1500 to replace the leaky coil box 6 years ago. The old coil box lasted 7 years before it started leaking. If it costs $500-$1000 just to clean it, I might as well just install a brand new one for $1500, if I start to have problems. I use Merv 8 filters and change them on time every time, so the coil box should not be very dirty, but who knows.
I had a guy in last year because my condenser was icing up. They said we have a small leak, so they topped it off, then said it will only last that summer max before we have to get it topped off again or start replacing stuff. They never went inside and looked at the A coil or anything, just eye balled the condenser and that was it. The reason it was icing, well the main reason, maybe it was a bit low on coolant? was my A coil was clogged with dust and couldn't breathe. Ice was on the top side of the A coil, there is a spot cut out as an access hatch to see one top side of the coil. The next day I pulled the other "hatch" off which is to access the bottom of the coil and vacuumed out the huge amount of dirt, hair, debris, etc. This all stopped the actual cooling of the house. Don't always throw large amounts of money at things when you can look at it, and do something simple and save yourself a lot of headaches. Your coil wont be completely sealed away, as they had to install it. At the very least, you know where it is via the copper and PVC lines going in the unit. Those lines are all usually in the same spot, so you can see where the video posters lines are and know roughly where to start. Then go to the side and cut a hole in your furnace, make sure you have a spare piece of sheet metal that is bigger then the hole you cut. Then you can at least clean the bottom like I do, and it will make a HEAP of difference. After you are done cleaning, screw the new sheet metal panel up, then use aluminum tape to seal it all up and you're done.
Good video! I would put a disclaimer on this though. On the majority of systems I see in the south/southwest, that coil isn't sliding out without cutting the lineset.
Before you do this, find where the water drains outside your house and hook your vacuum to the pipe to clear the clog and drain the water. After I crawled into the attic and got into the condenser, I found that it was pretty clean already. I could’ve probably skipped all of that for now.
As usually-outstanding quality in presentation and showing the way to solve a lot of AC related problems.Sadly, there are some issues which cannot be solved.Algae growing in and on your evaporator are nor possible to get rid of ( not pan growth,this is easy). Any algae killer gets washed away immediately after running the unit for 15 minutes.Sure, the old patch is dead,takes about 1 week until a slimy growth starts creeping up the fins again.Dismantling the unit every 7-8 days seems to me a bit tedious
@@bigd3104 I guess you are missing the point.Algae growing ON the evaporator ,not only in the pan.Looks like slime climbing up the edges of evaporator,pan part is easy
Why not vacuum the coils after the combing of the excessive dirt? Suggestion : I’m no way a A/ C tech and I live in a very small town in Mexico. I use Dawn , water, vinegar and Clorox in a garden sprayer then I rinse with the same sprayer. I believe you’ll find this to be a very satisfactory cleaning
Thank you for showing me the air conditioner company they want to replace the whole system but I did it your way it got so cold my kids started complaining it's too cold in house
Thanks for the reminder on Filter Buy, will write that number on the side of the furnace filter box for future reference. Great job showing us utubers how to clean a evaporator coil.
they have these things called air filters at home depot you should try them. They aren't that expensive so get extra one's and change them regularly it's a hell of alot easier then opening your evap coil.
Very good. Peels off like cleaning a dryer vent filter. I would think a shop vac would play a role at some point. A big rectangular mixing tub (such is used for concrete, mortar, or drywall mud) might be useful to catch runoff.
I have a Klein tools Double ended ratchet, one side is one quarter and the other is 5/16s. Its slightly thicker than a quarter inch but isn't 5/16ths. If you're doing it for a living and don't have one all I can say is how? item number is 68200 just google it and you should find it. 1/4 side can also accept any screwdriver/impact bits and have a little more space and need to use your magnetic one for whatever reason.
when i bought my house, i needed the furnace and ac replaced. they were 40 years old. i was amazed that the evap coils looked very good. the previous owner must have religiously changed filters all those years. the new system uses merv11 5 inch pleated filters in a well sealed box so im hoping ill never have to clean the coil, the lines would have to be cut.
I use to by cases of the no rinse evap cleaning for cleaning reheat coils in the hospital where I worked. Also used it on evaporator s on RTUs. For cooling coils on large fan units I bought some green cleaner that was non toxic and worked like a champ.
No-rinse evap cleaners should NEVER be used on reheat coils. The condensate from the evaporator is what allows you to use no-rinse cleaners, since that is what rinses the cleaner off. Please do not advise others to use no-rinse sprays in that manner. No-rinse evap cleaner is ONLY for use in evaporators (cooling coils that produce condensate should be ok as well) and should only be used in humid or semi-humid conditions. It is a great product but needs to be used responsibly and correctly.
I liked the video thank you for making it. I guess my question is since you had all that unfiltered air go by and did what it did. When you showing going to reinstall it and the heat exchanger was dirty looking why did you not clean that then? Yes there should be no big debris flying by getting clogged again but a wet rag or some wipes even and you could of cleaned that layer off and back tracked all the way back to the filter. I would think that your fan itself since that is in between everything it would be pretty dirty also and need some loving also.
Would you do a video about all the different types of copper pipe and fittings (like annealed, hard, soft, when you can use plumbing copper instead, etc) for refrigerant lines and different ways to insulate them? Thank you!
Thanks for this! I'm now angry that all the A/C people that have come out over the past few years have never offered this service. I've got an old system on life support, yes it's time to be replaced but it's not dead yet, but the A/C folks only deal with the external unit cleaning. I KNOW it's gotta be nasty in there.
If you want to rinse after you spray the foam a yard sprayer that you use for spraying weed killer or fertilizer or to spray roses works really good it has more pressure and you don't cramp up your hand from pulling the trigger so much. A one gallon sprayer is around 10.00. If you don't clean out your sprayer after each use you will have to give it a good cleaning so there is no residual Round Up or fertilizer. You might want to disconnect the hose and run warm water thru it from you utility or kitchen sink.
Do you use or recommend any home brews like Dawn, Purple Power, Simple Green, etc. for cleaning coils & condensers or do you only use commercial sprays? Thanks.
