How — and how often — should you clean your air conditioner in summer?

It's the start of summer but with many parts of Australia sweltering through heatwave conditions, there's a good chance your air conditioner has already had a work-out over the past couple of months. Gold Coast-based GP and Bond University assistant professor Kieran Le Plastrier says air-conditioning units typically filter out large particles such as dust and pollens, which are "an important contributing factor to airways irritation". Where to start when cleaning your air-conditioning unit Most air conditioners in Australian homes are split-system models, and Mr Barnes says the first port of call when cleaning one is the indoor unit's dust filters. "If you run your air conditioner heavily and you've got very dusty air, you're probably going to need to think about cleaning it more often," Mr Barnes says. If you live in a particularly humid area, Mr Barnes says, it's a good idea to run your air conditioner on fan-only mode once in a while to "help blow out dust and moisture that might have built up inside the unit … That gives it a bit of a hand."