Air conditioner makeing me sick.

[Guest guest]

About a week or so ago they sprayed the asphalt in the park here

with blacktop. It was pretty bad. I normally don't admit to

chemicals making me sick. It was so bad that I decided to close up my

trailer something I haven't done since I moved in a year ago because

the mold in that monitor contaminated my living space and made me

extremely sick. I was spooked so bad by this I thought that their

would be no chance of closing the trailer and running a hepa filter

without getting sick monitor or no monitor (I threw it out).

To my surprise I felt really good when the ac WASN'T running at night

(with windows shut and hepa running) but during the day when I ran

the ac I got really sick. Than it hit me and I feel stupid for not

thinking of this possibility. The evaporator coils in the unit collect

condensate that drips into a pan that is drained outside. It never

occurred to me that mold would grow in their with a quickness, just

add spores. I made the definite connection to my ac running and me

being sick, and not running it and me being better. Actually feeling

good! Two highly contrasting situations.

This is an instance where one might think that a little bit of mold

brought in on a single book or clock radio or your shoes, or in your

hair might be innocuous. And you would be wrong because it can

migrate to your ac unit and propagate into a large colony in the drip

pan and the constantly moist evaporator coils.

I think I rectified this problem by buying one of those refillable

spray bottles and modifying the sprayer with some quarter inch

(outside diameter) hose I bought at home depot for a couple of bucks.

The hose slid tightly over the straw on the sprayer that ordinarily

goes into the bottle. I threw out the bottle and got a milk jug to

supply the sprayer. I filled the milk jug with simple green. I stuck

the hose into the milk jug and I sprayed down the evaporator coils

in the ac unit with simple green waited five minutes, bumped the fan

to draw the soap though the coils. Than sprayed the coils again with

simple green. I did this about three times to cut though any dirt or

mold build up on the coils (couldn't really see any but obviously it's

there in the drip pan and/or on the coils) (air condition repairmen

have a special detergent for doing this.) After this I rinsed the

coils than I mixed up a mild bleach solution and sprayed it down

(evaporator coils) a couple of times. (If I had ammonia I would have

used this but was in a hurry.)

It is to soon to tell but I think it helped markedly. I just wanted

to warn others in the group that although a book or some papers that

came out of a contaminated building might NOT make you react, the

spores could migrate to other places in your house where conditions

are hospitable (like ac unit or a leak, or refrigerator drip tray,

or the bathroom etc.) and start a colony that could really be

detrimental to your health.

Anyone can do this maintenance on their own ac unit their selves and I

would encourage it. (I don't recommend bleach or simple green or

ammonia, they might be ok I really don't know what is ok to use. I

just needed results right away. I am sure you could call an ac supply

house and they could point you in the right direction I might have

damaged my coils with the bleach because it is corrosive. That's why

I made the solution relatively weak ) I just wanted to get rid of the

mold as fast as possible.

Most air conditioners having set all winter have had ample time to

grow a colony in the drying coils and pan. Now would be a good time

to service them as described above.

Another problem this will solve is the drains that empty the drip pans

often get algae in them and they plug up. By spraying an

antibacterial on your coils it will collect in the pan and run down

the drain you are inadvertently killing the algae in the drain thus

preventing the disaster of the pan overflowing and saturating your

drywall with water.