It is so nice to feel the refreshing breeze from the air conditioner of your car on a hot and sultry day, but sometimes it happens that it is better to sit in the heat than to inhale the stench of delight with an unpleasant breeze, because it happens that the air conditioner in the car stinks so that the smell of which you can lose and consciousness. This happens when dangerous bacteria form on the fins of the internal evaporator of the air conditioner.
Over time, all owners of air conditioners installed in cars ask the same question: what smells or stinks in my car? Why, when the ignition is turned on, when the fan starts to work, a stream of far from incense and not a pure stream of air hits your face? This question also appears in the conference "air conditioners". There, air conditioning services respond to it unequivocally: flush the evaporator (this is a device that, one might say, produces cold, air passes through it and, cooling down, blows through the channels into the interior). And the price is also coherently called: 70 - 100 $ USD. Although, the answer, which contains only a part of the answer, is alarming. They also agree that the procedure lasts about 4 hours. All that they managed to learn from the answers at the conference is the following information:
1. the system is not disassembled;
2. do not refill;
3. The client will immediately feel the difference.
Since I have the same attitude to air-conditioned ones, and I feel sorry for money, I asked myself: what and how can they do during this time? Knowing our services, one and a half hour can be safely devoted to accepting an order and handing over the work to the client. It will take up to an hour to find a free box and roll the car back there and roll it to the client. From half an hour you can safely devote to preparing the servicemen themselves for work and removing traces of dirty robes from the seats of cars. An hour will remain. Well, let it be two. Since disinfection of the evaporator is required, it still needs to be reached. This is also the time - from half an hour for those in the know, it will be enough to get to the evaporator and return everything to its place. This means that the procedure itself is simple and not long.
So what can you do to eliminate odor? What smells like that inside a car?
Why in the summer, when we turn on the fan after parking the car in the sun or in the heat, especially after a short parking, a wave of smell strikes our face comparable to that which you felt when you opened washing machine in which there was a little damp laundry you forgot a week ago?
First, about the origin, about the source of the unpleasant odor in the car
When we turn off the engine, the air conditioner turns off. Both the cold air ducts and the evaporator get wet hot air from the street. Getting on the cold parts of the air ducts and the evaporator, moisture instantly condenses from the air. And it would be okay only water. The composition of moisture and dampness is wide and smelly. Moisture or dampness mixes with dirt and dust in the system, moisturizing mold, mildew and bacteria that are inevitably there. So much for the smell of dampness from the air conditioner in the car. When the air conditioner is running, moisture is forcibly carried into the passenger compartment and the air ducts are dried. But part of it remains when the fan is turned off. And with each subsequent switch on, moisture is added, multiplying the bacterial colonies. And over the years, the smell exceeds the tolerance threshold of our nose.
What can I do to resolve the odor elimination problem?
The first obvious answer is to keep the system dry, turning off the air conditioner if possible shortly before we arrive at the parking lot. This will allow the condensed moisture to dry out with a stream of warm air and reduce the subsequent moisture condensation by increasing the temperature of the air ducts. But this will not solve the existing odor problem.
This suggests a solution to the problem suggested by the services - disinfection. That is, killing harmful bacteria.
How can this be done and how can services do it? It is clear that chlorine will solve all problems. But riding in a gas mask dramatically reduces the driver's vision. Let's turn to medical institutions and ask how they disinfect everything that they are supposed to disinfect?
Answer: LIZOL, aka KREZOL solution on a soap-oil base. It is used to disinfect surgical instruments, hands before surgery, operating rooms and toilets, among other things. And also the destruction of flies, the source of cholera, and so on, so on, so on. What kind of a miracle is this, surpassing everything known and even chlorine in its disinfecting properties. This is such a phenol. And it is on the basis of this phenol that professional preparations are produced for disinfecting air conditioners in cars, schools, hospitals, motels, etc. And these professional funds cost up to $ 40 USD for 12 pieces of 250 gram cans, i.e. for 3 liters. For one treatment of the car, the manufacturer recommends using ½ cans of funds. Well, let's say, services use one aerosol can for reliability ...
So what are we car enthusiasts to do?
