Pongy home air conditioner unit

[7daysinaweek]

So !

as we have been having weather not too dissimilar to the Sahara I had got fed up with the incessant heat and bought a second hand free standing air conditioner unit off the bay last month. It had been used in a office environment. When I picked it up I drained down the evaporated water tank.

When picked it up was a little bit bigger than I thought it was, anyroads got it home and plugs it in. Very nice and cool, however it smells a  bit when blowing, not really unpleasant just like a musty smell. I youtubes cleaning it and I have stripped off the covering and hoovered out all of the vents but it still musty. It is not a model that you fill up with water, hot air is vented out of a window and the once the evaporated water tank gets to a certain level the pump kicks in and discharges the excess through the lower drainage line. (this is what it says in the manual) It is made by Andrews air conditioning and the model is a 14000 btu Polar wind, the refrigerant is R407C/560g. It has inlet vents on the side.

I see that you can buy cleaning deodoriser in a pressurised can for cars that you set off and put your car air con on circulation and it deodorises and cleans the unit. What I am asking is there anything I can buy or do to sort out my smelly dilema?

The unit is 10 yrs old and comes from a industrial office unit so not sure if it came from a smokey environment as when i collected it it was at the front of the building plugged in for me to see working, the business was scaling down so not needed anymore. Is it normal for older units to be  a little musty?

 

atb

7diaw

Edited August 12, 2018 by 7daysinaweek

[Spoonbed]

You need to try to get the evaporator and clean it( you’ll see the aluminium fins through the louvred on the front)

You could use a normal disenfectant kitchen type sprayer and spray through the louvres 

[Guest]

Any filters to clean 

[7daysinaweek]

30 minutes ago, Spoonbed said:

You need to try to get the evaporator and clean it( you’ll see the aluminium fins through the louvred on the front)

You could use a normal disenfectant kitchen type sprayer and spray through the louvres 

Ahh, when i took the front off i vacumed out all of the fins, so i can just spray them and let it dry?

19 minutes ago, Swinton said:

Any filters to clean 

H i Swinton, first thing i done was to clean the back removable filter which it says to be cleaned weekly.

[walshie]

When car A/C gets a bit smelly it's because of bacteria in the pipes. Running it on high heat for a few minutes kills them and sorts the smell. I don't know if your A/C unit has a heating element, but worth a go if it has.

[Jaymo]

We have the same on our built in airco units at home in France.

Dose of something like this helps

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-fluids/air-con/stp-auto-air-con-cleaner-150ml?cm_mmc=Google+PLA-_-Engine+Oils+and+Fluids-_-Air+Con-_-149876&istCompanyId=b8708c57-7a02-4cf6-b2c0-dc36b54a327e&istItemId=rxwtwppiw&istBid=tzwt&_$ja=tsid:94971|cid:865695751|agid:43902126175|tid:aud-297219198129:pla-328103895739|crid:202397318358|nw:g|rnd:7136687088730187108|dvc:t|adp:1o1|mt:|loc:9045090&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItvm33v_n3AIV753tCh2O4Av_EAQYASABEgLm2PD_BwE

[7daysinaweek]

33 minutes ago, walshie said:

When car A/C gets a bit smelly it's because of bacteria in the pipes. Running it on high heat for a few minutes kills them and sorts the smell. I don't know if your A/C unit has a heating element, but worth a go if it has.

Good idea Walshie, it will heat up to 27 degrees will give it a blast.

22 minutes ago, Jaymo said:

We have the same on our built in airco units at home in France.

Dose of something like this helps

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-fluids/air-con/stp-auto-air-con-cleaner-150ml?cm_mmc=Google+PLA-_-Engine+Oils+and+Fluids-_-Air+Con-_-149876&istCompanyId=b8708c57-7a02-4cf6-b2c0-dc36b54a327e&istItemId=rxwtwppiw&istBid=tzwt&_$ja=tsid:94971|cid:865695751|agid:43902126175|tid:aud-297219198129:pla-328103895739|crid:202397318358|nw:g|rnd:7136687088730187108|dvc:t|adp:1o1|mt:|loc:9045090&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItvm33v_n3AIV753tCh2O4Av_EAQYASABEgLm2PD_BwE

Cheers jaymo

I looked at a few vids online on tubeyou and the can discharges over 5 minutes, was wondering if i could get one and just aim it into the plastic vents at the side of the unit

[Dougy]

Put the unit in a cupboard or the smallest room in the house and treat it. 

[haynes]

Try a steam cleaner on the internals. The heat should kill the bacteria. 

Ps i dont mean an industrial pressure washer.

[7daysinaweek]

30 minutes ago, Dougy said:

Put the unit in a cupboard or the smallest room in the house and treat it. 

Great suggestion Dougy, that would be the hallway, will give it a go.

26 minutes ago, haynes said:

Try a steam cleaner on the internals. The heat should kill the bacteria. 

Ps i dont mean an industrial pressure washer.

Bit reluctant to steam clean it as above all the fins is the fan and electricals.

[Jaymo]

I have just purchased some Wynns Clean Air ( mint) to try.

Tgey have a discount code of Sale50 so it’s only just over £5.50.

