Susan here, reporting for Tackle Duty.
Since our spring sun is starting to heat up my home, I decided it’s time to dust off our air conditioner and get it ready for summer.
Now some of you who know I live in the Pacific Northwest might be wondering what I am talking about. It is generally accepted that in our fair temperature climate, houses do NOT need air conditioners. Usually we have only a few weeks a year where temperatures rise above comfort level.
But, when I was pregnant with Julia and living in this small townhouse that heats up like a first-class greenhouse, I decided to forget what the neighbors say. This may not be Houston, but August in this row of townhouses is hot enough to keep me up at night. So we bought a portable air conditioner that is able to cool our master bedroom. Since our girls co-sleep, we all sleep soundly all summer.
In the spirit of spring cleaning, I pulled off the filter and took a look.
Yuck. Sooooo much dust. Hard, caked-on dust.
I washed the main removable filter which is a quick and easy job. (During the summer, I routinely wash that filter.)
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I wiped down machine and scrubbed the accessible parts with a toothbrush.
But the problem was the actual machine was full of dust. I forgot to get a before photo of the back of the air conditioner where the worst of the dust build up was. The photo here is actually an after photo. Pretty sad.
I tried to vacuum it out. A ton of dust did come out, but lots remains. I tried to scrub it out with a toothbrush, but it didn’t work very well. And still a lot of dust is stuck in there. I’m not too happy that we’re going to be breathing in that dust, but I’m not sure what else to try. I guess I need a super high powered vacuum.
Oh well, at least for now it is much better than it was… so I will declare it Tackled
Join me next week as I tackle another corner of my untidy townhouse.
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Would you like to post as a guest tackler? Submit your guest tackles to be featured here at 5M4M. You can write Susan at tackleittuesday at gmail dot com. Remember, we are here to promote your site!
Each week on Tuesday, we are posting before and after pictures of a project or trouble area that we tackled this week.
Find out more about Tackle It Tuesday here.
The project can be little or big – whatever you want.Basically, Tackle It Tuesday is about giving ourselves incentive, deadlines and satisfaction in getting our household tasks done.
(It doesn’t even have to be housework… just whatever is on your To Do list.)
If you tackled a project this week, just add a comment and add your link below.
Happy tackling ladies…
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{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
I am not sure how this would work with a portable air conditioner, but you should be able to use a garden hose with some type of pressure nozzle to hose off the coils. I know that you can do this with window or wall sleeve units.
Ugh! I have never got to grips [tackled ] those filter? Why aren’t they the same size? Why are they so expensive.
That’s certainly on ething that I”m reluctant to add to my ‘to do’ list’ but I’ll have to submit.
Cheers
YIKES!! I am not so sure I want to tackle that job…I might put that on the list for husband to tackle.
Wow!!! That is dusty. Our fans need to be cleaned. I may just try that toothbrush trick.
I just did our big a/c intake…. gross! It is amazing how must dust had built up. Great tackle!
Toni
Great tackle!! Stay cool:-)
Hopefully we’re not even close to air conditioning yet! I’m sure it will be here too soon! Great tip for cleaning! Thanks!
Great tackle, we use window air conditioners and I know the filters on those get bad after a couple of weeks.
Great tackle! We tackled a garage sale this past week.
I couldn’t find Mr. Linky.
EWW! Makes me so happy the new house was equipped with central heat and air, and I don’t have that to worry with!
We have a unit outside. But we aren’t suppose to cover them and most people do. Mice like to live in there for MN winters. But we do need to keep it clean.
I think it looks good. It’s hard sometimes to be satisfied with a job when you know there’s more dirt lurking. Give yourself a pat on the back – you did a good job.
Elisabeth
I don’t see a Mr. Linky for a Tackle It Tuesday.
Wow! those portables can sure get dusty. Makes me nervous about what’s in our vents. We do change the filters monthly but still…`Great job!
I’m up too with our first TT
I don’t see the linky either
Great tackle. We keep an air filter in our bedroom that we have to clean regularly. It’s amazing what is in our air.
Here’s the link to my tackle – Cleaning The Kitchen
Great tackle! It looks AMAZING in the after!
Here is my tackle this week:
http://marnisorganizedmess.blogspot.com/2009/05/tackle-it-tuesday-40-oven-shutters.html
Great job! I’m going to have to look into the portable air conditioner for our room too!
Here’s my tackle. http://homemakinghousewife.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/tackle-it-tuesday-the-hall-counter-top/
Here is my tackle for the week!
Great tackle! We have some window units that probably need that as well.
My tackle this week was working cattle!! Not exactly household work, but believe me…it gets interesting!
http://owl911.blogspot.com/2009/05/tackling-spring-round-up.html
Great tackle! We’ve had our A/C on for a few weeks now. Which stinks, because this time of the year, I love being able to go without the heat or a/c running. Anyway, our a/c was nasty, as well.
Here is my tackle:
http://atrailerparkmom.com/?p=984
Here’s my tackle for the day (it actually took me 1 week to complete):
http://findingme-terra.blogspot.com/2009/05/tackle-it-tuesday.html
We just moved to Colorado a year ago and I had to get used to a swamp cooler for the summer. It actually worked really well and I love having the windows open and allowing some fresh air in.
Here’s my Tackle. Our Family Communication Center: http://julieannebonner.com/2009/05/tackle-it-tuesday-family-communication-center/
Here’s my tackle for the week:
http://girlstogrow.blogspot.com/2009/05/strawberries-aplenty.html
Another great tackle! Congrats!
Two quick questions/comments:
(1) Do you two still live in Canada? I know you said “pacific northwest” in this post. I’m assuming that you live in the Vancouver area since you seem to be in the USA quite a bit…
(2) I just wanted to let you know that I often have trouble with your pages loading correctly. They take *forever* to load and then a message pops up about an error in the script or something like that. Just thought I’d let you know. I often am too impatient to do the extra entries/comments on your giveaways because the pages take sooo long to load. Just thought I’d tell you so that you don’t miss out on comments from others…
Have a great day!
Oh breath free
http://jewelryatalifeuncommon.blogspot.com/2009/05/tackle-it-tuesday.html
the link is down.
Changing the central air filter was on my husbands list this weekend. For me it was organizing the punches in my craftroom. Yea!
I grew up in Washington State so I understand about not having an air conditioner. Those weeks you did need it were miserable though! Check out my Tuesday Tackle here.
Ugh! Sounds like a task! I also live in the Pacific NW, but we do have an outside air conditioner (we’re wimps!) but only try to use it sparingly.
I wonder if you get take some sort of air sprayer (either a can or large hose attachment) I’m using you could take this unit outside to do that since there would be dust everywhere! Is is portable?
This is my first time participating. Whew! It wasn’t too bad. Only took me 30 minutes.
Ahhhh….I love when I finish something big. I had a massive stack of coupons to cut, sort, and file. I’ll be saving lots of money this week!! Amber