Air Conditioner smells moldy/mildewy

[larryngail]

Hi Everyone!

We're having an issue with our AC. When we run it, the smell of mold/mildew is pretty heavy. I'm sure this is the cause of Larry wheezing and some pretty nasty headaches for me. Any suggestions, fixes, ideas?

[illapah]

I am no ac guy but I would first go up and check the drainage. You will probably have to remove the shroud (not hard) and take a look. Check to make sure the drain hole(s) are not plugged. Else there could be water incursion into the roof but I think you would have seen drips in that case. When running the AC, you should see runoff somewhere even if it is just overflow. Hope the fix is easy!!!!

[Ozz]

illapah, good suggestion. I would also pull the inside cover and visually check the unit down there for any mold, if it is in the ducting, you are in trouble, as it is not accessible. A filter wouldn't help, as the source seems to be inside the unit. You could spray the evaporator coils with something to neutralize the mold if it is growing, a UV light rigged to shine on the coil will kill any mold found in there, do some checking and let us know.

[DonPd]

You might want to check this link out. It talks about AC maintenance.

http://blog.rv.net/2008/05/08/tech-t...ur-rooftop-ac/

[larryngail]

Dear DonPd, Ozz & illapah,

Thank you all. I'm going to begin my journey with the easiest suggestion here and see where it takes me. I've checked out the link -- oh boy! I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm looking forward to cleaner air.

I've erred on the side of....well, whatever. I'm not going to beat myself up over this. We live in San Diego and we're one of the very few areas not evacuated with the 2007 fires. Our AC and other air filters ran 24/7.

The "stuff" I can see at the main AC vent in the living room is black -- like soot. I assumed it was from the smoke. You all know what "they" say about assumptions.....yep.

Will let you know. I'll speak with an RV repair guy to. One's coming out next week to replace the failed hydraulic system. (oh the tangled webs we weave).