We will consider the solution to this problem in more detail.
1. Get LIZOL - concentrate or LIZOL-containing solutions (sometimes even with odors).
2. Dilute pure LIZOL in a ratio of 1: 100 (the surgical instrument is disinfected at 1:20) to obtain 300-400 ml. solution (this is what kind of savings).
3. Pour the solution into a hand sprayer or an empty glass cleaner can, add perfume if desired.
4. Open all the windows in the car wide open.
5. Start the car, turn on the air conditioner to full, turn on the fan as much as possible. Direct the air stream in the passenger compartment towards the face / legs, lowering the nozzles. Since, theoretically, the solution can still pass through the system and remain a solution and get on the glass and seats, we are taking measures to prevent this. But, who knows how the material in the salon, leather or velor will behave, although this miracle is used by the bourgeoisie and in kindergartens on furniture and carpets.
6. Get out of the car and spray from the nozzle into the air intake openings at windshield... Try not to save money and not to spray, but to spray fog - this should be done by a normal sprinkler. Since we all love our cars, I would test in an inconspicuous place the effect of the solution on paint and glass. You can simply cover it with a newspaper rag so that there are no drips of water on the hood. It was the disinfection of air ducts (which services do not write about - they only talk about the evaporator).
7. We turn off the engine. We wait about ten minutes - let lysol fight an unequal battle (unequal for bacteria).
8. We start the engine (we did not touch the air conditioner and the fan, they start to work with might and main). We open the car from the passenger side. We turn on the internal air recirculation (we close the air access from the street). The windows are open. We spray without stingy water dust under the feet of the passenger, under the glove box (glove compartment). There is an air intake in recirculation mode. Air enters the evaporator and further through the system. If possible, it would be nice to get to the evaporator itself and pour it abundantly. But it will work that way (with such and such a cost of the procedure and the possibility of regular repetition). Switch off ignition. If necessary (if the smell pesters anyway), repeat every other day.
And that's it! We enjoy clean, fresh air in the cabin of your car.
This article is about how to eliminate unpleasant and suffocating odor from your car air conditioner. The problem most often manifests itself in used cars or after a year of operation. So, what could be the cause of this eerie smell, if you can call it that? And the reason is simple - the multiplication of fungi and bacteria on the evaporator of the air conditioner. The first thing to check is cabin filter car. If it is standing, then it must be thrown away, just thrown away, not washed or washed, since it may contain a large number of harmful bacteria, which cannot be removed. The filter was replaced, the smell remained. What to do next? There is a way out here as well. And you don't need to buy any expensive super foams and the like. However, it should be noted that this method works if the evaporator is not very dirty. That is, no dirt layer is visible on the evaporator. Although this can be eliminated. Let's go in order. The first step is to find where the cabin filter is located and take it out. In some vehicles, the evaporator radiator is visible behind the filter. Having illuminated with a flashlight, we estimate the degree of its pollution. If it is clean, good, close the filter cover without installing the filter! Next, we need chlorhexidine, which is an antiseptic. Sold in any pharmacy as a solution. For 150 ... 200 grams of warm water, pour 50 ml of antiseptic. We take a regular sprayer and pour the solution into it. Now, switch the air intake from the outside, the air flow to the legs and face. We open all the doors wide and cover the front seats. The air conditioner must be turned off, the temperature is at a minimum. We turn on the fan at full power and spray the solution at the air intake. We repeat the procedure two or three times, with a break of 15 ... 20 minutes. At the end of the treatment, we dry the system without sprinkling anything into it. We check for odors in working order. In most cases, these measures are enough to eliminate all odors. Nevertheless, if the smell remains, then you can clean the evaporator directly with the same solution, this is done with a toothbrush. The brush is moistened in the solution, then the evaporator radiator is thoroughly cleaned. Rinsing with water is not required. It is recommended to carry out this procedure twice a year, in spring and autumn. This will get rid of unpleasant odors and eliminate pathogenic microorganisms from the air ventilation system. To add to all of the above, I would also like this, with very strong contamination of the evaporator, it is necessary to resort to special preparations sold in stores. But it is also not worth getting carried away with them - this is chemistry. After treatment with a special substance, it is enough, as I wrote, to take preventive measures twice a year and forget about the “choking” air conditioner.
