Air conditioners can grow mold and start to blow smelly, unhealthy air into your home if not cleaned properly. Fortunately, a windowed unit doesn't cost much to keep clean; you just need a bleach and water solution and the right approach. The video above demonstrates how you can easily clean out an odor and keep your air conditioner running at top efficiency. It basically boils down to this:Wash the filter: Your air conditioner's filter collects a lot of dust and debris. It can effectively blow cold air into your home if that filter is full of crap. Wash it off with the bleach and water solution for better airflow without a funky odor.Clean the coils: Evaporator coils lie beneath the air filter. You'll need a brush attachment on a vacuum (or a handheld with a similar function) to get the dirt off quickly, but you can just use a scrub brush if your prefer the old-fashioned way.Straighten the fins: If you've got bent fins on your air conditioner, fix 'em! You just need to pick up a fin comb at your local hardware store and use it.

For the most part, you really just need to wash the filter. Unless you've been using the air conditioner for a long time, that's likely causing the most inefficiency and where you'll find trapped smells first. If not, move your way down the list. My Air Conditioner Smells Bad! | Sponsor Press Releases & New Product Announcements Get the latest news and announcements from the site sponsors! To ask a question please use the 'Ask a Sponsor' forum. Click here to view all the site sponsors and see what they are offering! Ask a Site Sponsor Site Sponsor Specials and Sales Site Sponsor Group Buys Published on July 22nd, 2014 | When it comes to making your home more energy efficient, cleaning your fridge’s condenser coils or fan might be one of the cheapest ways to accomplish just that. It’s a task that doesn’t require much in the way of technical equipment or know how, rather you just need to know where to look. By keeping your fridges condenser coils or fan clean, you could improve its energy efficiency by as much as 9kWh a month.

While that may not seem like a lot, over the course of 10-15 years that could add up to as much as $500 or more. 1. Unplug your fridge or turn the power off at the breaker. If you’re going to be working near any sort of an electric motor, it’s best to make sure that there is no power running to it while your working in or around it. Pug Breeders South West UkAfter all, safety first! Chunky Husky Puppies For SaleTo get to the power cord you might have to pull the fridge away from the wall. Used Washer And Dryer For Sale Tacoma WaOnce you’ve found the plug, simply unplug it. If you elect to turn the power off at the breaker, simply open up the home’s breaker panel and find the switch that controls the power to fridge and flip it to the off position (it should be labeled).

2. Locate the fridges condenser coils or fan. Depending on the design of your fridge, its condenser coils or fan could be in one of two places. They will either be in the front or back of the fridge and will likely have some sort of grate or covering to help protect them from collecting dust and lint. Newfangled fridges may have internal coils. If you don’t find the coils in the rear or the bottom of your fridge, this may be the case for your fridge. 3. Remove the grate in front of the coils or fan. In some cases the protective grate simply snaps in and out of place. If this is true of your fridge, gently pull on the grate until it pops free. However, if your fridge’s protective grate is held in place by screws you’ll need to remove those first. After you’ve removed the screws with your screwdriver the grate should lift free. Time to strap on the dust mask, if you haven’t already. 4. Scrub the protective grate and GENTLY clean the coils and/or fan. By now, it should be very apparent just what needs to be scrubbed.

So take your stiff brush and remove any dust or other debris as best you can. Be sure to remove as much as you can, since any left over dust or debris will prevent the condenser coil from working as efficiently as possible. However, be careful to do this gently so as not to dent or damage any coils in the process.Now that you’ve likely created a giant dust bunny on your floor, take your vacuum and run it both on and around the condenser coils or fan. Be sure to suck up any debris that has fallen down onto the floor during the cleaning process. Remember, the idea is to remove as much of the debris as possible. After you’ve gone over the area once, take your flashlight and give your coils or fan a thorough visual inspection. You may have to go back and re-scrub any areas that were particularly dirty. 6. Replace the protective grate and move the fridge back into place. At this point your condenser coils or fan should be cleaned up and ready to go. Simply put the protective grate back in place, plug in the fridge, and push it back into its appropriate place in the kitchen.

If you’re looking for more ways to save energy in your home, try implementing some of these energy conservation tips. Also, be sure to check out more of our green home improvement projects: Green Living Ideas, after all, is a top 20 home improvement website! Photo courtesy of Jim’s Projects.Scale is the solid matter left after water is heated or evaporated. It forms thick deposits on heat transfer surfaces and prevents the heat from being carried off. Scale deposits reduce water flow, cut heat transfer and cause high head pressure. The compressor works harder and draws extra current, increasing power costs and causing equipment to fail to product the designed capacity. The life of the equipment itself is reduced. In fact, excessively high head pressure is a common cause of motor burnout which costs considerable inconvenience and money. Breakdowns occur during the hottest weather when full capacity is needed. Customers are annoyed and dissatisfied. When they can't actually see the scale, on the condenser surfaces, inside the piping and water regulated valves, there's a strong possibility it's there if the head pressure is high (more than 10 pounds above normal), or if the liquid refrigerant line is extra warm.

