Apologies that this FHoP post is somewhat, but only slightly, Prius related-- It had been a few years since I vacuumed the dust from the coils of our refrigerator (yes, that kind of fridge cleaning), maybe two or three years, so not drastic. And we don't have pets and our house is fairly clean, so it wasn't too bad. Using a Kill-a-Watt meter I checked the electric use for four days before cleaning and then four days after cleaning, exactly, to the hour. 17 year old Maytag top freezer. Before cleaning it used an average of 1.95 kWh per day and after cleaning 1.26 kWh per day. So at my 13ยข/kWh that cleaning should save me $32.74/year. I am thinking I can now afford the luxury of lowering the psi on my Prius from 48/46 to 42/40! Fyi, I cleaned the coils by first vacuuming them, which got out maybe half of the dust. I then placed a portable fan in an exterior doorway, blowing out. Opened a door/window on the opposite side of the house. Pushed the fridge up close to that fan, backside toward the fan. Then used a portable air compressor to blow in first from under the front of the fridge and then around the coils, etc. from the back. I'm sure I got more out this way than from the initial vacuuming. Squeaky clean. Is all that work worth it? I don't know, but it makes me happy.
Considering a brand new Maytag 18.2 cf top mounted freezer is rated to be 1.126kWh/day (411kWh/yr), your 17 years old Maytag is doing very well. I may have to clean my fridge, but my Prius is already at 38 psi. lol
Ours has a spiral coil, way down inside. You need to remove screws holding a paper panel across the base around back, then pretty much necessity to unbolt, unconnect and remove the fan on one side of the spiral coil. Then very awkward, running strips of rag through the coil, working them through the spiral. I could use compressed air but then there's a cloud of dust in the kitchen. Yeah, once a year or two I dive in.
Same with mine-- removed the two or three screws and cardboard panel to get to the big flat coil. Air compressor worked great, but even with the fan and moving it to the door I was glad I did it while my wife was at work.
I'd say that our 2010 refrigerator is significantly easier to clean than the prior 1989 unit. While the heat exchanger coils and fan are behind an aluminum back panel that must be removed, they are then reasonably easily accessible. And much more compact than the old coils spread all across the back and bottom. The compactness, plus the fan being higher up off the floor than the bottom coils of the previous unit, probably contribute to less cat hair being picked up. Either that, or the current cats don't shed as much as some of their predecessors. The fan blade leading edges collects the most, then the first coils in the air path get most of the rest. Some wet cotton swabs taped to a pencil or dowel for longer reach, clean them up fairly easily.
