Clean Whirlpool Fridge Coils 2017 Journey 36M

[AlexP]

2017 Journey 36M. Whirlpool WRF540CWBM01 refrigerator (original).


I would like to clean the coils. Wondering if anyone has figured out how to do this. They are under the freezer.



I can remove the front panel and remove the carpet that forms on the first set, but subsequent sets behind this are untouchable. I came across a fellow that used compressed air to clean them. Seemed like a good idea. But he opened the back so the goop blew all the way through. Using the access door behind I can remove the 9 hex screws and get the back panel loose, but there are water lines and some kind of gizmo attached to the back of that panel, which is stopping me from moving it out of the way.


Has anyone successfully done this bit of preventative maintenance? Replacing fridge is big deal, so anything to extend life seems like a worthwhile investment. Did not expect it to be so hard.


Thanks
Alex

[Morich]

I don't know that specific frig but the general idea should be much the same as a home frig.
For home cleaning, I prefer to suck the dirt up, rather than blow it around!
It often takes more than one tool to get most of it, so I keep coil brushes and then "invented" a way to attach various size tubes to the shop vac.

Rental property often has far less than stellar cleaning folks living there, making it pretty much routine to clean the frig! I leaned toward young and college folks who did not give me the major problems of older but they also needed lots of training they had missed at home!

A vac of almost any kind above the little car vacs will do the job but the bigger/stronger the better. Then how to attach the different sizes of tubing is often a DIY project.
For my large shop vac with really large intake hose, I found a PVC fitting to drill hoses for the different tubing and plugged what was not used at the time.
Knock the grunge loose with the coil brushes and then keep the vac tubing close to pick much of it up as you go.
I use 1/2 Plex for the larger spaces as it is semi rigid and can be aimed better, but for getting down between and in the small spaces, 1/4 plastic airline like for fish tanks was my choice. Reason for that was it was on hand! Lots of different tubes to fit what you find works?
Since the air is being sucked into the hose, making a really good attachment for the tubes is not necessary.

If you have a home style vac with suction tube, the smaller size may let you find a rubber stopper or plug to fit the hose. Getting a good light aimed so you can see may be the harder part!

[AlexP]

Richard,
This is a fiendishly engineered fridge. The coils are under it in a z pattern. Short of tipping the unit (Not easily done as it is well anchored by Winnebago), the only access to these coils are two 12" x 1.5" openings at the front. It is possible to remove the accumulation from the first fold, but the second and subsequent are not accessible to any brush I have seen, and even a powerful vac is going to be too far away to be effective.
Alex


Here is a picture of this type of fridge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6OI88nm24Y&t=190s

[Morich]

Yes, it is not always an easy thing and I would bet that most frigs have not been cleaned in years! How to do it has as many different tools and methods as there are people.
It's often just what we have and what we can think of to do the job as much any special methods.

Another alternate if there is room, might be to look at raising the frig to allow reaching in from the bottom. I've used that as it was a construction redo, so there were 2X4 handy to tip the frig and gradually work it up on two stacks so that there was room to get an arm under to work the tools from that direction.
It seemed like I always had too much hair involved to get much done with blowing and brushing was the only way I found to get it done.
There are some super thins, super long brushes which might fit between those wires?
Maybe a time to do some looking for something like a tube cleaning brush as they are often thin?
It might take a week to go in between each but sometimes we do what we have to do!

Good luck on the project as there is not likely to be one final solution!