Matt, If you can reach the junk at the bottom of the unit by removing the side panel, you probably do not need to remove the top and in fact I would avoid doing so unless you must. Not knowing what type of unit you have, let me describe how I have cleaned mine. I can remove the side panel and reach everywhere inside the unit, including the fan on the top. The fan on my unit is bolted to the top half of the outdoor unit and the coil goes around three sides of the unit. There is a wire cage that is screwed into the top and bottom halves of the unit, so removing the top would be a challenge in any case. So, all I did was to clean out the bottom and then take a hose and spray from the inside out, which got all the crap off the coil I could not otherwise get with a vac. Whatever you do, don't make the job any more difficult. grin I think some may have to remove the top if there is not a panel on the side that would give access to all parts of the unit. My unit actually is rather empty inside with the fan at the top and the compressor at the bottom and a bundle of wires in between. I hope this helps some and if the unit is fairly new, you probably won't have to oil anything.
Best of luck, Scott On May 17, 2010, at 10:12 AM, Matt wrote: > My main questions, before you have to read all this are, 1 what's the fuzzy > coiled rope looking thing inside the outside unit. > 2 Do I have to remove screws from around outside of the top of the unit and > lift the whole fan out in order to gain access to all sides and the inside of > the unit to get at all possible debris? > > I'm still pondering the AC stuff, I took my drill out yesterday and opened > the only side panel I could find. > I had cut off all breakers to inside and outside unit before hand. > So I explored around in there. > Not much to do from there that I could tell. > I see a coiled like rope, or hose looking thing, it's fuzzy textured. I blew > it off a little with the air hose from the air compressor, and vacuumed at it > a bit with a shop vac. Just playing, lightly as not to hurt anything and > mainly exploring at this point. Unit's working fine for now, I did not want > to do the water hose thing yet, as I just wasn't in the mood to get sopping > wet and be in a big puddle. > I blew out and sucked out all the vents around the unit. I did very little > good, and no harm as yet. > I did use my shop-vac to suck a lot of grass and junk out of the bottom of > that little panel. > I noticed many of the same sorts of screws around a lip around the top of my > unit, These are on the outside, facing my stomach you understand, not on top > facing the sky. > From what I have read on line, are you supposed to remove those and lift the > fan totally out to get to the inside of the unit to clean in there? > I have not tried this yet. > Someone told me not to remove screws from the top of the unit if I found them > there as that was what held the fan and if you remove those the fan drops. > I'll put my questions right up top. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Send any questions regarding list management to: blindhandyman-ow...@yahoogroups.com To listen to the show archives go to link http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=33&MMN_position=47:29 Or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday Visit the archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: blindhandyman-h...@yahoogroups.comyahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: blindhandyman-dig...@yahoogroups.com blindhandyman-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: blindhandyman-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
