How to Clean a Portable Air Conditioner

My portable air conditioner was not as cold as I like so I decided to give it a good cleaning to see if it would help. What I found was a dusty gross mess. Definitely an air conditioner should be cleaned every few years. I've had this unit for 11 years so it was well over due for a deep cleaning.

This is how I cleaned my Danby AC unit.

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Thank You - Testimonial

Last spring I fired up my AC as per tradition and it didn't go as planned. First, I live in a small bachelor apartment on a ground floor in a crummy part of town. (for security reasons this is why I don't have a window AC). Right outside my unit is the buildings garbage area, and oh yes it does have a tendency to stink something fierce on the warmer days. Running my A/C tends to create a negative pressure in my space which has for years pulled that lovely garbage smell inside to I can appreciate it to the fullest. Last spring was different though. I returned home to find that my apartment smelled exceptionally bad on a scale that I had not previously imagined. It smelled like piss.

It didn't take me too many days to figure out that the source of that lovely smell was my portable A/C. I had always kept the filters clean and tried to keep the accessible fins as clean as I could but it was time to not kid myself. This unit had been used 6 months of the year for the last 10 years and had never had a servicing. O.k, lets hit YouTube and see if I can find a video that will be remotely close to my unit and give me the confidence to open mine up and try to give it a GOOD cleaning. Here is where I landed because you had what is basically the same exact unit with a different name. Everything about your vid was a great help for everything I found and did. I had mould in various parts of the unit and I didn't have the tools to really tackle it. I used bleach and a green general purpose cleaner with a brush I found to do what I could. (no, not mixed or at the same time). The bleach killed the mould and the cleaner just generally helped clean everything else. This cleaning got me through last summer and got me air that smelled... well.. not like urine. A year later and I am back to do it all again but this time I have commercial grade AC cleaner and the tools to do this correctly.

Thank you so much for the video. Without it I may have never been willing to take this job on.

[tetra]

Thanks for this most manufacturers only mention cleaning the filters but when this only covers 2 vent sections out of 4 then it still leaves 2 that get absolutely caked in dust, the only option is to take it apart.

[deelaynee]

THANK you for sharing this! I couldn’t find anybody explaining how to take it apart. I thought I was going crazy not being able to pop off the outer shell, so I’m glad you proved it’s best to just start unscrewing stuff. Thank you!

[indygolfcart]

Thanks for this. Helped a great deal. Here's another helpful tip: wrap the outside of the exhaust hose with thick bubble wrap -- all the way from the unit to the window. Without insulating, that hose produces plenty of hear. Wrapping it helps the unit work even a little more efficiently. (By not drawing that extra heat from the hose into the back of the unit.) I wrapped ours, and it made a difference 💪

[BeerIndependenceAll]

Ours looked much like yours... and we thought cleaning the filter was actually doing something. Uh... Not so much. LOL AC works much better now! Thanks for sharing!

[jameskerherve]

So glad I ran across this video! I cleaned my portable AC on the hottest day of the year and it was so worth it. The dust wasn’t like cleaning a lint trap on a dryer it was so badly caked on it was more like a black furry sticker stuck to the metal fins. Also noticed way less heat around the unit it self now. Thanks 👍🏻

[kiki]

This video was a great help. I will attempt this technique to rid my $600 unit of all this dust. Thanks so much!!!

[andrewwarham]

So I just did this with my own Danby AC unit and was SHOOK at what came out of that thing. Mine is also running much colder now. Thank you.

[Zoecat]

I never woulda thought it could get like that! Once the wife is home I know what I'm doin haha

[MelindaMc]

Thanks! I was afraid to take mine apart...now will!

[noslackyak]

I just bought the same unit off craigslist. It also has the power button worn away. I will be cleaning mine the same way. Thanks!

[kayradiogeekned]

Ya I think it works Better after removing 60 pounds of dust that was funny how bad it was the compressor was overheating relentless I think

[yorkiesweetpea]

At least close your closet doors! 🤣
Thanks for this video! 👍

[ashleythrash]

Mine just keeps filling up so quick and I have a media so I'm definitely going to try I can see it needs to be cleaned and hopefully it solves my problem here thanks for the video

[todayyesterday]

i knew i had to unscrew my portable air conditioner LOL a lotta work worth it

[cbp]

Luckily the newer style units have filters on the intake for the condenser. However not all units do. Good video!!!

[BeGoodEva]

This helped me a ton! A friend let me use their portable a/c for this summer and while it was blowing cold air, when the temp outside hit 90 and above it just wasn't cooling at all. I watched your video and the one I have is a different brand but made identical. I took it apart as you showed and the dirt and dust build up looks just like yours. It is so gross, I wish I had a respirator. I cleaned it the best I could without being able to hose it down and now it seems to be cooling much better. I'm no expert, but I just don't understand how an a/c can blow cool air but still not cool much because the inside is dirty?

Nonetheless, thank you soooo much! You may have saved me $250 because I was about to go ahead and buy a new a/c for the window instead of fooling with this portable one. The main thing I despise though is having to empty the water tray nearly every four hours. I hope cleaning it reduces the need to do this now. Thank you!

[ek]

That works but you can also use ac foam cleaning for the coils. Then rinse of with a spray bottle filled with water a couple of times. Though it will drain out all over and need a place for that. I also use qtips to clean near drainage area because mold builds up.

[melissagibbs]

Wow! Good to know for whoever owns one of these!

[dabcrafter]

That's amazing that it ran that long