Great video man. I tried this, but I didn’t know exactly what to do and the unit I have is a wall version. So I just had it switched out with a new one.
I use a 20”x20”x1” filtrete 1900. Think it’s a merv 12 or 13 i can’t remember. Seems to work pretty good I replace every 2-3 months depending on hvac use. Seems to fit pretty tight it’s in ceiling
Forget about better quality 1" thick filters. Something that over-rides and trumps ALL 1" filters........is to use a DEEP PLEAT filter that is 2" to 5" thick....and it is constructed with a FLANGE arround the edges to fit the 1" thick opening recess.... BUT has 4 " more filtration hanging out the backside into the ductwork behind. . Consider......a 5" pleat is NOT a 5" thick filter that would cause more pressure drop.....it is 5" thick but PLEATED, so the surface area is greatly increased to give more filter area for less pressure drop and also more cleaning action. It's the best of both worlds when targeting better filtration AND low pressure drop. Here is an example....not necessarily this brand but this style.---> th-cam.com/video/07ZnySt8rHE/w-d-xo.html. I buy another brand (Filter Buy)....but use blue painters tape around the edges instead of having this rubber gasket, to assure no by-pass losses. Here's another-->th-cam.com/video/NuCwKf7SBbI/w-d-xo.html
@@Turtle-sz7sk ......you CAN add a thicker one to the ceiling location. Mine is in the ceiling too. Doesn't matter if the standard 1 " thick filter housing is on the wall or ceiling....the important part is if there is space enough in the ductwork behind the filter housing. I had to remove some firm insulation from the tunnel shaft ductwork walls behind the filter for a few inches.... to accommodate the thicker filters. Ceiling mount vs wall mount is irrelevant.
@@Turtle-sz7sk ...for most folks there are no mods required...if the space BEHIND the housing accommondates a thicker filter. In my case, they built the ductwork tunnel behind the filter with rigid foam insulation on all 4 walls of the ductwork....so I had to slice-away a 4-5" depth behind the filter housing to fit my 5" deep filter. Many don't need to do this. Look at the links again.
My late 60's Lennox is in a tight closet filter 14×18x1... been freezing up no air getting past it... as far as I know it's never been cleaned... I cleaned the 25+ yr old Compressor coil for the first time a few weeks ago... back in 1984 dad was sick and a family friend looked at it coz it was running hot and cold at the same time... so he asked my mom do you want hot or cold? She said cold so he disconnected the electric heater coil... and had gas heater installed in the kitchen... been yellowing the paint ever since
what i wouldn't give to have so much room/light to work on my furnace. ours are on their side in the attic with hardly any room around to work. nonetheless, gonna give this a try tonight. thanks for the great tutorial!
Great video, thanks! I believe our evap coil is freezing up after a couple days of hot humid weather. Will open up and assess. You said this needs to be done dry, right? May need to use a hair dryer or other method to get things thawed out and dry?
I'd like to clean my evaporated coils as well.Do you have a video on how to open it up? Do You cut the tape, do you rip the tape off?Is it actually tape?Where do I get the replacement tape?Things like that. Basically the opening and closing part .
Pro Tip: After 17k service calls, I like to take a swig of the brown coil runoff water during my first coil cleaning of the day. I find that it really wakes you up and all the microbes, dust and dead skin cells add up to a lot of protein and minerals and really makes you feel alive!
I feel some coughing coming, thankfully the last time I cleaned mine out it wasn't to bad and I just vacuumed the dust and drainage tray out. I do need to see if my coils slide out and use cleaner next time, at the time I had to spend a lot of time just trying to get at the coils with the 2 dozen screws to take off all the metal covers.
Pulling mine isn't possible without cutting the intake and exhaust pipes. I remember looking at my A coil this past spring but it was more about getting access to it for the next duct cleaning we're due for in the fall. That was the one complaint I got from the cleaners last time was the access panel didn't have room to be removed. Now that I have that worked out I'll just pre-remove it for them in the fall. HOWEVER, this video has me wondering if that triangle piece had screws in it for removal. I don't recall seeing any although I'll admit I wasn't actually looking for them. Should have taken a pic just for kicks. I guess I'll find out in the fall. Informative tutorial and I never considered that if possible they could be slid out for easier access. I suppose at this point you could just skip the filter and let the dust film do the filtering work eh? Or not...
I got a portable AC from the 80s and it didnt look half as bad on the inside as that. But the dust trapped water and it started leaking it out the bottom.
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
TOOLS USED IN THIS VIDEO:
Klein nut driver:amzn.to/42rNL2I
Coil Comb Kit: amzn.to/42zrVKH
Coil Cleaner: amzn.to/3VEwj90
Compact nut driver: amzn.to/3HIILPh
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Great work my friend! Making amercia great again ! Thank you.
Thank you so much 😊 great video
Always wear gloves when working around the fins. They are very sharp. There will be cuts without gloves. Happy cleaning and good video!
Coil comb kit
Can't you just vacuum all that crap out?
I am a licensed HVAC/refrigeration contractor. I think that this video is an excellent tutorial on how to clean the evaporator! Liked it!
My unit is sealed with tape and a white solidified paste. How do I access the coil?
You must not have been doing it for long if you thought it was excellent
@@budman-tw6rr Same problem .... following you .. incase you know what to do ..
@@VergorioVergaradude you’re the reason this trade gets no respect
@@elvolution93 yous because i point a mo fo doing some DIY 💩 and saying is excellent ?? , if he had said this is how you can get by i wouldn’t have said anything
You gave me the courage to clean my coil. It took me about 5 hours just because I was extremely careful not to break or bend anything. My system is over 20 years old. It was not as bad as I thought but it was bad. Thanks for the detailed video.
Glad I could help!
Notice a difference?
Yes for sure. It cools much faster than before. Not only it cools faster, I notice the air flow is much stronger. Thanks again.
Update: for the last several summers my AC would run nonstop on hot days. After cleaning my coil it runs and cool down the house and shuts off. My condensate is noticeably much heavier than before.
