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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.)
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.
Terra says
Great post, Susan! It`s extremely important to clean regularly the air conditioner if we want to be in good health!
Amber says
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
Petula says
This is my first time participating. Whew! It wasn’t too bad. Only took me 30 minutes. 🙂
Heidi says
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?
Danielle says
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.
Kelly says
Changing the central air filter was on my husbands list this weekend. For me it was organizing the punches in my craftroom. Yea!
donetta says
Oh breath free
http://jewelryatalifeuncommon.blogspot.com/2009/05/tackle-it-tuesday.html
the link is down.
Stephanie says
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!
Tracey - Girls to Grow says
Here’s my tackle for the week:
http://girlstogrow.blogspot.com/2009/05/strawberries-aplenty.html
Julie Bonner says
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/
Terra says
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
AmyG says
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
Lisa says
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
SugaMama (bathroom & Garage) says
Here is my tackle for the week!
Sarah says
Here’s my tackle. http://homemakinghousewife.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/tackle-it-tuesday-the-hall-counter-top/
Sarah says
Great job! I’m going to have to look into the portable air conditioner for our room too!
Marni says
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
Holly says
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
Kris says
I don’t see the linky either
Amanda says
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
Elisabeth says
I don’t see a Mr. Linky for a Tackle It Tuesday.
Elisabeth says
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
BarbaraLee says
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.
Kris says
EWW! Makes me so happy the new house was equipped with central heat and air, and I don’t have that to worry with!
Lisa says
I couldn’t find Mr. Linky.
Lisa says
Great tackle! We tackled a garage sale this past week.
Renee Hurff says
Great tackle, we use window air conditioners and I know the filters on those get bad after a couple of weeks.
Jenny says
Hopefully we’re not even close to air conditioning yet! I’m sure it will be here too soon! Great tip for cleaning! Thanks!
susieshomemade says
Great tackle!! Stay cool:-)
The Happy Housewife says
I just did our big a/c intake…. gross! It is amazing how must dust had built up. Great tackle!
Toni
Upstatemomof3 says
Wow!!! That is dusty. Our fans need to be cleaned. I may just try that toothbrush trick. 🙂
Heather says
YIKES!! I am not so sure I want to tackle that job…I might put that on the list for husband to tackle.
Maddy says
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
Stephanie says
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.