How to Clean a Dirty Moldy Window Air Conditioner

In this video I show you how to take apart and clean dirt and mold from a window air conditioner.

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[juelzd]

From a hvac tech from Phoenix. Dam good job taking it apart and cleaning it and improving air quality without the mold

[Joestacemazjojo]

I kept smelling mildew in my room where the ac is, finally shined a flashlight in and that’s pretty much what I saw. Very thorough video. Thank you much as now I have the confidence to take mine apart. Man I love YouTube

[sevhuebsch]

The problem is that modern window/wall AC manufacturers are using styrofoam evaporator chambers instead of evaporator chambers made of galvanized steel, aluminum or even plastic which were used on older units. Mold loves styrofoam, which is a stupid, boneheaded move that could have been easily avoided, but hardly any consumer commodity is truly engineered anymore these days. The bean counters are the engineers.

[bigbaddbeth]

Best DIY video ever! I've used this information twice for my 18, 000 BTU behemoth and my 6, 000 BTU unit. I've saved untold amounts of money on repairs or replacement and saved space in my local landfill. Win/win!

[joeleahan]

Great video! My daughter wanted to trash the units (5) because of the mold but you saved the day and a lot of money. Thanks Joe

[nothingisreal]

At 1:42 you see why AC is the no. 1 reason for cronic respiration infections, if not properly maintained and cleaned. And don't expect hotels and other public places to do this mandatory maintenance as required.

[liveloveanddream]

My a/c had mold the year before. So remember that if you get mold in the a/c, you may need to clean it once a year because my mold came back the following year. So now I will do it every spring before the season starts. NOTE: I cleaned my a/c in the bathtub by putting down garbage bags to protect the porcelain. Headaches caused by the mold are lessoning. I'm washing my walls in my space and washing everything to get rid of mold spores. Thank you for this video!

[lomgshorts]

This is part of my Fall maintenance schedule. You do this when you do not need the A/C to keep cool. I set my Window A/C on the bench, take it apart, clean and straighten the fins on the heat excanger, all internal ductwork, filters (mine has two), all fans (both squirrel cage and bladed fans). I use a cleaner that all HVAC technicians use that dissolves and decontaminates all non electrical internal parts. I also use the fine machine oil to lube up all bearings or bushings (a little bit goes a long way, so do not flood the rotating parts. Cleaning the leading edges of bladed fans is a must, or your work is incomplete, squirrel caged fans must be cleaned, too with an old toothbrush and your spray bottle with 1/2 oz of soap and one oz of bleach to 16 oz of warm water. And, a fine toothed fin comb is a must whether the fins are dented, or just slightly bent (this helps in the cleaning of the exchanger).
Clean the thermocouple carefully with the toothbrush lightly moistened with your soap/bleach mixture. This part senses the incoming air temperature and partly controls how long your unit runs.
Let the unit dry completely over several days in your shop or covered back porch, then reassemble (take many pictures with your phone so you can see where everything goes back in case you forget). Then reassemble and restore your unit back in the window/ wall where it came from. If it is a heavy unit like mine, ask someone to help you reinstall it in that space. COVER your outside part of the A/C unit with saran wrap, foil, or plastic so dirt and moisture will not ruin your hard work - remember to remove this cover before the cooling Summer season starts! When you do this after the Summer cooling Season ends, you can take your time and do a GOOD job! My A/C unit is 25 years old, and apart from adding R-22 to it once three years ago, it has run like a champ cooling my 1017 square foot house all by itself. I learned this all from a friend that works on HVAC systems, watched him do it once, did it myself the rest of the time. Someday, it will die, but take the measurements with you and get the best replacement you can afford - it is worth the trouble and expense.

[dealmes]

Thanks to your video I was able to clean up my ac in less than an hour and saved myself a few hundred bucks on a new one. I have the same one brand and you made it look easy. Bless you!

[VganMat]

Same exact model. Video helped me complete this very easily. Thing is smelling and running like brand new. Thanks 👍

[jennyparish]

This was so helpful!! We couldn't figure out why the AC drained indoors....we did everything average person can do. So we had to look at what was clogging up our drainage....yes, we took apart and low and behold! Leaves, dirt, pollen, yuckies! Thank you for showing us that we could clean our unit and still keep a good unit after one year. we will screen the intake and cover during the winter. Thx!!

[JoelWetzel]

As a hotel handiman I used a fin comb to straighten and clean between fins. There was also a special spray cleaner but it was pretty harsh. I'm rather upset the manufacturers did all they could to keep us from easily cleaning these but they need to sell as many units as possible so it's really up to us to learn what you're teaching and nudge them towards what we want by not considering these things disposable. Peace.

[HYTTFilms]

I just want to come here and say I was hesitant at first if this would work but I did it, and my air conditioner is like NEW! blasts out 60f ice cold air and this just saved me $600 vs buying a new one. Thank you!!

[kevinlu]

Honestly I've taken apart a ton of things in my life (cars, motorcycles, electrical outlets, fixtures, small aerospace units, computers, electronics, etc.) And by far the most annoying thing I've ever had to take apart was a window AC unit.

These things are built with zero user friendliness in mind and cleaning them is a huge pain in the rear. You would think a drip pan should be the easiest accessible item? Nope. You have to take apart the whole unit from the outside until you get to the interior, and even then, you're going to need to take apart the interior to get to the pan.

I have no idea how an engineer has not thought this through more clearly

[KingTuchus]

This was the exact window unit I was looking to clean, so this was beyond helpful for me

[jillgarofano]

Never thought about cleaning my a/c this intently, but looks like I have a big project ahead of me. Thanks for the video.

[slipperyblueclay]

My daughter just got the same model as your own. Your video was the most complete tutorial I have watched. Going back at it tomorrow.

[ajesparza]

Your video on how to clean a window unit air conditioner was very helpful. Pretty simple and elementary. But sometimes, some of us need to go back to the elementary things to get things accomplished. Thanks. - A.J.

[PaoloFrancesco]

So helpful! While helping my daughter move into another apartment and installing a window unit she'd been using a while, I noticed the moldy mess that you show. I was able to clean up the front, but I'll remove the unit at the end of the summer and finish the job as you demonstrated. The recirculation fan is a mess and the styrofoam chamber looks just like yours did. Cleaning is such a big part of keeping most things working well. Your video gives a lot of people the know-how to get through it with an AC unit. Thank you.

[smokeeater]

lowes sells a product called coil cleaner that is amazing and safe for the evaporator and condenser coils, its an aerosol can and foams really good to creep deep into the coils to clean them.