Fridge evaporator intake dust filters

[KrisZ]

I installed one last year and I'm here to report the screen does help with dust collection.

The evaporator on my fridge would clog up with dust, which would result in the freezer temperature going up. And the way it's all packed in the back, it's hard to clean it out without compressed air. I have a small blower for dusting my PCs, but that creates a lot of dust flying around the house.

I found this duct vent screen which uses magnetic strips as an attachment method. It works quite well at catching the big dust particles. Normally the freezer would start acting up after about 10 months of being cleaned, but with this screen, it's been working fine for a year now. And the screen is much easier to clean.
You can see how much it collected on the bottom pic.

 

[Kira]

Funny that you mention this as I've recently offered to clean the back of a friend's fridge.

Now I see that I promised too big.
The back is covered (no familiar exposed black coils) and I think compressed air would be the better way to go...especially when you consider time.

 

[JTK]

Isn't that the condenser coil?

 

[berniedd]

Isn't that the condenser coil?

Yes it is the condenser coil. The evaporator is inside the fridge itself, and is what cools.

 

[KrisZ]

Yes, sorry, that's a condenser coil, not evaporator coil.

 

[JTK]

Yes, sorry, that's a condenser coil, not evaporator coil.

That screen material is a good idea. You can bet a lot of refrigerators fail due to people not clearing the dust, hair, etc that builds up on the condenser, compressor and cooling fan area. Every fridge I've owned in the past 25yrs or so had the condenser packed into the bottom of the unit. There's no way to get at most of it. It's a mess, but what I do is try to suck up what I can with my shop vac, then I switch the hose over to the discharge and blow the rest of the dust out from under there, onto the kitchen floor, then suck that up.

 

[Cropduster172]

That screen material is a good idea. You can bet a lot of refrigerators fail due to people not clearing the dust, hair, etc that builds up on the condenser, compressor and cooling fan area. Every fridge I've owned in the past 25yrs or so had the condenser packed into the bottom of the unit. There's no way to get at most of it. It's a mess, but what I do is try to suck up what I can with my shop vac, then I switch the hose over to the discharge and blow the rest of the dust out from under there, onto the kitchen floor, then suck that up.

I have one of those long, cone shaped coil brushes. I go in from the bottom front after removing the plastic grill. It's almost impossible to reach all parts of the coil without damaging something...but I get 75-80%. Your idea to blow the rest out is a good one. Thanks.

 

[KMFDM]

I use compressor to blow coils from the back once per year