A clean, well-smelling place?

May 30, 2011 10:24 AM

Can I salvage a working window-unit Air Conditioner that smells like the previous user's home cooking?

I got a free window-mounted air conditioner unit from an upstairs neighbor who moved out.

It is a Frigidaire FACO53L7A1.

Unfortunately, the air that comes out of it smells strongly of the previous user's particular ethnic home cooking. I do not want my house to smell like this.

Can I salvage this unit by spraying the insides and the filter with Lysol, or perhaps bleach? Or will this destroy / short out the circuitry?

I cannot tell if this filter (which appears to be a metal mesh) is meant to be replaced or cleaned. I have already soaked it in Lysol, but the actual insides of the machine emit the cooking smell when I turn the machine on without the filter.

posted by meadowlark lime to Technology (3 answers total)

Metal mesh filters are meant to be washed. Im not sure what spraying it down with lysol will do other then make it smell like lysol. I would spray the coils with soapy water, rinse and then let it dry.
posted by ihadapony at 10:53 AM on May 30, 2011

Ditto ihadapony. You can wash the filter in the dishwasher if you have one, otherwise, a good scrubbing in the bathtub should do it.
posted by deadmessenger at 11:03 AM on May 30, 2011

Cleaning the filter will do little to mitigate these odours. The smell has been deposited on the evaporator coils. The best way to clean the coils is at a diy car wash. Give the coils a good soaking with a cleaner like simple green and then use the pressure washer at the car wash to rinse the coils thoroughly. Let the unit dry for a couple days before plugging it in.
posted by Mitheral at 11:22 AM on May 30, 2011