@@tanman005 why
OMG..... Thank you so much. I did this today after a/c service guy wanted $1800 to do interior coil and outside unit. Wow, wow, wow. Perfect. ❤
Awesome thanks for sharing!
@@diyhvacguy All my kids were shocked. I'm almost 70 years old and saved a ton of money. 👍
I have "cleaned" my coils on several occasions. I never thought about sliding the entire assembly out of the duct work! I did even think it was possible without discharging the system. Thank you so much.
Same here didn't think of sliding it out. I cleaned it on the furnace with a towel to grab the water before.
Thank you for this, I got quoted $360 plus $150 for the diagnosis of a dirty evap coil today. I gave him the $150 and told him I'd like to wait on the cleaning. Now I'm fixing to save myself some cash 😂
A good idea would be to have a shop vac going while pulling out the dirt clogs, to catch the plume of dust. Also, if possible, if you seal around the filter's edge with painter's tape, you can almost completely eliminate bypass, keeping coils clean much longer.
Shop vacs , duct tape , zip ties , man’s best friend !!
I stick foam sealing stripps where need in the filter channel and on the filter door/cover so that no air can bypass lthe filter
great idea!
That's a good tip about the painter's tape. The contractor who installed my unit when the house was built didn't even include a filter housing. The filter just lays diagonally in the duct. A real hack job. But using your tip could make it work better.
I am a homeowner and I've never known about this. I have lived in my home for 7 years now and when I bought it it was not in tip top shape. My house has been very musty smelling for the last month and I think this is my issue. Only thing is getting to the evap coils. It is almost unable to be removed like this, so I have my whole weekend set aside to tear into my a/c evap and condenser coil cleaning.... I'll bet they will make your look like it was spotless to begin with.. Thank you for the help on this. Got coil cleaner and a comb to get this done. Very helpful video, I owe you an adult beverage as you just helped me save a LOT of money.
This video is awesome. Our A/C was mostly inoperable. It wasn't able to cool the house anymore on hot days. Turns our filter didn't have a good seal and ton of pet fur got sucked up into the coil. We have 3 cats and big dog so it checks out.
It was a hassle to get everything opened up but I was able to effectively clean the coil following your guide. Now our A/C is totally functional again. Thanks!
Amazing. Thanks for sharing!
where your overflow shut off is, if you take the float off it and pour a cup of vinegar down that pipe that goes into your drain pain, once per month, you'll never have to worry about Alge buildup in your drain line again. Plus it keeps the drain pain clean of any alge growth.
Once a month would be a real PITA for me. Our air handler is in the attic and we live in the Charlotte area where its reaches 90+ multiple months a year. But I know that it would help a lot.
@@nectros8452every 3 months or a season is probably fine
@@nectros8452There’s a system that does it automatically for you. I saw it in Lowe’s today in the AC filter isle.
Just pulled the cover off mine.. 17 years old and still clean.. Im a smoker and i had a large german shepard for 12 of those years.. i was surprised it was still pretty clean.. a little discolored brownish but overall clear of debris. Always keep my filter changed!
Thats because all the crap is caught up in your furnaces secondary heat exchanger
@@marriagepartnersministry5942 Nope.. heating element and fan motor are clean also.
Hard to believe. But whatever.
@@Jackie-O.Louisiana I have no reason to lie to a bunch of strangers on youtube..Maybe its because i dont keep my house very cool or hot and turn it off when im at work.. Low usage i guess..
@@marriagepartnersministry5942 change your filter.
I had a local company in Jacksonville Florida called Waycoff's Heating & Air try to charge me $2100 to clean my coil. They also wanted $400 for their cheapest new thermostat. Then they told me I needed a new blower motor for $900 installed. All together they wanted $3400. When I bitched about the price, he tried to sell me a new unit. LOL I told them they were freaking NUTZ and to get out of my house. I asked around to all my friends if they new anybody that did a/c work. I guarantee somebody you know will know someone that does. I called the guy and told him where I got his name. He came out and did the coil cleaning for $400, the thermostat for $150 and he told me I didn't need a blower motor at all. Those technicians working for the bigger companies work on commission, so the repairs are overpriced and when you are in sticker shock, they try to sell you a new unit. Don't fall for it. Bunch of crooks.
As an HVAC self-employed contractor in So Tex, that is the reason the big boys have a fleet of new trucks whilst I, drive a 23-year-old mini-van with no AC. I just can't make myself charge that much for any repair or cleaning. I guess I'm old school or a fool or both!
@@livingyourbestlife711 Good for you. I'm sure your customers appreciate you and if they are anything like me, they'll recommend you to all of their friends. Stay COOL!! 😁
Do you have that guy's number who cleaned your coils. I live in Jacksonville Fl and that's what I need and that's all lol
@@Franchise38 Honestly, if I had it to do over, I might just try to do it myself. I'm sure there are plenty of videos on TH-cam on how to do it. Literally only took the guy about an hour for $400. It's not rocket science. Might save you even more money. But if you want to pay someone, I would start asking friends, family and coworkers if they know someone. Somebody will.
😂😂😂 I agree bro …They’ll finesse you. If you allow then too
Good info, thanks. I checked filterbuy. Unfortunately, they do not list the static pressure drop (in inches of water column) that their filters cause. Filters are one of the most restrictive elements of an AC system. I switched from a MERV 11 - 1 inch filter to a 4 inch filter which had a low static pressure drop. My CFM at the return grill went from 980 to 1300. It was much quieter, as well, as there was less air friction. After cleaning the evaporator coils and straightening the return grill fins, my CFM is now up to 1750.
After doing 15,000 residential service calls, I can tell you that the vacuum is your best friend.
That's the truth I would have put the vacuum on that mess first thing
Whow
Toilet bowl brush 😉
@fladave99 Mills I would advise not using it on full blast if you have a micro channel coil.
@@perrycrowell2953 why
This guy is destined to make a ton of $$$
Easy to watch and valuable knowledge shared.
Go get em!!!!
You deserve it
Thanks so much man. That means a lot to hear! Cheers
I hired him and he is worth his weight in gold!
@@suzykeegan1201 170 lbs of gold is currently worth $6,000,000
Your video not only taught me how to do this job properly, it was a pleasure to watch it. Well done!
