Nasty Refrigerator Coil Cleaning / Jenn-Air

A dirty condenser coil on (or under) your refrigerator limits the ability of the system to efficiently radiate heat away, resulting in the compressor running more often and for longer periods and using more energy than necessary. In fact, a dirty coil can increase energy use by as much as 35%! For your fridge to operate efficiently, its important to keep the condenser coil clean. The frequency of cleaning is dependent on the cleanliness of the environment where the refrigerator is placed, but it’s recommended to at least clean the condenser coil annually. I forgot and ignored mine for several years and this video shows how nasty it can become even in a clean household.
Cleaning the coil is actually rather easy if you don’t let it get as bad as I did. All you need is a vacuum, a long-handled brush, and perhaps a screwdriver to remove the grill cover.
The refrigerator in this video is a Jenn-Air Model JFC2089WEM11, but there is little difference between brands except where the condenser coil is placed and whether it has a circulation fan or not. Most refrigerators that have the coil hidden within the body cabinet, like this one, use a fan to assist with moving air over the coil, while those that have the coil exposed on back or top rely on natural convection. Either way it’s important to keep the coil clean!
If you’d like to know why it’s important for the heat to escape, this video offers a simple explanation of how the refrigerator works • How Do Refrigerators W... . There are a number of other more detailed videos posted on UA-cam should you care to delve even deeper in understanding refrigeration systems.
Video Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:24 Tools
1:43 Grill removal
2:44 Inspecting coil
3:20 Vacuuming coil
3:58 Deeper cleaning
5:29 Moving the fridge
6:22 Removing back panel
7:04 Backside inspection
7:46 Finishing up