Am off to home to France soon so will let you know what it’s like.

[7daysinaweek]

55 minutes ago, Jaymo said:

I have just purchased some Wynns Clean Air ( mint) to try.

Tgey have a discount code of Sale50 so it’s only just over £5.50.

Am off to home to France soon so will let you know what it’s like.

Cheers Jaymo, yes let me know.

atb

7diaw

[Jaymo]

Should have said I got it from Euro Car Parts 

[rovercoupe]

Any bungs on the bottom? Most of these will act like a dehumidifier and collect water and either have a discharge pipe or a internal tank that will need to be emptied every so often, might be worth checking if there is any mank in there.

[Dougy]

It will probably have a water tank (right hand side for a guess) 

[7daysinaweek]

33 minutes ago, Jaymo said:

Should have said I got it from Euro Car Parts 

?

 

15 minutes ago, Dougy said:

It will probably have a water tank (right hand side for a guess) 

When i took the cover off the internal water tank is hard to access, cheers Dougy I will have another look.

 

33 minutes ago, Jaymo said:

Should have said I got it from Euro Car Parts 

 

26 minutes ago, rovercoupe said:

Any bungs on the bottom? Most of these will act like a dehumidifier and collect water and either have a discharge pipe or a internal tank that will need to be emptied every so often, might be worth checking if there is any mank in there.

I removed the bung and drained down the whole tank before transporting it, when i removed the cover you cannot see the tank just the pipes which come from it, it seems to be tooked up inside. The unit automatically pumps out the water through the discharge pipe when it gets to a certain level. If I can get to it I will have a look.

 

Cheers all

[Lord Geordie]

Some spray sanitiser, and you can quite easily use a vacuum cleaner freshener to help too. 

And as mentioned be sure the tanks and drain are empty!

[Lord Geordie]

gell on my feet with mine! Went to a charity shop and the chap said that everything was half price! In the corner was a brand new air con "Argos one" for £50 so I cheekily asked "that air con too?" And he didn't have to say yes twice! £25 for a Brand new unit. 

Tested it out and it works ok! But it's not been hot enough to use it really! I just used the fan function. It needs a vent fitted! But I have been toying with venting it out through the loft with a inline boost fan to help the flow of warm air from the exhaust. It's enough to cool the entire upstairs if I panel off the staircase. 

[7daysinaweek]

13 minutes ago, Lord Geordie said:

Some spray sanitiser, and you can quite easily use a vacuum cleaner freshener to help too. 

And as mentioned be sure the tanks and drain are empty!

Cheers LG 

sounds like you got a bargain.

atb

7diaw

[Spoonbed]

15 hours ago, 7daysinaweek said:

Ahh, when i took the front off i vacumed out all of the fins, so i can just spray them and let it dry?

H i Swinton, first thing i done was to clean the back removable filter which it says to be cleaned weekly.

Yep, just spray it with disenfectant, leave it for a bit then flush with water.

This should sort it, if not, you could go to one of the fridge wholesalers and pick up some RTU Envirocool, which is what we use in the trade

[7daysinaweek]

So after all good advice and watching a couple of tubeyou vids i decided to tackle the pongy unit head on. Lifted it out into the back garden, bloomin heavy thing it is and pulled out the drain plug and drained out all the condensed water. Set to undoing all the screws holding on the front and back cover, scuffing my knuckles along the way  and teases off the front and back covering. Bubble wrapped all the electrics the best I could as they were all at the top were the second cooling fin unit is.

I then gave the whole unit a good old blast out with portable compressor and despite me hoovering the unit out the other week it blew a lot of rubbish out. I wiped my fingers down the fins and they were covered in a black greasy deposits. The damage you can see on the fins is not from me and I can only think it is were it has been hoicked about. Onto the cleaning, sprayed with a diluted solution of a household cleaning foam and i left for a few minutes then agitated the fins with a soft brush and from the colour of the foam which was almost black and grey I could see how filthy it had been. Flushed with plenty of water from cloth and spent an age blowing out from the inside out with the compressor so as not to blow any water inwards, cleaned every surface nook and cranny i could with wipes the dried with the heater.

Puts it all back together and amazingly I actually had no screws left over, must have done something right!

Lifts it back into the house and left to settle for 30 minutes, then the moment of truth.

Swithches it on and Voila, no Pongy smell at all just a very pleasant and even more cold clean and crisp smell. I did not hold out that the advice and stuff i had read would do the trick that well but there you go it has worked a treat.

No cost, only four hours of me own time and very a very rewarding and dirty time was had. The photos don't really show how dirty it was and now how clean it is,.

As you can see in the pics I like to keep a organised and tidy work area ?

Wife has got it on full blast at moment as she not well and burning up, she is now praising me for buying it. The room is like an igloo  within 5 minutes.

Many thanks once again for all suggestions and advice. 

 

atb

7diaw

 

[Dougy]

Looks like a cracking job. 

 

[7daysinaweek]

26 minutes ago, Dougy said:

Looks like a cracking job. 

 

Cheers Dougy, me hands are absolutely ribboned with the cleaning fluid n all. Just used me wifes Atrixo cream on them, ahhh, now where are my slippers!