What To Do If You Find Weeds Growing Around Your AC Unit

If you're in the middle of your seasonal maintenance routine for your air conditioner, you may be wondering what to do about opportunistic weeds springing up around your AC unit. While a few tiny sprouts may not do any harm at first, they may block fans or coils as they grow, leaving your AC unit struggling to do its job. That's why it's important to remove any weeds within a couple of feet of the unit as soon as you spot them. While removing the weeds is important, you should be careful. Using machinery too close to your AC unit could result in accidental damage. The best way to get rid of them? Pull by hand. By doing it yourself, you can ensure that all the weeds are plucked without damaging the unit. Make sure to dispose of the weeds you pull up to prevent them from reseeding or resprouting.

If you're familiar with common lawn weeds and how to fight them, you may know that hand pulling doesn't always work. Plants that have been left to grow may have tough root systems that are harder to pull up, and there's always the risk that other seeds are waiting to sprout. You can handle taller plants with hand shears and a trowel, but you may also be considering herbicides. These can be used near an AC unit, but you'll need to be careful. While it isn't particularly common, some AC units have a fresh air intake system that pulls outside air in. If yours has that feature, you won't want it running while you're spraying herbicides, so turn your system off first. Additionally, some chemicals can corrode metal over time, so take care not to spray the unit directly.

A pre-emergent herbicide can help keep weeds from regrowing, but that may not be the best fit for you. If your AC unit has a fresh air intake system, you're particularly worried about accidentally corroding your unit, or you're just trying to keep your lawn and garden organic, you may want to try a safe and natural weed control method instead. Not every organic weed control method will work well, however. For example, while growing a ground cover plant can help suppress weeds in your garden, having that vegetation near your AC unit could cause the same problems as weeds. Additionally, some types of organic mulch, like wood chips and straw, could end up sucked into the fans and cause damage. Instead, consider using a thick layer of rock or gravel around. The rocks can block light and water from reaching the soil, reducing the number of seeds that sprout, and they're too heavy to be sucked into your AC unit.

If you're concerned about interloping seeds finding gaps in your mulch, another option is to provide a bit of separation between your AC unit and the ground. Condenser pads can provide stable foundations and offer protection from moisture and pests. An added benefit, though, is that they're made of materials that weeds can't easily grow through, such as concrete or rubber. While heavy vegetation around the unit could still encroach and cause problems, and you'll still need to remove plants as they pop up nearby, a few inches of separation may help keep your unit safe from sprouts and give you time to get rid of weeds before they grow too large.