Disinfection of the air conditioner evaporator and car interior!
Often, owners of car air conditioners have to deal with such a problem as a terrible smell. When the auto air conditioner is turned on, together with the cooled air, the "aroma" of either rotted rags or a vegetable base enters the car interior. In such cases, it is usually said that a fungus has started in the air conditioner.
The evaporator is the same radiator, only a small one, passing through it, air and cools. Together with the air, especially if there is no cabin air microfilter in front of the evaporator, poplar fluff, dust and dirt are sucked in from the street. Since the evaporator is ice-cold when the air conditioner is operating, moisture condenses on it, and it is constantly wet (this moisture is drained through the drain to the street). Have you tried leaving the rag dry? The stench from her will go in 2 days. So here, if you look at the evaporator of a car that has traveled around Moscow for several years, and which does not have this very microfilter, you will be horrified!
When you turn off the air conditioner, the evaporator starts to heat up and releases the whole bouquet of aromas, flavored with tropical humid air into the cabin. But now you start the car again, and again press the air conditioner button. In the first minutes, for someone - seconds of work, until the evaporator is properly cooled, you get air into the cabin no worse than in a sauna. And as it cools and cools, the odors disappear altogether or become almost invisible.
If you smoke in the cabin with the air conditioner turned on and the recirculation mode turned on, then in the end it will smell just like from an ashtray. After all, plus everything else, tobacco smoke also settles on the outer walls of the evaporator. It happens that the ill-fated fluff clogs the drainages of the system. In these cases, the bottom of the evaporator simply floats in the condensation, and the salon fan blows out not only air, but also water for you.
What to do in such cases? If the drain is clogged, it needs to be cleaned. This is clear even without our prompts. But if, to the above problems, the fact that the air flow into the cabin is weak, then this is most likely the same problem with a clogged evaporator or cabin air filter. It is advisable to change this filter every year.
Bad smell in a car is not the only nuisance coming from a dirty vaporizer. Certain types of bacteria that colonize dirty air conditioner evaporators pose a serious risk to human health.
Of course, you shouldn't panic and run to the doctors, but it is better to keep the vaporizer clean. As the saying goes, God protects those who are saved.
How to protect yourself and your car from all of the above. It is clear that in especially neglected cases, only dismantling the air conditioner evaporator and its subsequent mechanical cleaning will help. Therefore, in order to keep the evaporator clean, it is necessary to disinfect it regularly, at least once a year.
We offer disinfection of the evaporator of an air conditioner, and in one case, disinfection of the entire car interior using an air conditioner servicing unit. Wynns aircomatic and special liquid Airco-Clean® Ultrasonic for Cars
CLEANING THE AIR CONDITIONING EVAPORATOR (TIPS FOR OWNERS)
Every owner of a car with air conditioning or climate control sooner or later faces the problem of an unpleasant smell when the air conditioner starts. Even if you do not smoke in the cabin of your car, unpleasant odors are still coming from the evaporator. This is due to the fact that the moisture collected on the evaporator, at the time of its operation, is a factor contributing to the development of various bacteria, which, in turn, are the source of unpleasant breaths. By the way, the same is true for home split systems and air conditioners.
So:
Over time, all owners of air conditioners in their cars ask the same question: what does it smell (stink) in my car? Why, when you turn on the ignition, when the fan starts to work, does not a stream of incense strike your face? Air conditioning services answer unequivocally harmoniously: wash the evaporator (this is the thing that, one might say, cold and produces: air passes through it and, cooling down, blows into our face and legs). And the price is coherently named: $ 70-90. Although, the answer, which contains only part of the answer, is alarming. They agree with each other that the procedure lasts 4 hours. All they managed to find out from them is:
1. The system is not disassembled.
2. Do not refill.
3. The client will immediately feel the difference.
What and how can they do during this time? Knowing our services, one and a half hour can be safely devoted to accepting an order and handing over the work to the client. It will take up to an hour to find a free box and roll the car back there / roll it to the client. From half an hour, you can safely take the servicemen to prepare themselves for work and to remove traces of dirty robes from the seats of cars. An hour will remain. Well, let it be two. Since disinfection of the evaporator is required, it still needs to be reached. This is also the time - half an hour will be enough for those in the know to get to the evaporator and return everything to its place. This means that the procedure itself is simple and short-lived.
