How Do Air Conditioner Cooling Coils Get Dirty?

Do You Have a Dirty AC Coil?

Dirt is one of your air conditioner’s biggest enemies. If it builds up on the wrong part of your system, it can cause severe performance and efficiency issues that will waste energy and make your home less comfortable. One of the places that dirt buildup causes some of the biggest air conditioning problems is on your system’s cooling coils. Today we’re going to talk about how your cooling coils get dirty, the effects of dirty cooling coils and how you can keep your air conditioner’s cooling coils clean!

How do cooling coils get dirty?

Dirt buildup happens naturally on air conditioners over time, but it will build up much more quickly if you don’t change your air filter. When your filter is clogged, dirt and other debris in your home’s air will blow around the filter and build up on your air conditioner’s cooling coils. That’s why we strongly encourage all of our customers to check and/or change their air filters once a month.

What are the effects of dirty AC coils?

Your air conditioner cools your home by blowing air over a set of cooling coils. When the warm air from your home comes into contact with the cold coils, heat is transferred from the air to the refrigerant inside of the coils, and the refrigerant carries that heat to your outdoor condenser unit where it is released outside.

If dirt builds up on your cooling coils, it will form a barrier between the coils and the air that’s blown over them. This makes it much more difficult for heat to be transferred from your home’s air to the refrigerant inside the coils because the layer of dirt will get in the way. This has two major effects on your air conditioner. First, it lowers your system’s efficiency levels because it will have to operate longer during each cooling cycle to keep your home cool. Second, it can prevent your system from being able to cool your home down to your desired temperature level, which can make your home uncomfortable, especially on very hot days.

What Can You Do To Keep Them Clean?

There are two ways to keep your cooling coils clean.

1. As we mentioned above, be sure to check and/or change your air filter every month. This will greatly limit the amount of dirt that makes its way to your cooling coils in the first place.
2. Schedule an air conditioner tune-up with Hydes every year. One of the main tasks that we perform during a tune-up is cleaning your cooling coils. This will remove all of the dirt that has built up on your coils since last summer and help prevent performance and efficiency issues with your system throughout this year’s cooling season.

If you have any questions about dirty cooling coils, or if you’d like a cooling system serviced or installed in your home, contact Hydes, your Coachella Valley air conditioning contractor.