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Steam-cleaning rooftop AC units?
We are staying at Myakka River Motor Coach Resort in Port Charlotte. Yesterday, I watched a guy on top of my neighbor’s bus, steam-cleaning his rooftop units.
I have never seen this before nor heard about this practice.
When I asked the neighbor later in the day, he told me that he has several friends who have their AC units cleaned this way. A couple of by-standers chimed in to say the same. Amongst other benefits, they say this removes dirt and mildew from the coils.
My neighbor also stated that he noticed an immediate cooling improvement after the cleaning.
Now, I am wondering whether I should spend my wife’s hard-earned money to have this done, too. We have 4 units and I know for certain, that they were never cleaned.
The cost for this service will be around $450.00 … Ouch.
Your thoughts?
Cheers,
Ronald
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6 Replies
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Ronald, off the top of my head, I’d say that the only benefit is cleaning the condenser coils and that can be accomplished for far less than 4500. A spray can from any AC shop and a hose will do the same thing. I’m certainly not an AC guy, maybe Steve can jump in here. Geo.
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What Geo said.
$450 is insane.
A/C supply houses sell a spray that is designed for air conditioning coils. Spray it on, rinse it off. I don’t know how a roof A/C is set up but I suspect you might have a little difficult time getting at the coils since they are isolated from the outside, but once you get at them limit your flushing flow of water to less than the drain pan water drain can handle. That’s the coil that is going to be covered potentially with mold, lint, etc. The condenser coil will possibly be dusty but not moldy.
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Remove the AC cover (usually 6 screws) spray and wait awhile (15-30 min) and rinse. You don’t need a lot of water. It’s really no different than a bsmt. unit or the outside unit at your house. Tinman ? Geo.
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You better watch out for the spray it has acid in it could damage your paint, just a thought Darrell
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The acid is terrible for paint and must be rinsed good. I opened the AC’s up and took two bottles up with me. A bottle of 409 and a pump sprayer of water. I coated them good with 409 and rinsed with water. A little more work than the acid but worked for me. My labor is free.
Davy
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Ronald,
Forget about pressure washing, there are so many things that can go wrong with that idea. And I am sure if one of your units gets fubar’ed from some dude with a pressure washer you will end up on your own.Take off the covers and carefully brush any junk stuck to the outside of the condenser coil. Then just use water. Chemicals are fine if you are very dirty or oily and I am sure yours are not. Coil cleaners contain acid and even the ones that don’t have harsh chemicals in them that could streak your paint. If you feel you need some kind of cleaner and plan on using it, make sure you wet down your paint job and roof so the acid and harsh chemicals are diluted by the water so not to streak it. Again……. Just water if you can…
Steve
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