But keep in mind that high head pressure can be caused by mechanical problems, too. These should be checked out before the full blame is placed on scale. Here are just a few of these other causes: pump sucking air, water lines too small, louvers or sprays plugged, tower overloaded, fan trouble, or moist air returning. How to Test the Scale - If there is any question as to whether the scale remover will dissolve the scale, you can check this by putting a sample of scale into a half glass of water with two or three teaspoonful of the acid. If the scale bubbles and breaks up or completely dissolves, go to it! If it doesn't bubble, a sample of the scale can be sent to Nu-Calgon for analysis. We will determine whether it contains sulfate, iron oxide, silica, etc. and advise what can be done to remove it. Nu-Calgon Scale Remover - "Imperial Grade" - The best and safest dry acid cleaner. Scale remover is a powdered sulfamic acid formulation that contains the best inhibitors available for protecting all metals including galvanizing.

A built-in pH color indicator shows how much to use, when to add more and helps tell when the system is clean. A wetting agent and anti-foaming agent are included to help it do a better cleaning job. Liquid Scale Dissolver - A hydrochloric (muriatic) acid with a low-foaming corrosion inhibitors and a built-in pH color indicator. pH test paper also included. Liquid Acid Versus Powdered Acid - Some acid users prefer liquid acid for cleaning scaled-up equipment, while some prefer safer dry materials. Both types of materials have certain advantages over each other. Powdered acids, such as our scale remover, provide the utmost safety in handling to the user. They are nonvolatile and give off no obnoxious or corrosive fumes. Any spillage of the dry acid cleaner is swept up as easily as if it were salt. The dry product is non-irritating to unbroken skin and is easily removed by flushing with water. Since they are less dangerous and easier to use, less supervision is required. Powdered acids are safer for the equipment, and when properly inhibited, will provide excellent protection to steel, copper, brass and aluminum surfaces.

Certain formulations like our scale remover are exceptionally safe for galvanizing when no copper corrosion products are present in the system. Powdered acids will not remove old corrosion products as fast as liquid acids, so there is less danger of springing leaks in old corroded systems. Adding too much powdered acid will not cause excessive corrosion rates while adding too much liquid acid can increase the corrosion rate tremendously. Powdered sulfamic acid cleaners are also excellent algaecides. Liquid acids (such as Nu-Calgon Liquid Scale Dissolver) are somewhat more economical, and strong solutions will dissolve scale and iron oxide deposits faster than powdered acid solution. The liquid goes into solution with no stirring which is a desirable feature, especially in cold weather. Amount of Acid Required: The amount of acid required to completely clean the system depends upon the amount of scale present. It takes about 2 pounds of powdered acid or 1/3 gallon of liquid acid to react with 1 pound of lime scale.

Several doses of acid may be necessary to remove heavy scale deposits. No more than 3 doses of acid should be added to the water together. If scale is heavy, it is better to drain the spent cleaning solution and repeat the cleaning procedure with a fresh charge. Before cleaning with acid, check the spray nozzles or water distribution holes and clean them out. Drain and flush out the sump. Refill it with fresh water and start the pump again. Shut off the bleed, if there is one. This will cut down on the amount of scale remover you'll need, and prevent waste. As a starting dosage, add 2 to 3 gallons of liquid acid or 10 pounds of "Imperial" Scale Remover for each 50 gallons of water in the system. If the amount of water in system is not known, the starting dosage can be estimated from the following chart. Even though the acid may have a good anti-foaming ingredient, pour slowly into the system to avoid foaming or pump locking because of the gas released in the cleaning process.

The acid solution should be circulated for several hours depending upon the thickness and type of scale. One can usually tell when the equipment is clean by observing the acid solution returning from the condenser. When the returning solution does not contain any bubbles or foam it is a sign that the lime scale has been removed. The built-in pH color indicator in our "Imperial Grade" Scale Remover and Liquid Scale Dissolver is a very good guide to the proper application of the product. It gives the water a green or light blue color with the acid at the desired strength and causes the water to turn dark blue or purple when the acid is mostly neutralized. This, when the water turns purple, more acid should be added to change the color back to light blue or green. Occasionally, the water indicator does not show up very well in a system where there is a lot of dirt, rust, algae, etc. To double check the cleaning operations and acid strength, pH test paper is provided. Cleaning Individual Condensers with an Acid Pump: