The Dos and Don'ts of Cleaning your Window Air Conditioner Filter

There is a reason the title of this blog is Battle with Adulthood.  There are so many things that irk me about being an adult.  Today at the top of my list is window air conditioners.  Not the air conditioners in general (they help me survive the 100 degree weather we've been having daily), but their filters.

Firstly, we didn't have air conditioning at all when I was young and when I lived in apartments during college, you pushed a button and AC came out of the vents.  In my current apartment in Chicago we have two window air conditioners:  One in the living room and one in the bedroom that looks like it was built from spare parts in 1959.  Last summer we called the maintenance man to complain about our ancient bedroom AC thinking we would just get a new air conditioner.  He came up, cleaned out the filter and basically told us we were idiots before leaving.  Every time we see Ricky, our maintenance man, I hope to myself that I am not the stupidest one in the building when it comes to my apartment needs.  Yes, I didn't know that window air conditioners had filters, I accidentally pulled one of my outlets out of the wall before I realized the Febreeze plug in plug turned and the outlet didn't have to, and he seems convinced that I pour kitty litter down my tub drain.  But...there have to be worse people right?

So Ricky came and cleaned the filter...giving that look he likes to give when he thinks you've done something stupid (seemingly his only facial expression).  That's how I first learned about filters...though I wasn't actually home at the time.  My air conditioner still looked like they found it on the side of the road and then installed it in my window...but it was kicking out more air.  That was toward the end of the summer and we had a pretty mild winter where we didn't use the heat much.  So...enter the horrible week of 100 degree days that we've been having in Chicago.  Laying in bed sweating last night around midnight...I decided that maybe the filter needed to be cleaned again...you only have to do it once a year right?

According to ehow.com this is the correct way to clean an air conditioner filter:

1. Turn off the window unit.  Vacuum the front cover before removing it if it is dusty and grimy.
2. Remove the cover from the front of the unit, unscrewing its screws or pressing its push tabs to get the filter.  Note any tabs or cutouts to you can correctly align the cleaned filter.  Grasp the filter by its center and pull it outward.
3. Clean the filter at the same time as the front of the unit, in a sink if these items are not too big, or outside otherwise.  Place the cover and filter in a pan of warm water containing dishwashing liquid or just hose off with a fine firm mist.
4. Shake the filter gently to remove excess water.  Let the cover and filter dry completely and replace.

This is how I cleaned my filter last night:

1.  Turn it off before doing anything...because...duh that's an electric thing.
2. Feel around the outside of the cover to see if anything is really holding it on...nothing?  Then yank!  Did the cover come off on one side but stay connected on the other?  Then you yanked incorrectly.  Try again.  And again...and again.  Is your floor now covered in dust?  Probably should have vacuumed the cover if it was dusty and grimy.  See that metal wire thing hanging out from the left side?  Just ignore that and work on prying the filter out.  Did you punch your fingers through one of the foamy squares?  Well...you probably don't need that foam anyway...
3. Since you weren't home when the maintenance man cleaned the filter, just wing this.  You don't want to do anything over the sink because then he'll think you put kitty litter down there too.  Better go for the toilet...that just flushes away.  Just peel all those dust clumps off and try to remember that you love your cat and it's not her fault that she has so much fur that seems to have all been sucked into this filter.  Now your toilet and floor are covered in dust...and it won't come off with a simple wipe down with water...for some reason.  Now might be a good time to break out the vacuum.  
4. It's probably a good assumption that you shouldn't get this thing wet right?  You already poked through some of the foam...who knows what will happen if you get it wet...and you've got this whole unmoveable dust issue to deal with now.  Again...try to remember that you love your cat even though she just ran into five things on her way to freaking out because you turned the vacuum on.  It's okay to vacuum at 1 a.m. right?
5. Clorox wipes seem to be removing the unmoveable dust...so...just call it good on that cleaning debacle.  The filter should look like it's at least less encased in dirt...bend it back into the air conditioner...even though it doesn't seem to fit anymore for some reason.  Shove that metal wire thing back in...those prongs on it will stick if you slam it in hard enough.  Quickly jam the cover back on before anything moves.  You can probably just assume that it's okay to turn back on again.  

It might be a good call to check the internet before I do anything from now on.