Equipment
Evaporator and Condenser Coil Cleaning for Commercial Systems
A coil that looks clean from the face can be packed solid two rows deep. Here is how to tell and how it gets cleaned.
3 min read · Reviewed by Gabriel M.
Carrier RTU — HEPA negative-air hose connected at the filter access panel
Why coils matter most
The coil is the narrowest point in the air path and the only one that is wet. Anything filtration misses lands there and sticks. A quarter-inch mat across a coil face can cut airflow dramatically and drive both energy cost and humidity complaints in one move.
Surface clean versus deep clean
Multi-row coils foul from the entering side inward. Spraying the face and rinsing produces a photogenic result and leaves the interior loaded. A real clean uses a cleaner appropriate to the coil metal, adequate dwell time, and rinse pressure low enough not to fold fins, repeated until rinse water runs clear.
Where fouling has bridged the rows, coils are pulled or cleaned from both directions. Fin combing follows any mechanical damage.
The pan and drain come with it
Everything you wash off the coil ends up in the pan. A coil cleaning that leaves a sludged pan and a partially blocked condensate line has simply relocated the problem, and in humid Atlanta summers that becomes an overflow and a ceiling stain within weeks.
Common questions
- How do I know if the coil is dirty?
- Measure temperature split and static pressure across it, and look through the fins with a light behind them. If light does not pass, it is loaded.
- Are coil cleaners safe for occupied buildings?
- The ones we use are selected for the coil metal and the occupancy, applied with containment and thoroughly rinsed.
- How often should coils be cleaned?
- At least annually in Metro Atlanta, and twice yearly for kitchen, manufacturing or high outside-air applications.
Keep reading
Talk to a commercial crew, not a call center
Commercial Air Care services commercial facilities across Metro Atlanta with IICRC-certified crews and per-unit photo documentation on every job.