So what can you do to eliminate odor?
Why in the summer, when we turn on the fan after parking the car in the sun or in the heat (especially after a short parking), a wave of smell hits our face, comparable to the one that you felt when you opened the washing machine, in which there was damp laundry you forgot a week ago?
First, about the origin, about the source of the smell.
When we turn off the engine, the air conditioner turns off. Both the cold air ducts and the evaporator get wet hot air from the street. Getting on the cold parts of the air ducts and the evaporator, moisture instantly condenses from the air. And it would be okay only water. The moisture content is wide. Moisture mixes with dirt and dust in the system, moisturizing mold, mildew and bacteria that are inevitably there. So much for the smell. When the air conditioner is running, moisture is forcibly carried into the passenger compartment and dries the air ducts. But part of it remains when the fan is turned off. And with each subsequent switch on, moisture is added, multiplying the bacterial colonies. And over the years, the smell exceeds the tolerance threshold of our nose.
What can I do to prevent the problem?
The first obvious answer is to keep the system dry, turning off the air conditioner if possible shortly before we arrive at the parking lot. This will allow the condensed moisture to dry out with a stream of warm air and reduce the subsequent moisture condensation by increasing the temperature of the air ducts. But this will not solve the existing odor problem.
This suggests a solution to the problem suggested by the services - disinfection. That is, killing bacteria.
How can this be done and how can services do it? It is clear that chlorine will solve all problems. But riding in a gas mask dramatically reduces the driver's vision. Let's turn to medical institutions and ask how they disinfect everything that is supposed to disinfect?
Answer: LIZOL, aka CRESOL solution on a soap-oil base. It is used for disinfection of surgical instruments, hands before surgery, operating rooms and toilets, among other things! And also for the destruction of flies, the source of cholera, etc. What kind of miracle is this that surpasses everything known (and even chlorine!) In its disinfecting properties? This is phenol. And it is on the basis of this phenol that professional preparations are produced for disinfection of air conditioners in cars, schools, hospitals, motels, etc. And these professional products cost up to $ 40 for 12 pieces of 250 gram cans! Those. for 3 liters. For one treatment of the car, the manufacturer recommends using ½ cans of funds. Well, let's say, on services for reliability, they use one aerosol can. I am silent further.
So what should we do?
1. Get LIZOL-concentrate or LIZOL-containing solutions (sometimes even with odors!).
2. Dilute pure LIZOL in a ratio of 1: 100 (the surgical instrument is disinfected at 1:20) to obtain 300-400 ml. solution.
3. Pour the solution into a hand sprayer or an empty glass cleaner jar, add perfume if desired.
4. Open all windows in the car wide open.
5. Start the car, turn on the air conditioner at full capacity, turn on the fan as much as possible. Direct the air stream in the passenger compartment towards the face / legs, lowering the nozzles.
6. Get out of the car and spray the product into the air intake openings at the windshield from the spray nozzle. Try not to save money and not to spray, but to spray fog: this should be done by a normal sprinkler. It was the disinfection of air ducts, which services do not write about (they only talk about the evaporator).
7. Turn off the engine. We wait about ten minutes - let lysol fight an unequal battle for bacteria.
8. We start the engine (we did not touch the air conditioner and the fan - they start to work with might and main). We open the car from the passenger side. We turn on the internal air recirculation (we close the air access from the street). The windows are open. We spray, without skimping, water dust under the feet of the passenger, under the glove box (glove compartment). There is an air intake in recirculation mode. Air enters the evaporator and continues through the system. If possible, it would be nice to get to the evaporator itself and pour it abundantly. But it will work that way (with such and such a cost of the procedure and the possibility of regular repetition!). Switch off ignition. If necessary (if it still pesters the smell), repeat every other day.
And that's it! We enjoy clean air.
By the way, this product is even used to eliminate grill odors in restaurants! Clean air for everyone!
