I was searching for a good chemical to use for my home's A/C condensers for the annual cleaning (got tired of paying HVAC people for "tuneups" that's nothing but condenser cleanings).
During my searches I came across Nu Brite which seems to be the cleaner of choice for HVAC professionals... and then I also came across an interesting video from Eric the Car Guy about using this stuff on your car's A/C Condenser. http://www.ericthecarguy.com/hvac-list/693-increasing-ac-performance-by-cleaning-your-condenser
After doing my home's A/C Condensers I still had plenty left in my sprayer. So I took the grille off the Corolla, covered battery, distributor and alternator with plastic bags, and coated as much of the condenser as I could get to without disassembling further. In addition I did the radiator fins from the engine side. This was with a Nu Brite mix of 1:6 with water (which it says to use for "medium soil"). I let it sit for 10 minutes and then used a garden hose to rinse. OH MY. I had no idea about the amount of gunk in the fins. That cleaner is really really effective, and the radiator fins actually looked pretty new after I was done. I had a lot of visible debris come out as well.
I let the car sit to dry for a while, and then took it for a spin with the AC on. It's hard to say for sure, but it sounded like the compressor worked for shorter intervals than before. I'm also hoping that the radiator fan will run less frequently with more efficient cooling due to the clean fins.
If you look at the video you'll see that the pressure came down quite a bit in the system Eric cleaned. So overall it appears it's good for A/C longevity.
Anyhow, thought I'd share since it's easy and efficient to do!
I bought the Nu Brite cleaner off an industrial website - zoro.com. They had an online coupon for $15 off as well. I couldn't order in less quantity than 4 bottles of 1-gallon undilluted. This bulk purchase would not make sense to buy unless you also have condensers to clean in your home, as you only use a tiny amount to clean a car A/C condenser.
During my searches I came across Nu Brite which seems to be the cleaner of choice for HVAC professionals... and then I also came across an interesting video from Eric the Car Guy about using this stuff on your car's A/C Condenser. http://www.ericthecarguy.com/hvac-list/693-increasing-ac-performance-by-cleaning-your-condenser
After doing my home's A/C Condensers I still had plenty left in my sprayer. So I took the grille off the Corolla, covered battery, distributor and alternator with plastic bags, and coated as much of the condenser as I could get to without disassembling further. In addition I did the radiator fins from the engine side. This was with a Nu Brite mix of 1:6 with water (which it says to use for "medium soil"). I let it sit for 10 minutes and then used a garden hose to rinse. OH MY. I had no idea about the amount of gunk in the fins. That cleaner is really really effective, and the radiator fins actually looked pretty new after I was done. I had a lot of visible debris come out as well.
I let the car sit to dry for a while, and then took it for a spin with the AC on. It's hard to say for sure, but it sounded like the compressor worked for shorter intervals than before. I'm also hoping that the radiator fan will run less frequently with more efficient cooling due to the clean fins.
If you look at the video you'll see that the pressure came down quite a bit in the system Eric cleaned. So overall it appears it's good for A/C longevity.
Anyhow, thought I'd share since it's easy and efficient to do!
I bought the Nu Brite cleaner off an industrial website - zoro.com. They had an online coupon for $15 off as well. I couldn't order in less quantity than 4 bottles of 1-gallon undilluted. This bulk purchase would not make sense to buy unless you also have condensers to clean in your home, as you only use a tiny amount to clean a car A/C condenser.
