A/C Pan Treatment
- , by Trudy Chuoke Trudy Chuoke
It is what everyone is talking about, the weather….mainly the heat. I bet your AC has been working overtime this summer. And if you are like me, you have been seriously praying that unit holds up until this unbelievable heat dome is replaced with some cooler weather. Well, last week, my unit took a deep gasp and then stopped. I knew I had been on borrowed time. The previous homeowner probably didn’t turn the unit on – he was 96 and had a sweater on when I bought the house in June one year. The unit was the original unit that was installed when the house was built in 1980. How do I know that? Well, there were service tags glued to the door that went back to 1985. No joke.
I have a great AC technician that works on the units at the store, and I recommend him to everyone. So, I called him to look at my unit. I was so lucky; it was only the motor on the unit. It was replaced in about an hour and I was up and cooling right after that. Then before he left, he gave me a little packet of tablets. Well first, I needed to know where to put those tablets and why. They were pan tablets. A treatment to keep out sludge. To prevent overflows. And that reminded me of something. Where were the ones I ordered for the store?
About March this year I ordered products for AC maintenance which include AC TabsEE, which they promptly told me, they were discontinued. Which has happened too much lately. I am outliving the products I would like to recommend. HA! So, the smart sales associate told me about the new product called AC Pan Treatment. Instead of coming in a plastic package, it is a bottle of thirty tablets. They work the same way, keeping drain pans and lines clean to prevent overflows. Just drop a couple in the pan for every ton of AC. They last for 30 days. It is easy and inexpensive. I like the fact that it comes in a bottle and put it right next to your unit.
K.O. Dirt Blaster is another product that I order for maintenance. It is for the coils. It is an aerosol spray under high pressure that will dissolve dirt, grease, and grime. The great part is it requires no rinsing. Dad brought this product many years ago for people that have window AC units. Since it requires no rinsing, cleaning is easy with the unit in place. And if you do not think that cleaning a coil in the AC is necessary, let me tell you a story. We have a soda machine up front in the store. I noticed that the sodas were not as cool as they used to be. My smart brother-in-law suggested I clean the coils with K.O. Dirt Blaster. I did not even know where the coils were, but he did. They are at the bottom of the machine, right at the floor. He took the plate off the front of the unit and uncovered the coils. It looked like a place where all the dust in the store lived. You could not even see the coils. They were covered in such thick dirt and why? Because they stay wet and attract dirt. Now add that they are right at floor level! No wonder the soda machine was not cooling. So, he sprayed the coils, and the dirt just melted off. We did not have to rinse. And the soda machine started cooling again. It works the same way for your AC unit. Cleaning your coils will help the unit cool and be more efficient. And that is short for “saves you money.”
I know it seems late in the season to talk about AC maintenance, but just put this article aside and keep for next year. You will be ahead of the game for next year.
You know I do a live radio show each week, and I have included it with a link in this article. This week we talked about glues, Simple Strap, cleaning mold off ceiling vents, and a new paint line for furniture called Wise Owl Paint. I am extremely excited to introduce that paint line to you and will show you more about it in the near future.