Air conditioner coils should be cleaned several times a year, and the preferred method is to disconnect the power, take a hose out there, and give the dirt on that thing a good what-for.

To make home ownership just a little bit easier, I propose a system by which the air conditioner sprays itself.

The AC unit will have a reservoir that collects rainwater and passively filters it (say, with a screen). It will also have a small bottle of cleaning solution hooked up to an electric pump that squirts a little bit into the water reservoir every so often.

When the reservoir fills, as long as the temperature is warm enough, this unit will take that rainwater and using a small unobtrusive sprayer system that consists of a water pump and nozzles built into the bottom of the unit facing up, spray-clean itself. No extra connections are required, as the unit is already connected to your electrical system.

The cleaning solution would be accessible through a panel in the top and could come with a standardized neck size to allow for brands of solution to fit into multiple brands of air conditioners.
-- shapu, Apr 25 2006

I like it. Some airconditioners are gathering water from the air all the time--the condensate is part of what makes the coils collect all that fluff. Maybe that water would be easier to collect than rainwater.
-- baconbrain, Apr 25 2006


Only if I can get one that coughs up hairballs.
-- DrCurry, Apr 25 2006


The condensate would certainly be cleaner than rainwater. Depending on the humidity, this may or may not be enough to wash the thing though. Of course, the same problem goes for rainwater...
-- ye_river_xiv, Jun 02 2008



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