The condenser coils that are contained in commercial plug-in cooling appliances (refrigerators, freezers, and the like) accumulate dirt and debris over time. This undesired condition causes these units to run less efficiently thereby consuming extra electric. Our data shows 6% extra electric needed to run a unit with dirty coils running at around 0ºC; 16% for one running at -20ºC. Non-cleaned appliances also tend to malfunction since they are forced to work harder, often necessitating unscheduled service calls. The wear and tear of such inefficient operation, if not cured, can also shorten the life of the unit.
Industry experts and the manufacturers of these appliances recommend frequent condenser coil cleaning to obviate these problems. The standard recommended frequency by the Food Service Technology Center is at least quarterly. Sadly, many owners of these units ignore this critical maintenance task.
In many cases, these coil units need to be blown out with compressed air to achieve thorough cleaning since mere brushing and vacuuming only gets at the surface accumulation of dirt and debris on the coil unit. The use of compressed air, particularly in indoor locations, will form a dust cloud so that technicians have traditionally used a capture medium when employing compressed air to snag the blown-off debris. Until now, they have generally resorted to draping a wet towel over the coil unit while blowing the air through the unit in the direction of the towel. If the towel remains in place during the operation (which sometimes doesn’t occur), they are still faced with either needing to wash or throw away the debris-encrusted towel.
Now, technicians needing to do such coil cleaning can do it in a much more environmentally acceptable fashion with the COILPOD dust containment bag. This bag, which measures 71 cm. wide x 46 cm. high x 33 cm. deep, has an opening designed to fit over coils of smaller dimensions that are in need of cleaning. Once fitted over the coils, an adjustable drawstring at the periphery of the opening adjacent the bottom of the coil unit is drawn tight, sealing the coil structure within the bag.
The bag has a transparent plastic front surface with two openings (or “ports”). The first port will accommodate a hose from a compressed air source during the cleaning operation, while the second will hold a vacuum hose. The technician can utilize a standard wet/dry vacuum and two hoses, one connected to the exhaust opening on the vacuum, the other to the vacuum opening. Alternatively, a cylinder of compressed air and a standard vacuum can be used.
Once the compressed air and vacuum sources have been configured with the bag, the technician can turn on both and begin blowing out the debris from the coils. The COILPOD bag will contain the blown off debris from the encased coils during the cleaning operation preventing formation of a dust cloud that can escape and pollute the surrounding area. It’s certainly a new and unique solution to a messy cleaning task. Our mantra is “Remember to POD those coils”!
For more information: visit www.coilpod.com and/or email richard@coilpod.com.
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