winterize your air conditioner

Winterize Your Air Conditioner

  • November 18, 2015
  • By MR COOL

During the colder months of the year, winter storms are dumping snow and ice and misery onto homes, cars, and, though you might not have thought about it, air conditioner condensers. Your outside air conditioner condenser has to put up with a lot of seasonal abuse. That’s why you need to make sure you properly winterize your air conditioner every year.

How To Easily Winterize Your Air Conditioner

Now, don’t panic, it’s not too hard to winterize your air conditioner. You can do it yourself without any special tools or training in this relatively straightforward and simple process.

You’re going to need some basic equipment to do this job. You’ll need, in no particular order, the following:

  • A garden hose.
  • A clean towel.
  • Some pipe insulation (maybe).
  • A dedicated outdoor air conditioner cover or a tarp and some bungee cords.

Our 100% Easy Winterization Process

First, lots of debris can get blown into the vents during summer — leaves, twigs, grass clippings, plastic wrappers, etc. Remove it all and throw it away.

Second, with the big stuff gone, use your garden hose to clean out all the finer dirt and debris sticking to the fins.

Third, let the unit dry out completely.

Fourth, check the pipe insulation. Hopefully, your installing HVAC contractor placed insulation around the exterior pipes. If they did not, you need to attach that pipe insulation yourself. It’s really easy to do. Place the tees and elbows first, then cut the longer sections to fit. You can even buy pipe insulation that is self-adhesive. This stuff isn’t very expensive, so don’t fret.

Fifth and finally, you’re ready to wrap the unit with some kind of waterproof material. You can go buy an air conditioner cover made for the job or you can easily create your own. A simple tarp held down with bungee cords will do the trick. All you’re trying to do is keep most of the snow and rain away from the system. 

And that’s pretty much it. Periodically check the unit to make sure snow isn’t piling up on the cover and your air conditioner will be in excellent shape come spring.


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