Dirty condenser coils? Could it be this?!?

[Billbill84]

Hey guys. I posted a thread a week ago called "help duct work is sweating/finished basement". Few good pointers in there that helped me alleviate my issue slightly. I've opened all ducts in basement and seemed to help and only sweats near/on handler and on duct near handler supply but only on fire up. So today I pulled off the outside condenser unit's covers and found the coils all way around, completely caked with dust and dirt from outside elements. See pics! I vacuumed and brushed them off with a coil brush. I also noticed some sweating on a hard pipe that is between the condenser and the round filter can thing and some on the can itself. It's not frosted like a refrigerant leak, it just looks like water. Is that normal? Could the dirty coils played a role in the previous issue I mentioned of my basement ducts sweating a little and/or the water on the hard pipe at the condenser?

 

[user 4883]

It's not frosted like a refrigerant leak, it just looks like water. Is that normal? Yes. Any cool metal exposed to moisture laden air will cause condensation.

Could the dirty coils played a role in the previous issue I mentioned of my basement ducts sweating a little and/or the water on the hard pipe at the condenser? No. You need to insulate the ductwork to keep it from sweating. Any cool metal exposed to moisture laden air will cause condensation.

 

[Billbill84]

It's not frosted like a refrigerant leak, it just looks like water. Is that normal? Yes. Any cool metal exposed to moisture laden air will cause condensation.

Could the dirty coils played a role in the previous issue I mentioned of my basement ducts sweating a little and/or the water on the hard pipe at the condenser? No. You need to insulate the ductwork to keep it from sweating. Any cool metal exposed to moisture laden air will cause condensation.

Ok thanks for your response! As for insulting the basement duct work, I can't being as it's a finished basement with drywall on the ceiling. Hopefully there's not a bunch of mold up on the other side of drywall. The sweating was only on the exposed ductwork in the mechanical room which is about a 12 ft run of duct. Could it have been sweating in that drywall too? I wouldn't think though because there's not much air space between the ducts and drywall. Is there a way to test for this? Btw, my basement dehumidifier shows 50% and never gets above 55%.

 

[Fireguy5674]

If it was sweating very much you would be seeing wet drywall. Cleaning the coils on your compressor unit should make your unit run more efficiently. Just an FYI, in the future you can clean that unit with your garden hose. They also make a coil cleaning solution in a bottle which screws onto the end of your garden hose and does a good job of cleaning those coils.

 

[Billbill84]

If it was sweating very much you would be seeing wet drywall. Cleaning the coils on your compressor unit should make your unit run more efficiently. Just an FYI, in the future you can clean that unit with your garden hose. They also make a coil cleaning solution in a bottle which screws onto the end of your garden hose and does a good job of cleaning those coils.

I'll check it out thanks for response