Air Conditioner Fins Bent

Air conditioner arrived with some of the fins bent. I decided to have it installed because I did not want to go through the hassle of claiming shipping damage. Did I make the right decision? In other words how bad do the fins have to be damaged to effect the performance of the air conditioner?

Outside damage




Inside damage

Kinda tedious work, but you can somewhat straighten them with a small flat blade screwdriver. They make "combs" for doing this, but I've never had any luck with them.

It won't have any real noticeable effect on the function of the A/C, but I would straighten them as best as I could without damaging anything.

Charles

I'd recommend using a fin comb if you can get one. But careful work with a plastic tool (don't use a screwdriver...) that you make will work.

For the bent fins, get a "fin comb" and straighten them out.

Curious where the A/C is installed in respect to the overall garage as it SHOULD have had a true mini-header above the A/C unit where the studs were cut. Likely not big deal since only 1 stud is "floating" and can compress down on the horizontal 2x4 above the A/C unit. If this isn't all closed up yet, you could still correct it.

Overall, love the look and finish of garage. Keep pics coming!

Get a plastic fin comb. You'll need it again after the next hail storm.

This will better explain the header situation. I did not know how big the air conditioner would be when the garage was framed. I knew we could make the opening smaller but making it bigger would be a problem.

Falcon67 said:

Get a plastic fin comb.

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Roger that!

You can use the plastic trim removal tools also.

go on google and search for a/c fin comb, there's tons of them

Don't even worry about the small amount of fins that are bent, it won't change anything.

The bent fins on the inside may restrict the air flow enough to create a colder area that might freeze. Use a plastic fin comb and straighten them out the best you can. Any amount of opening would be better than leaving them bent up.

Butter knife and losts of patience...

I straighten 'em with a screwdriver all the time.

Pressure washer!

FYI, your headers can be at the absolute top of your wall....gives you added future flexibility should you want to increase a window size or something.

Don't have a fin comb? Guitar picks work well for this.

Quick answer: I have successfully used a file cleaner.
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Long boring answer:
I had been cleaning my Home A/C outside condenser unit for years with a a water hose and spray head. Then I go to do what I had done for years with a new spray head and I was (not) thinking "Wow this new spray head is really getting this sucker clean!" When I was finished and had wiped all the water off of my glasses I could clearly see that what I thought was clean, really was that I had blasted all the fins over flat!. Not in just a few places but over 90% all around condenser.

I tried the plastic combs with no real luck and tried lots of other things as well.
Finally I found something that worked, although I had to remove the outside large opening grill to properly get at the fins.

A file card. In my case a Colton's No. 10 file cleaner. At the very bottom there was a 1/2 or so of unbent fins, I was able to get the end of card pressed in and as I pulled up it was straightening the fins. It did take a considerable amount of force to pull it up and very quickly the metal handle broke and the softer backing behind the the short steel wires started sliding out of the crimped steel holding it place. I had to take the card and tighten the crimping down with a hammer all the way around and and then bend the top edge where the handle used to be out at a 45 degree angle and latch a vise grip on it. After those modifications I was able to press in the bottom half of the card and then pull it straight up with the vise grips maintaining pressure against the card with my other hand. I worked great all the way around the condenser. I spent more time modifying the card than I did straightening the fins. Getting the outside grill back on was a major pain in the *** and If I had to do it again I'd modify the card even more so it would fit between the openings in the outside grill. Unfortunately Colton's doesn't make these any more (although available used on eBay for a premium) and I totally destroyed mine in the process. Now if I needed to do this again, I'd buy a wood handled one and find some way to reinforce the attachment to the wood (soak backing with super glue?) cut off the hand grip and fasten a metal handle to the wood backing bent out at an angle for hand clearance. I warned you it'd be boring.

After thought: One might also try a contour gauge if there are nearby undamaged fins that can be used to set it up and then drag down or up to straighten the fins? I think I recall trying mine with steel pins without success, but perhaps the newer plastic ones might work?

e-tek said:

I straighten 'em with a screwdriver all the time.

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What he said.
Got a picture of the damage?
Careful with fun combs,if you dont use the right one you can do a lot of damage fast.

I have used small plastic tools and even wood skewers to do it, either one works pretty well. Metal tools will work too, but you need to be more careful with a metal tool, especially one that is sharp.

fartymarty said:

Quick answer:When I was finished and had wiped all the water off of my glasses I could clearly see that what I thought was clean, really was that I had blasted all the fins over flat!. Not in just a few places but over 90% all around condenser.

Click to expand...

Wow the description of flattening your fins sounds exactly like my a/c in my small shed from hurricane harvey hail damage. The fins are so flat all over it I thought I would never be able to use it again. I have been ignoring it because after moving it to this house we no longer had electricity to the shed, then harvey hit it and so it sits there. But now we have electricity to the shed and I have been looking for a 5000K unit to put in there. Guess I can try straightening those fins now.