Thanks very much for an excellent tutorial that takes the daunting cost of having someone diagnose an HVAC system and put it into proper perspective . Well done young man .
You are welcome!
what is so daunting about it? everyone has the knowledge oi the world in the palm of their hand today and that takes all the challenge out of it. The only thing an hvac technician will do that you cant do is work faster at a job. Anyone who does anything all the time gets good at it. Doing this the first time for anyone will just take longer but the results will be the same or , in most cases, even better than what you pay someone else who doesnt really gaf about your hvac system past the bill hes giving you.
I had no idea what an AC Evaporator Coil was before this video. Thanks for sharing.
Same here, I'd heard of it, but didn't know what it looked like or that it was in the same airflow duct as the heat exchanger.
I have done this a couple of times. I have found that on some of the hard to get to screws, or even most screws, you can just buy a roll of the silver metal tape to secure the
panels in place. next time all you need is a utility knife. seems to me a shop vac with a brush head would do a good job of cleaning the coils but the spray wouldn't hurt as well.
screws will almost always take a 1/4 or 5/16 socket. (1/4 in drive). Don't forget to put a towel or newspaper at the bottom to prevent all that crap from falling down into the furnace.
check the drain pan. Thanks for the good video.
Honestly I’m amazed we haven’t figured out a better design by now for heat exchange in our central air systems.
I know there’re plenty of people out there that don’t even know they’re supposed to change a simple filter, but even from a serviceability perspective there’s got to be something…better.
In my country, we have to clean evaporators once every 3 months as it's very dusty here. That's why we use split ACs which are easily serviceable.
This is a split system by definition. Do you mean mini split or ductless?
There is no reason we can''t create a marketplace standard for quick & easy access panels designed for the consumer to easily clean evaporator coils, but no. It gets far worse than this for many systems, and it all happens because governments aren't doing their job in creating proper serviceability standards. This could all have easily been corrected decades ago, but we ignore the problem year after year, expecting an industry to correct it for us which has zero interest in doing so.
@@uvhciM true, the problem is that from the consumer perspective it costs a lot of money to implement any of these changes, so it doesn’t happen quickly even once they are available. But that’s just it, they’re really not available at all, even today.
Like you say, it shouldn’t have been difficult 20+ years ago to design the newer generations of these coils to have some sort of access panels and drain systems to divert the runoff, or even change the typical straight vertical coil-over-fan so that there was a better layout in place for cleaning without fear of everything falling straight into your fan/electrics etc.
I will say a lot of the issue is that in a lot of cases the utility space is a huge limiting factor to the install that complicates things, in that the final product is hardly ever as nice or what you have in mind. Compromises have to be made. So it is difficult to produce a simple modular type system that will fit every scenario and work as intended, but I would definitely like to see some productive conveniences implemented that would make it easier for the tech and homeowner alike to service and maintain, as well as allow the systems to last longer.
I was watching a “pros don’t want you to know this secret” short about cleaning your condenser unit and it reminded me about my pet peeve with those too.
Back in the early 90s at least some of the units came with a fan guard that was removable *without removing the fan and motor assembly* from the top of the condenser. Why TF did they ever do away with that design that allowed for easy access to flushing the condenser from the inside out by any homeowner?? Or was the risk just too great that some idiot would forget to pull the breaker and chop their arm off… we’ve become either so reduced by the lowest common denominator or whatever saves the mfgr $.75 on the assembly line, one or the both, but either way it’s entirely fd us for decades now.
I have not seen a video as helpful as this for the last 4 hours of looking on TH-cam
I had a large HEPA filter installed in the main collector before the evap. Simple access quick change. Last time I looked the evap looked like new. It was under 1000 bucks extra and worth every penny! Disgusting what gunk is in the air inside a house!
Your a good man Charlie Brown! Best video I've seen to date, by far. Great presentation, detail oriented, with solid recommendations. Thank you & keep up the good work!
Wow, thanks!
At minimum, read the section with ***** (It may help a few people)
Great video to bring to our attention the need to service our HVAC which may decrease seasonal allergies and prevent an early HVAC demise. After watching, I anxiously took a vacuum, soft rubber (not foam) self-sealing 7/8" water pipe insulation, sissors and a hand swifter to the 2019 installed HVAC I have.
Although it's much more difficult to attempt to pull out the coils, I took a hard look at the intake, filter and HVAC surface areas anywhere I could reach. Everything in reach, including electronics, received some sort of vacuum/wipe down. The swifter picked up some fine dust somewhere in unseen corners. I'll leave the A frame coils alone for now.
***** To prevent dirty air from getting around your filter and into your HVAC.
As for the 7/8" soft rubber self-sealing water pipe insulation, I cut it straight up the middle (long way) so I had two long lengths, each with one sticky pull tape edge.
Measuring the length of the filter I cut two equal pieces of the insulation. I put the filter back in (a 5" thick filter) pushing it as close to the fan as possible leaving an intake side top and bottom gap between the filter and housing. Now I know where the cut half pieces of insulation are going to be placed and how. A trial run was performed prior to removing the sticky side cellophane protection.
Now pulling off a small length of sticky side cellophane I pressed each section into the area in front of the filter, (air intake side ONLY) top and bottom, so that the incoming air has nowhere to go but over the soft rubber insulation and through the filter. Since the rubber presses against the filter and the filter can still be easily replaced, I didn't need foam strips placed around my filters anymore.
Each 6ft length of soft rubber (not foam) self-sealing insulation was around $7 at Lowes. I only needed less than one for the job and it will last the life of my HVAC.
Great tip!
Amazing video! My unit is rather new and I’ve only had one summer of AC use. This year it’s spewing out a barf moldy smell! From what I read. My coil needs cleaning. The installer is coming out tomorrow. I’ll see how techs want to clean. I’m skeptical he’ll do a thorough job but I’ll show him this video if need be! The right side panel I can open. Left side the panel is 1/3 in front and warps to left side. Not sure if will slide out. We shall find out!
How did it work out?
