A/C Evap Coil

[Shovelrick]

I've never cared for Nordynes newer Micro Channel Evap & Cond. coils for a couple reasons, 1st is the flat tube can plug up to easy, 2nd I don't think air passes through them as well as the older style, 3rd they're harder to clean, 4th I Just Dont Likem, 5th it took them a few yrs before they could get the condensor to flow for a Heat Pump, 6 you Can Not pump a cond. unit into itself with this type coil (even has warning labels) Take a look at this UN maintained coil that either the Home Owner or Maint. Man...Fixed? some ducts and tape got sucked in lol, we replaced the complete system with a new Heil 5 ton Heat Pump system, forgot to mention it was a 12 yr old system we removed and I forgot to take a pic of old outdoor unit but it was in very poor cond. but he lives right on Tampa Bay so salt air doesnt help

 

[kmakar]

FFS that is a mess. Can't see how it even pushed any air.

 

[Chevelle_Nut]

What is the best way to clean the outside unit?

 

[Shovelrick]

There's a coil cleaner made for outdoor unit cleaning but since the outdoor unit gets pretty hot (above 100° normally around here) I like to just rinse with a garden hose but No reclaimed water just city water and if really dirty then I use a weak mix of the chem, turn power off and raise top to spray outward, I'll see if I still have a pic of a unit I installed at a rental with dogs that peed on the coil and kicked dirt all around that got sucked in while it was running, unit was about 1 yr old and if 1 more yr of that it would have been Shot and No warranty coverage, Land Lady wasn't happy to say the least, I didn't get the pics in correct order but you all can see what was done, this was only about 1 yr old give or even take a few months, I can't tell if you'll be able to see where the dogs were pissing on the lower corners of the coil but much longer and it would've been in need of a Costly NOT warranty replacement, the coil cleaner ATE the factory paint off of 60-70% of the coil so after it dried I used cheap Lowes black spray paint to repaint it, all UN needed if taken care of but many Tenants just don't care and this clogged coil raises the electric bill too

 

[Chevelle_Nut]

Great write up! Is this best to do in the hot weather?

 

[Shovelrick]

Not when you're a few weeks away from 62 yrs old LOL, but whenever it needs done it really don't matter but on charging a system it should be 80 or above so all the classes and tech support say EDIT I asked a question in a tech class once when the instructor was saying about 80+ outside and 80- inside temps to get Sub Cooling & Superheat temps within +/- 3* I said "What if you're installing in the winter or a Northern state?" and got a run around answer of just get the Sub Cooling & Superheat temps as close to spec as you can, and I have over charged doing that

 

[Shovelrick]

I just did an EDIT to my post