The importance of cleaning your air conditioner (& how to do it)

Most people don’t clean their air conditioners. And if they’ve bought a high quality unit from a reputable manufacturer, chances are, the air con will keep running for years and years despite that. But what many don’t know is that, without regular cleaning and maintenance, your air con is less effective, less efficient and the air in your home may even be less healthy.

A simple fortnightly clean along with regular maintenance is all it takes to get the most out of your unit and extend its life by years. Here’s what you need to know about cleaning your air conditioner.

Why cleaning your air con is so important

The air in your home isn’t as pure as you might think. Every time you cook, smoke and vapour fill the air. When you clean up afterwards, the chemicals you use might hang around for a while. Meanwhile, dust and tiny particles are constantly floating around in the air you breathe.

In fact, poor indoor air quality is estimated to cost Australia as much as $12 billion every year in health (and other) costs, according to the The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

To help clean the air in your home, Toshiba’s split cycle air conditioners are built with high tech IAQ filters, which are proven to improve air quality and block out dust. When tested in our lab they were even found to destroy up to 99.9% of bacteria, prevent mould formation and absorb odours such as smoke, food smells and ammonia.

The only problem is that the filters inside these air conditioners can slowly fill up with all the debris that they take out of the air and, eventually, get blocked. When this happens, the air conditioner may have to work harder to heat or cool your room, and it may not be able to effectively filter the air. If you don’t clean the filters, this could even damage your air conditioner and shorten its life.

Luckily, the solution to all these problems is extremely simple – proper and regular cleaning.

The best way to clean your air conditioner

Cleaning your air conditioner shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes every fortnight. To start, simply check the instructions in your manual. If you have a new Toshiba Air single split system product, feel free to use the instructions below for the best way to clean your air conditioner.

Clean the indoor filters

This is the most important part of cleaning your AC unit and should happen every two weeks for the life of your unit (or more if your space is particularly dusty).

To clean your filters simply follow these four steps:

1. Open the air inlet grille.
2. Remove the air filter.
3. Vacuum or wash with clean fresh water and then dry the filters.
4. Reinstall the air filters and close the air inlet grille.

Doing this regularly helps make sure that your filters are working at their optimum level to provide you with cleaner, healthier air in your home.

Using self cleaning mode

All new Toshiba single split system air conditioners come with a self cleaning mode that helps prevent the build up of bad odours and humidity inside the unit. To turn the self cleaning mode on, follow these steps:

1. Press the on/off button on your air con’s remote once when your air conditioner is in cool or dry mode. The fan will continue to run for another 30 minutes then turn off automatically.
2. To stop the unit immediately, press the more 2 times within 30 seconds.

Run the self cleaning function every fortnight for best results.

Cleaning the exterior of your air conditioner’s indoor unit

Dust may build up on the exterior of your air conditioner, including on the sides of its louvres. To remove this, don’t use spray and wipes or other chemicals – simply wipe it off with a damp cloth whenever you notice dust building up.

Cleaning your air conditioner’s outdoor unit

Your outdoor unit needs to be unobstructed so that air can flow in and out of it freely. Check your unit regularly and remove any rocks, leaves or other debris that might have built up around it. You may need to do this more regularly during autumn if there are trees near your outdoor unit.

Cleaning your air conditioner may not be top of your list of to-dos, but if you spend a few minutes doing it every fortnight, you could save hundreds of dollars, improve the air quality in your home, reduce your power bill and improve the functioning of your unit.

For more tips on getting more out of your Toshiba Air conditioner, check out the Toshiba blog.