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Clermont, FL on Apr 12, 2011

A family member has a musty odor in her upstairs rooms that is creeping into more rooms over time.

They have found some evidence of mold in her air handler of her a/c which is in her attic. She has yet to find someone who can provide a resolution after trying several a/c people who all say that a little mold is normal. I think not! And what is the true source of the smell?

5 Comments

Dan's of Central Florida,... Clermont, FL

Hi Dean,
A little bit of mold in your AC system is natural. The ducts and other components simply make good living spots for the stuff. You might look into having the duct interiors cleaned as that is the most likely location of any larger amounts of mold (and thus the smell).
Another possibility is that the mold (or at least the mold you smell) is not in the AC, but ...»
inside the wall or something. Because you say the smell is only upstairs, this may be the more likely case. The AC would spread the mold throughout the entire system and all areas of the house would then smell musty. I suggest a good inspection of areas that may have become wet in the past as well as the attic if it is accessible.

on Apr 12, 2011 · Like 1
Darby C Flowery Branch, GA

You are likely to get some mold on the air handler, and it is easy to remove. I would think that she might have mold in either her ducts, or somewhere else in the upstairs rooms. I would get a mold remediation company to come out and look at it. They will be more likely to want to fix the problem.

on Apr 12, 2011 · Like 1
Dean Clermont, FL

The home has two air handlers and the one that supplies the air to the upstairs did have mold in it when it was cleaned. If there is mold in the runs she would rather have them replaced but then there's the question of how to stop future mold from getting in to the new runs? There was some mold on the insulation behind the coil that one service person said he just couldn't get to. The coil has never been removed when it was cleaned which seems weird as my service people always remove my ...»
coil when they clean it. Do you know if the light available for stopping mold only works on the coil area?

on Apr 12, 2011 · Like 0
Darby C Flowery Branch, GA

I agree with you, I think that they should remove the coil and to clean it. I am sure that you can clean it in place without problems, but why would you. I would still go with a mold remediation company, I would get someone in there that knows mold and can tell you the best way to take care of it. It is not a problem that you want to get worse.
The only way to keep the mold out of the new duct work would be to have the coil cleaned more often to prevent it from coming back.

on Apr 13, 2011 · Like 1
Dan's of Central Florida,... Clermont, FL

Hello,
I agree with Darby here, get a mold remediation company to come take a look at it. I want to add that while they are there, make sure they inspect/test other areas beyond the AC system like walls and attic spaces.

on Apr 13, 2011 · Like 1

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A family member has a musty odor in her upstairs rooms that is creeping into more rooms over time.

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