2 gallon pump sprayer from the reverse side works pretty good too. Blows any chunks back the way they came. No chance of bending fins with low pressure. Garden hose on spay is just going to make an absolute mess. 1/8" foam tape on the filter frame on the side of the blower will form a tight seal once the blower sucks the filter tight with the filter frame. Not thick enough to cause problems pulling the filter in and out.
Bought a Steam Machine for just this reason. Figured I'd get at it with the shop vac as much as I could then then use the steamer to push any dust back from the direction it came. I'm hoping can access everything.
! ! ! You will blow/Wash them on to the heat exchanger and cause an extreme amount of damage,
My A coil is over 20 years old and is clean underneath. Using a pleated filter (not high merv, a merv 8 max) and having a proper system that forces all air to pass through that filter and not be missed is key.
Great video! We used this to clean our system, and it fixed our issue immediately. However, about a week later our evaporator coil is a solid block of ice. Air filter has been changed, so now we're lost.
Sounds like you lost Freon somewhere. I'm not an AC guy but I work with one.
@@johnnybhoy4278Exactly what I was thinking too. I'd be nervous even pulling the A coil out of the plenum to clean it even if there was play in the line set tubing. Too much of a chance to cause a leak at the connections, in my humble opinion. Which sounds like what happened here.
Great video! Super example on showing the pitfalls of no filter or leaky filter. Definitely a mixed bag on how accessible each installation's A-Coil will be. I was wanting to see a wet/dry shop vac in there somewhere, but ultimately your cleaning was all good. I guess coil access will determine if this can be done DIY or not. I also have a Bryant, but mine has a 4" filter box so that is a plus. Thanks for making the video.
Man, glad I bumped into this video. Never knew that evap coil had to be cleaned too! EEEK! My unit is around 4 or so years old and never did that. Sure am gonna do it now! It was hacked into my 1962 williamson furnace. Guy did a great job, but I can imagine it's not air tight to say the least.
I’m a fan of using a shop vac when cleaning out stuff like that
Our HVAC system is 20yrs old, low on an expensive outdated coolant, and constantly freezing up, making summer grueling.
We've been here 5 years, moved from a place where HVAC isn't common because the weather is nice, so we never knew it had to be cleaned, and nobody ever offered it to us. They tell us the whole system needs to be replaced for $9,000 which we can't afford and dont have enough credit for financing on.
I'm not doubting the low coolant is the main issue but I do find it curious nobody told us the coil and compressor should be periodically cleaned.
Since we can't afford to replace it, and thanks to coming across your videos, I'm now going to try cleaning both myself to at least reduce the hurdles in front of our poor crippled HVAC. I wouldn't be surprised if it helps a little.
Did you do it and did it help?
Can’t wait for result
Don’t forget this guy is an hvac scammer. He makes more money than a technician does by playing customer’s advocate and causing dialogue of distrust and anger in his video’s comment section. He is just as bad as the guys running around in vans ripping people off. He has just mastered a soft way of doing
@@Feelingsmasher2000Can't WAIT to read the logic behind your statement. LoL. I'll wait ...........
@@bigd3104 Ok mommy, because i owe you an explanation 😂.
Read it again
Great video! Your video gave me the knowledge I needed to do the job!!
I used the "remove the A-coil cover" method and left it inside the furnace. 9 screws to get the outside cover off and 8 more to take off the A-coil cover. It was remarkably clean given that it had NEVER been cleaned before in it 22 year life. I was expecting it to look a lot like yours did! There were about a dozen small dead insects stuck to it, so I used a brush attachment on our Dyson vacuum cleaner to remove them. I have a 1 inch filter that is hard to get in and out, but it must not leak very much. (2 years ago I forgot to change my filter for about a year. Not recommended, as the $850 blower motor died shortly thereafter.) I also vacuumed up about a dozen somewhat large dead spiders from the condensate drain pan.
I took a picture of it and tried to paste it in this comment so all could see, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.
Great production...👍🏼 only two comments shop -VAC with proper attachment and a drill/w flex arm to hold screw or nut bits😊😅.
Man, I never knew about cleaning this!.. I've been in my home for 15 yrs and I have never cleaned this ,obviously. My system is a american standard from 1995.and runs great. I could only imagine what mine must look like , especially if yours was like that in 3 yrs. I have done some renovations and have a dog. So I know there's gotta be a lot of build up! Can't wait to do this! Thanks for posting this video
Just did my mothers house A frame, it’s a over 20 year old Lennox pulse air system and I think it’s never been cleaned. First having a a/c heat combination is something the installers told my father not to do. And I can definitely agree. The air volume isn’t enough the vents are located for heat so the A/C will run for hours. It’s an older house but I had the attic insulation redone and it did make a difference. I have the same size house but it’s a ranch with a separate A/C system and it is much more efficient and comfortable. So cleaning was a total pain can not get access like yours. If anyone is going to buy a setup like this knowing what it will take to maintain or repair things should be a huge consideration. Also when buying the no rinse cleaner I was concerned about when the heat would come on if there could be an issue with the cleaner used and fumes when heating. If anyone knows if this is a consideration let me know.
what is your seperate ac system? mini split through the wall?
This coil looks like it had a filter problem. You had said your filter wasn't sealing very well ? I've just never seen an EVAP coil with this kind of dust all over it. You did a good job cleaning it as it certainly needed it. I've only heard of cleaning the condenser coil outside if it's exposed to dusty conditions. I've even cut my unit off before while cutting grass etc with lawn mower around the unit so it wouldn't suck dust and dirt into the fins while running.
Yea that’s a good practice to turn it off while mowing around that area. I’ve seen coils this dirty, but I didn’t suspect my own coil that’s 3 years old to be this bad. Yes it was a filter issue for sure. Now that it has a nicely sealed Honeywell it will never get remotely close to getting that dirty. Cheers
I bought a house in Florida while I was still out of state. I had an a/c company do maintenance every 6 months for 2 years. Also, I needed a gardener to mow the front/back yard because the tenant was a busy single Mom. Anyway, when I moved into the home, the condenser coil was just totally stuffed with grass clippings, dirt, etc. The unit running while a big riding mower cutting the grass was the cause. Now, after I got it cleaned out, I like you, turn it off and I use a push mower around the unit to keep it clean.
i thought i was the only one who turned off the ac when mowing! lol nice to see like minded people.
