Cleaning a Heil condenser in a flower bed

Hi. I recently moved into a new house where the dryer vent is just a couple of feet from my Heil N2A336AKA200 condenser. Needless to say, it's a mess back there and the fins and coils need a good cleaning. I'm having someone come in and extend the vent away from the condenser next week, but the unit needs a cleaning badly. Dryer lint, cat hair and probably plenty of normal debris and dust.

I've watched a bunch of videos, and I think I've got it down. The problem is that it's in a flower bed and I don't want to use chemicals like Nu-Calgon or similar.

Here's what I think my options are:

1. Plain water. I don't think this will do a complete job.
2. Simple Green. I've seen this mentioned around several other forums. Even though it's pretty environmentally friendly, I'd don't relish a ton of it getting into my flower bed. I often use it on paved areas, but aim to keep it out of the beds.
3. Dr Bronner's Castile Soap. This is always my preferred soap if I need to use something outside, but I can't find any mention of it for this application.
4. A blowtorch. Seriously.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any thoughts on this and any other tips you might have. Thanks for reading this.

 

Welcome to the forums!

While I don't know a lot about cleaning HVACs as a painter I've cleaned lots of decks/houses and sometimes there is vegetation in the way of the run off. Even using bleach I've found that if you get the vegetation wet before you start, spray if off with water as you work and rinse it well afterwards there is no harm to the plants. The main thing is to keep the chemicals diluted so the vegetation gets so light of a dose it doesn't harm it.

 

If you use something like Simple Green or Purple Power make sure you properly dilute the solution. Strong bases (opposite of acid) like those cleaners attack aluminum especially when not diluted enough.

I have used Clorox Exterior Bleach which is a bleach and soap solution for outdoor cleaning. I've had no plant problems when using it. Like Marksr said I wet plants first to provide a protective water layer then I make sure to hose off the plants to get the chemical off them.

 

Thanks for the responses. The pH of Simple Green and Dr Bronner's are both around 9, so that is a little high. My tap water is also a little alkaline at 7.9.

The plan was to dilute 50% and give a good spray from both the inside and outside with a pump sprayer. Let sit for an hour, then hose down from the inside. Is that too high a concentration?

Also, I keep a 40 PSI pressure reducer on my hose bibbs. Should I remove that or leave it on? The rest of the house is on a 75 PSI reducer.

 

40psi should be fine, I live on top of hill and rarely have that much pressure