How to Clean Car Air Conditioner Filter and How Not to Do It

The air conditioner filter are one of the parts on the category of the filter which are mostly overlooked and are neglected because of their more popular and under the attention cousins like the fuel filter and air filter (which supply clean for the air-fuel mixture to the engine). However, if the air conditioner filter are no maintained and are not cared for, they can make your driving experience extremely unpleasant.

A dirty air conditioner filter will not only hinder the air conditioning systems of your car, it will also become a breeding ground for different germs and bacteria which will release unpleasant odors making your car smell like something similar to musk. The air conditioner filter may not be included in the key components of a vehicle but its importance is still that of one.

Reading this may have induced the thoughts of cleaning the air conditioner filter in your mind and it is a fairly simple job but if you do not know how to do it properly, then you can end up with an expense of buying a new air conditioner filter by damaging it during the cleaning process. Here, you will be educated on how to clean air conditioner filter of your car and what to avoid during its cleaning.

How to Clean Air Conditioner filter

In order to clean the air conditioner filter of your car, you will first need to remove them from your vehicle. The position of the air filter can vary from the company to company and car to car, so be sure to check the manual of your car in order to locate the position of the air conditioner filter. It is usually placed behind the dash board in most of the cars but check the manual of your car in order to find it. Its shape and size may vary depending on the manufacturers, but the general shape of the air conditioner filter is square with slotted bar in it. After locating the air conditioner filter, gently remove it from its holding and place it on the ground or on a work table.

You will need an air compressor or another source of blowing air with some degree of pressure like an electric blower. Gently hold the air filter and blow the air through it. Make sure to blow the air through every slot of the filter so that any dust hiding in any corner of the filter is flushed out. After thoroughly blowing the air through the filter, spray it with odor remover and germ killer spray. They usually come in the same product so buy one of them from the store. After spraying it, gently replace it and turn on the car to test the AC systems.

What Not to Do

During the cleaning process, do not use any cleaning accessories like cleaning brushes or anything like that. The air conditioner filter are one of the delicate parts of the AC system and can be damaged easily. Also avoid using any detergents. Do not wash with water in order to clean it. Washing with water has higher risks of damaging the air conditioner filter and the filter needs to be air dried without any other drying systems which can take a lot of your precious time.

Besides cleaning the filter, also clean the vents of the AC systems of your car with an AC cleaner so that you can get the most out of the air conditioning systems of your car