I get my filters from Filter Buy because of your videos. I do bulk and I also get my Refrigerator water filters. Great Job!
Thanks so much for the support! I appreciate you 👊🏼 cheers
My breathing is labored just watching you clean that blanket of dirt off those coils. Wow! If that AC could speak, it'd be saying, "thank you, I can breathe again" What a satisfying feeling afterwards I bet.
Great video Dave! Going to do my sons when we visit him next month. His filter is not a good fit and going to see what I can do to improve that. Thanks again! Love your channel !
Thanks so much!
My filter space is 4” too n what I do is use 4 1” old style filters n spray the lead one with furniture polish. I change out the leader n put a new one in back alternating the filters so they all eventually get replaced. Cheep n works well but the big key is the furniture polish on intake side of the lead filter. I only have to change filter every 6 months. Another way to tell if a-coil may b dirty is to check ur air supplies for debris around them. Also vacuum the cold air return grates n well around them !! A little time saves big bucks n a huge head ache later. Good vids by the way !!
So glad to see it done the right way! This is the exact correct way to clean an evaporator coil.
One of those jobs that you hate doing, but you hate it even more if it broke because of lack of maintenance.
Great job and excellent video tutorial!
PS, I probably would’ve used a vacuum cleaner (extremely carefully) with bristles and one of those 2 gallon sprayers that you get from the garden department. Because you can pump those with air and get a continuous stream.
Not the easiest job, not the hardest, but being up in the attic in southwest Florida is not fun, which is why I did the air handler early in the morning. Made a huge difference. My system wasn't keeping up in this extreme heat, and now it's working perfectly.
Dear Dave, first and foremost, thank you so very much for making these amazing video that are helping so many new DYIer people like myself to be able to diagnose and fix things ourselves. I just found out that you live in the beautiful state of Utah and so do I.
After this video, I ran down to the basement and found out that the HVAC system that I have is slightly different from the one being shown in this video. My home was built in 2020 so I'm not sure if that makes a huge difference but it looks like, for my case, they use the two large in diameter PVC pipes for the exhaust and return that are located right in front of the evaporator coil assembly. I'm not sure if there's way for me to slide the coil assembly out without having to remove the PVC pipes.
Also, I think the system that I have called "up flow" where the evaporator coil assembly is located on top of the furnace assembly. I hope you will make a how to video like this one but for newer system. Thank you again and you just earned another subscriber :)
Hello there! Unfortunately if the pvc intake and exhaust pipes are right in the way, they’d need to be removed. Some furnaces are definitely not made with cleaning the coil in mind. But the pvc pipes can be cut and a coupler can be used. Sometimes the intake is not glued in place but you’d just have to see how your furnace is done. I’m sure I will do another Evap coil cleaning video soon so I’ll try and make that with a high efficiency furnace with the pvc tubes 👍🏼 cheers
@@diyhvacguythank you so much, Dave! I appreciate the comment and shared knowledges. I have learned so much about HVAC just from watching your videos. You’re the real deal, sir!
@@diyhvacguySame problem I have. My 90% furnace has the PVC exhaust/intake pipes. It's only a year old, but someday I'll have to contend with this problem more than likely. Thank you for all your helpful videos!! Much appreciated!!
Awesome vid, took a class for homeowner(became one last year 😎)/to become a tech if I choose. Mainly helped get me EPA cert for refrigerant. didn’t get a lot of hands on guidance for cleaning an evap coil. Which kind of was a drag.
But so stoked to find this video/tutorial.
Definitely going to be giving my
Evap coil a clean. Noticed some water leaking out and getting on the filter.
Thanks dude, much appreciated and props for being in the trades. Trade jobs deserve more respect!
You've encouraged me to perform this task myself here at home ... and I bet the coils here are dirtier than yours! Thanks!
Ha! I was planning on cleaning my coil so great timing Dave!! Thank you! Cheers, George
You got it!!
Nice job. 👍 I thoroughly clean my condenser coil every couple of years, but I don’t see a way to clean my A coil box up in my attic. It’s completely sealed with no access door. I have a Lennox, horizontal installation. It cost me $1500 to replace the leaky coil box 6 years ago. The old coil box lasted 7 years before it started leaking. If it costs $500-$1000 just to clean it, I might as well just install a brand new one for $1500, if I start to have problems. I use Merv 8 filters and change them on time every time, so the coil box should not be very dirty, but who knows.
there not 1500 no more. ac parts have gone way up
The manufacturers would rather replace the coil rather than have it cleaned or repaired. It's all about the $$$ for the tech and the manufacturer. LOL
you have to cut into the sheet metal
@@roscoetanner5996 correct. Easy to overcharge on parts then on human labor. Nobody wants to pay a guy $200/hr while they make $30/hr
I had a guy in last year because my condenser was icing up. They said we have a small leak, so they topped it off, then said it will only last that summer max before we have to get it topped off again or start replacing stuff. They never went inside and looked at the A coil or anything, just eye balled the condenser and that was it. The reason it was icing, well the main reason, maybe it was a bit low on coolant? was my A coil was clogged with dust and couldn't breathe. Ice was on the top side of the A coil, there is a spot cut out as an access hatch to see one top side of the coil. The next day I pulled the other "hatch" off which is to access the bottom of the coil and vacuumed out the huge amount of dirt, hair, debris, etc. This all stopped the actual cooling of the house.
Don't always throw large amounts of money at things when you can look at it, and do something simple and save yourself a lot of headaches. Your coil wont be completely sealed away, as they had to install it. At the very least, you know where it is via the copper and PVC lines going in the unit. Those lines are all usually in the same spot, so you can see where the video posters lines are and know roughly where to start. Then go to the side and cut a hole in your furnace, make sure you have a spare piece of sheet metal that is bigger then the hole you cut. Then you can at least clean the bottom like I do, and it will make a HEAP of difference. After you are done cleaning, screw the new sheet metal panel up, then use aluminum tape to seal it all up and you're done.
