While air coolers require less maintenance than other cooling devices such as AC, cleaning them regularly is mandatory. Coolers have a lot of stagnant water in their tank and this tank is a dark and cool place. This makes it an ideal place for the growth of germs and mosquitoes. This can seriously affect your health. Therefore you need to clean your cooler regularly.
In this article, we will tell you how to clean your cooler by yourself at a minimal cost. This will not only save you money but also improve the cooling efficiency of your cooler and make it last for a longer duration. Stick around for some helpful tips at the end.
Step 1: Remove the Dust Filters
First, remove the dust filter attached to the sides of your coolers. The dust filter is attached to the side and back of the coolers near the cooling pads. Dust filters are present in some coolers. You can easily remove them after removing the back of the filters.
You can remove these filters and can clean them by running them under clean water. Then, keep them in a cool place to dry properly while you clean the rest of the cooler.
Step 2: The Honeycomb pads
If your cooler has wood wool padding which is made up of grass then you can easily replace the padding as they are cheaper and easily available. If you have honeycomb padding in your coolers, then you can easily clean them and make them last for a long time. Cleaning them regularly is very important as this will improve the cooling efficiency of the cooler. Follow the steps below to clean the air coolers easily at home:
- First, ensure that the power is off and your cooler is disconnected from the power outlet. Gently, remove the honeycomb pads from the cooler.
- Now, use a damp cloth to lightly dust the pads until the accumulated dust from the pads is removed.
- Now, you can rinse the pads once with plain water. If you clean your coolers regularly and there is not a lot of accumulated dust on the pads, then this might be enough to clean your pads.
- But if you don’t clean your pads often and they are very dirty then you might need to do an extra step to deep clean them.
- In order to deep clean the honeycomb pads you need to submerge the pads in a mixture of water and vinegar for 30 to 60 seconds. It should be an equal ratio between water and vinegar.
- Give it a final rinse with plain water and then place it at a cool place to dry completely. When it is completely dry, place it back in the cooler
- Also, keep in mind that honeycomb pads need to be replaced once every year. If it has been more than a year since you replace the pads it might be better to replace them instead of cleaning them.
Step 3: Clean the Water Tank
Before placing honeycomb pads back in the water tank, clean the water tank properly. The water tank is arguably the most important area in your cooler that you must keep clean. This is the place where the water is stored in large quantities for the cooling process. As the water is stagnant, you must clean this tank because this is generally a breeding ground for mosquitoes, bacteria, fungus and more. These can cause serious health issues if not addressed immediately.
In order to, clean the tank, you need to empty it first. Then use mild detergent and water solution to clean the tank. Focus on the corners, the pipes and any area where dirt might get accumulated. Rinse the tank with plain water once again. Now you can place your clean honeycomb pads back into the tank.
Step 4: Freshen Your Air Coolers
Due to the stagnant water, the chances of mould growth is very high in a water cooler. This mould growth will cause a musty smell which will then be pushed into the room and make the entire room smell musty.
To prevent this you can add lemon juice or essential oils into the water tank while filling water. Regular cleaning will automatically prevent the musty and mouldy smell from the water tank.
Things to Consider:
- If your cooler is not cooling as well as it used to or is emitting a bad/strange odour then this is a great indication that you need to clean your cooler. But your cleaning should be done on a regular schedule even when it is not giving off bad odour or cooling efficiently.
- If you live in a hot and humid climate where diseases such as dengue, malaria are a common occurrence, then you need to clean your water tank frequently. You can clean them twice a week. You can use mosquito repellent liquids such as eucalyptus or lemongrass essential oils to prevent the growth of mosquitoes inside the water tank
- How frequently you should clean your air cooler also depends on the salt content in your environment. If you live near the coastline and there is a lot of salt content in the water and air, then you need to clean the cooler more often. This is because honeycomb pads get choked by the sodium fluoride/salt content in the water.
- Don’t soak the honeycomb pad in the water-vinegar solution for a long time as this might damage them.
- Replace the honeycomb pads once every year and at most once every 2 years with regular maintenance. Get your cooler serviced by experts to increase its longevity.
Sometimes, your air cooler might need professional cleaning and maintenance due to severe dirt buildup and blockage. In such cases, you should rely on experts to clean the coolers. Besides cleaning your cooler also requires regular servicing to ensure that all the parts are working properly and the cooling pads are in working condition. If you take proper care of your cooler, you will get the optimum cooling experience along with a long-lasting productive life of the cooler.
