Easy way to clean refrigerator coils

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On my Whirlpool refrigerator the coils lay pretty much flat and close to the front grill of the refrigerator. They are not easy to get to. With two hyper-shedding dogs in the house, coil cleaning is something I need to do fairly regularly and about all I could reach with the crevasse tool on my vacuum was the very front edge of the coil. I could see all the crud that I couldn’t get to. I needed to figure out an easier and more effective way to clean them.

Easy way to clean refrigerator coils - TheDIYGirl.comEnter the can of condensed air. That’s what I use to blow the dust and dog hair out of my computer, to get crumbs out of my keyboards — I wondered if it would help with this cleaning project.

Learn from my mistake — the first time I got behind the fridge, took the back panel off and used almost an entire can spraying the heck out of everything. I was so pleased — everything looked so clean. Then I got out from behind the refrigerator and saw my kitchen floor. I had done a dandy job of solving one problem and creating another. I had a major floor cleanup to take care of.

The next time I rolled up towels and wrapped them strategically on the floor around the front and sides of the refrigerator before I went to town with the can of air. Much better results this time — the coils were cleaned off and I carefully carried the towels outside and shook them out. Mission accomplished. Next time I plan to damper the towels a bit so they do an even better job of containing the mess.

One last note — I have found the air pressure seems to vary between manufacturers of these air cans and have at times gotten cans that would barely blow a hair off a table top. Make sure you have a good can for this job. Or maybe you have a hubby with an air compressor who will help out. Gee, that was a sexist comment. Scratch that — maybe you have an air compressor that will help out with this job.

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