Good video! I would put a disclaimer on this though. On the majority of systems I see in the south/southwest, that coil isn't sliding out without cutting the lineset.
Yes there is one in every video description 👍🏼
Good info, thanks. I like your explanation for each thing you're doing.
Before you do this, find where the water drains outside your house and hook your vacuum to the pipe to clear the clog and drain the water. After I crawled into the attic and got into the condenser, I found that it was pretty clean already. I could’ve probably skipped all of that for now.
As usually-outstanding quality in presentation and showing the way to solve a lot of AC related problems.Sadly, there are some issues which cannot be solved.Algae growing in and on your evaporator are nor possible to get rid of ( not pan growth,this is easy). Any algae killer gets washed away immediately after running the unit for 15 minutes.Sure, the old patch is dead,takes about 1 week until a slimy growth starts creeping up the fins again.Dismantling the unit every 7-8 days seems to me a bit tedious
N 9 moon n
Spray some lysol into one of your intake vents.
There are tablets for algae that can be placed in the condensate drain pan that slowly dissolve over time. Should last at least one season.
@@bigd3104 I guess you are missing the point.Algae growing ON the evaporator ,not only in the pan.Looks like slime climbing up the edges of evaporator,pan part is easy
Why not vacuum the coils after the combing of the excessive dirt? Suggestion : I’m no way a A/ C tech and I live in a very small town in Mexico. I use Dawn , water, vinegar and Clorox in a garden sprayer then I rinse with the same sprayer. I believe you’ll find this to be a very satisfactory cleaning
Thank you for showing me the air conditioner company they want to replace the whole system but I did it your way it got so cold my kids started complaining it's too cold in house
Thanks for the reminder on Filter Buy, will write that number on the side of the furnace filter box for future reference. Great job showing us utubers how to clean a evaporator coil.
Make sure and use the Filterbuy link in the video description! Cheers
That's wild! If yours is that dirty, mine has to be worse. I'm gonna dig into mine tomorrow. Thanks for the video!
You made it look easy, I may give it a try. Thanks for posting a great instructional video.
For water I use one of those pump sprayers you can get from homedepot. Allows you to get a good constant flow of water for rinsing
A vacuum helps.
they have these things called air filters at home depot you should try them. They aren't that expensive so get extra one's and change them regularly it's a hell of alot easier then opening your evap coil.
Very good. Peels off like cleaning a dryer vent filter. I would think a shop vac would play a role at some point.
A big rectangular mixing tub (such is used for concrete, mortar, or drywall mud) might be useful to catch runoff.
Would I need to turn off my power before doing this? Thank you so much. I'm so happy I found your videos!
Yes I’d advise just turning the light switch off at the furnace and that will prevent the furnace or ac from coming on 👍🏼
Professional hvac tech here…please share this video as much as possible!! I love making easy money from diy’ers
Yea dude, share this with all your friends and family! 👊🏼
I have a Klein tools Double ended ratchet, one side is one quarter and the other is 5/16s. Its slightly thicker than a quarter inch but isn't 5/16ths. If you're doing it for a living and don't have one all I can say is how? item number is 68200 just google it and you should find it. 1/4 side can also accept any screwdriver/impact bits and have a little more space and need to use your magnetic one for whatever reason.
when i bought my house, i needed the furnace and ac replaced. they were 40 years old. i was amazed that the evap coils looked very good. the previous owner must have religiously changed filters all those years. the new system uses merv11 5 inch pleated filters in a well sealed box so im hoping ill never have to clean the coil, the lines would have to be cut.
Bro I love your channel, one of the best if not the only HVAC channel, best wish!
Thanks so much! 🙏🏻
another great vid! it would have been interesting to see the air flow difference before and after! bet it made a huge difference.
You know it did. I'm surprised his A/C worked at all, probably froze up a lot.
I use to by cases of the no rinse evap cleaning for cleaning reheat coils in the hospital where I worked. Also used it on evaporator s on RTUs. For cooling coils on large fan units I bought some green cleaner that was non toxic and worked like a champ.
No-rinse evap cleaners should NEVER be used on reheat coils. The condensate from the evaporator is what allows you to use no-rinse cleaners, since that is what rinses the cleaner off. Please do not advise others to use no-rinse sprays in that manner.
No-rinse evap cleaner is ONLY for use in evaporators (cooling coils that produce condensate should be ok as well) and should only be used in humid or semi-humid conditions. It is a great product but needs to be used responsibly and correctly.
Thanks for the tutorial. Would it be okay to use a shop vac on any of this? or would that damage the evaporator?
You can also use a small garden sprayer , I use 1 that's 1/2 gallon size, works well 😉
I liked the video thank you for making it. I guess my question is since you had all that unfiltered air go by and did what it did. When you showing going to reinstall it and the heat exchanger was dirty looking why did you not clean that then? Yes there should be no big debris flying by getting clogged again but a wet rag or some wipes even and you could of cleaned that layer off and back tracked all the way back to the filter. I would think that your fan itself since that is in between everything it would be pretty dirty also and need some loving also.
Another great video for the DIY PEOPLE. I noticed you started spraying from the bottom up. Way to go.
Could you use a vacum cleaner too to get that off.
Would you do a video about all the different types of copper pipe and fittings (like annealed, hard, soft, when you can use plumbing copper instead, etc) for refrigerant lines and different ways to insulate them? Thank you!
Here's the vidoe: you can't. Ok give me 600k views
13 Years old and my is spotless. Always keeping clean filters
Good job man, mine was not neglect, it was a poor filter design from the start.
Thanks for this! I'm now angry that all the A/C people that have come out over the past few years have never offered this service. I've got an old system on life support, yes it's time to be replaced but it's not dead yet, but the A/C folks only deal with the external unit cleaning. I KNOW it's gotta be nasty in there.
Thank you! My blower motor and fan were caked with dust… now I’m scared to see what will come out when I tackle the evaporator!
Priced two units coil cleaning Trane units and received a quote for $950.00. I am studying these videos to learn what to do.
