All About Condenser Maintenance for Homeowners

Cleaning the Fins

Typically, your air conditioner’s outdoor unit would be placed in your garden or backyard. Since it has fins for ventilation and keeps the system from overheating, many leaves, twigs, dust, and other debris can find their way inside, accumulating on or around the condenser coils. The coils require simple cleaning with a soft blower.

To do so, you have to turn off your air conditioner and also turn off the power supply to it. Then, you can use the blower to clean off the fins of the outdoor unit until they are completely cleared.

Gently Washing the Condenser Coils

If a simple blowing wouldn’t do much, you can use a garden hose on moderate pressure and clean the entire outdoor unit with it, removing the stubborn dirt and debris with a broom. Make sure to avoid using a pressure washer, as it can damage the coils. When you clean up the condenser coils, it will allow air to pass through them much quicker, thus improving their efficiency and helping them provide better cooling.

By washing the condenser coils, you can also prevent airflow blockage across it, which can cause high pressure. Keeping pressure normal prevents damage to the compressor and excess stress on the system.

Combing the Coil Fins

The condenser coils have aluminum fins that can get easily bent, thus hindering the airflow to the coil. To fix this problem, you can get a ‘fin comb’ from any air conditioner dealer or supplier, and use it to bring these fins back into shape, so that there is no blockage. Keeping fins in good condition also dramatically improves the cooling performance of your air conditioner.

Checking the Refrigerant Levels

If you can’t do this on your own, hire an AC technician or repairman to come and check the refrigerant levels of your air conditioner. When the refrigerant level inside the air conditioner goes low, not only does its cooling efficiency go lower, but this can also damage the compressor. Moreover, low refrigerant can cause ice to buildup upon the surrounding components, causing cooling loss and potential water damage.

Checking the Condenser Fan Motor

Suppose your condenser fan doesn’t work correctly. This fan is installed adjacent to the condenser coil, and when the air goes towards the coil, it cools off the refrigerant and passes through to the indoor unit of your air conditioner. In that case, it won’t matter if everything else is alright because the airflow will be inefficient and won’t allow the refrigerant to cool off, and the unit will overheat.

If you notice that the fan doesn’t run when you turn on the air conditioner or makes a strange sound when running, there may be something wrong with it. Even if the fan keeps running when the compressor goes off, there could still be a problem with the fan motor. Since you can’t do much about it, you should hire a technician who checks the fan motor for any malfunction or improper performance.

You must get the fan motor maintained and fixed because it could cause other components to malfunction if it doesn’t work correctly.