[Kenmore Blues]

Hello. Need some help with how to clean condenser coils on a Kenmore side by side 25 cu.ft refrigerator freezer -- it is Model Number 106.55522400. Have pets and decided to vacuum out under the unit. Pulled the front grill. The condenser coil assembly runs from side to side under the unit, not from front to back. There is just a little room on each side of the ends, so I can get a brush and nozzle down there. But I could only vacuum off the front side of one of the coil units -- there are about 3 or 4 sort of V shaped (or tent shaped) coils. With it running from side to side, it is impossible to get at each of the coil's surfaces. One suggestion I read in another post was to take a air hose from a home compressor unit and blow the coils off to get them clean. I can probably do this, with the shop vac running at the same time with someone else moving it around to suck up what gets blown off the coils. This seems like an awful mess to make to get it clean, but I don't see any other options. When I look at the schematic for the unit, it appears to show (but I can't be sure) that the coils run from the front to the back, so one could easily run the specially designed coil brush back and forth. Could my unit be assembled incorrectly from the factory? I can't believe they would design something that is impossible to get clean from either the front or the back of the cabinet. I can go around the exterior borders of the coils, but not get at the coils directly. Help? Anyone else have the same problem? This is a Kenmore built by Whirlpool. With the pets here shedding hair, once I get this cleaned up and get rid of the hair and dust, I will be cleaning it way more often so I don't have all the buildup on the coils in the center area. Anyone else with the same coil configuration?

[adamius]

I hate this new design with the coils in the bottom, especially if you have pets. Here's what I found works. Empty the fridge of anything you don't want sliding around like full milk bottles or glass containers. Tip the fridge up at about a 45 degree angle, leaning it against a counter or, even better, having a friend hold it. It's still a good idea to prop something under the bottom as a failsafe. The panel on the bottom of my fridge was thick pressed cardboard or masonite that was held on with plastic trim bolts that I was able to pry up a little with a knife and then got my needlenose pliers around the shaft and just yanked them out (they were even fine to put back in afterward). You don't have to take them all out, mostly just the ones on the side that's tipped up in the air. When they're out, just pull down the bottom panel a little and you should have enough room to get your smallest vacuum wand in there and clean it out. I wouldn't use the blower method you mentioned because it will blow all over the place, into even less accessible parts of the fridge and get stuck to any moist or ionized parts.