Thank you for the great video. Do you have any videos on cleaning the coil where the furnace has plastic exhaust cemented together?
If you want to rinse after you spray the foam a yard sprayer that you use for spraying weed killer or fertilizer or to spray roses works really good it has more pressure and you don't cramp up your hand from pulling the trigger so much. A one gallon sprayer is around 10.00. If you don't clean out your sprayer after each use you will have to give it a good cleaning so there is no residual Round Up or fertilizer. You might want to disconnect the hose and run warm water thru it from you utility or kitchen sink.
Do you use or recommend any home brews like Dawn, Purple Power, Simple Green, etc. for cleaning coils & condensers or do you only use commercial sprays? Thanks.
I'd be afraid of using any soapy stuff, as it might leave a residue that junk might adhere to.
Great video man. I tried this, but I didn’t know exactly what to do and the unit I have is a wall version. So I just had it switched out with a new one.
Great video. Retired commercial hvac tech.
I use a 20”x20”x1” filtrete 1900.
Think it’s a merv 12 or 13 i can’t remember. Seems to work pretty good I replace every 2-3 months depending on hvac use. Seems to fit pretty tight it’s in ceiling
Forget about better quality 1" thick filters. Something that over-rides and trumps ALL 1" filters........is to use a DEEP PLEAT filter that is 2" to 5" thick....and it is constructed with a FLANGE arround the edges to fit the 1" thick opening recess.... BUT has 4 " more filtration hanging out the backside into the ductwork behind. . Consider......a 5" pleat is NOT a 5" thick filter that would cause more pressure drop.....it is 5" thick but PLEATED, so the surface area is greatly increased to give more filter area for less pressure drop and also more cleaning action. It's the best of both worlds when targeting better filtration AND low pressure drop. Here is an example....not necessarily this brand but this style.---> th-cam.com/video/07ZnySt8rHE/w-d-xo.html. I buy another brand (Filter Buy)....but use blue painters tape around the edges instead of having this rubber gasket, to assure no by-pass losses. Here's another-->th-cam.com/video/NuCwKf7SBbI/w-d-xo.html
@@TheWilferch it’s in ceiling so I can’t just add thicker one but I’ll def do the painters tape trick thanks for tip
@@Turtle-sz7sk ......you CAN add a thicker one to the ceiling location. Mine is in the ceiling too. Doesn't matter if the standard 1 " thick filter housing is on the wall or ceiling....the important part is if there is space enough in the ductwork behind the filter housing. I had to remove some firm insulation from the tunnel shaft ductwork walls behind the filter for a few inches.... to accommodate the thicker filters. Ceiling mount vs wall mount is irrelevant.
@@TheWilferch huh I’ll have to look into it. Would def needs some modifications.
@@Turtle-sz7sk ...for most folks there are no mods required...if the space BEHIND the housing accommondates a thicker filter. In my case, they built the ductwork tunnel behind the filter with rigid foam insulation on all 4 walls of the ductwork....so I had to slice-away a 4-5" depth behind the filter housing to fit my 5" deep filter. Many don't need to do this. Look at the links again.
Looks amazing! I cannot reach the inside 😩it’s dirty from previous owners. Any suggestions 🤷🏻♀️
My late 60's Lennox is in a tight closet filter 14×18x1... been freezing up no air getting past it... as far as I know it's never been cleaned... I cleaned the 25+ yr old Compressor coil for the first time a few weeks ago... back in 1984 dad was sick and a family friend looked at it coz it was running hot and cold at the same time... so he asked my mom do you want hot or cold? She said cold so he disconnected the electric heater coil... and had gas heater installed in the kitchen... been yellowing the paint ever since
what i wouldn't give to have so much room/light to work on my furnace. ours are on their side in the attic with hardly any room around to work. nonetheless, gonna give this a try tonight. thanks for the great tutorial!
This is THE video that I needed! TY.
My problem is that all that debris you pulled off is wet on my.coils. Any advise?
Great video, thanks! I believe our evap coil is freezing up after a couple days of hot humid weather. Will open up and assess. You said this needs to be done dry, right? May need to use a hair dryer or other method to get things thawed out and dry?
Hey man great video. Will be doing this when the Georgia heat goes away because mine is in the attic!!
I highly recommend using a dust mask and some eye protection maybe even a full face shield. Also disconnect power, you want to be safe.
I'd like to clean my evaporated coils as well.Do you have a video on how to open it up?
Do You cut the tape, do you rip the tape off?Is it actually tape?Where do I get the replacement tape?Things like that.
Basically the opening and closing part .
Excellent vid! Thanks for airing your "dirty laundry"!
Pro Tip: After 17k service calls, I like to take a swig of the brown coil runoff water during my first coil cleaning of the day. I find that it really wakes you up and all the microbes, dust and dead skin cells add up to a lot of protein and minerals and really makes you feel alive!
I feel some coughing coming, thankfully the last time I cleaned mine out it wasn't to bad and I just vacuumed the dust and drainage tray out. I do need to see if my coils slide out and use cleaner next time, at the time I had to spend a lot of time just trying to get at the coils with the 2 dozen screws to take off all the metal covers.
Pulling mine isn't possible without cutting the intake and exhaust pipes. I remember looking at my A coil this past spring but it was more about getting access to it for the next duct cleaning we're due for in the fall. That was the one complaint I got from the cleaners last time was the access panel didn't have room to be removed. Now that I have that worked out I'll just pre-remove it for them in the fall. HOWEVER, this video has me wondering if that triangle piece had screws in it for removal. I don't recall seeing any although I'll admit I wasn't actually looking for them. Should have taken a pic just for kicks. I guess I'll find out in the fall.
Informative tutorial and I never considered that if possible they could be slid out for easier access. I suppose at this point you could just skip the filter and let the dust film do the filtering work eh? Or not...
I got a portable AC from the 80s and it didnt look half as bad on the inside as that. But the dust trapped water and it started leaking it out the bottom.
Great video! Have you ever used a steam cleaner or something similar for cleaning?
My Coil hasn’t been touched in 12 years or so…since install. I am tackling it this weekend or when the weather cools a bit.