Re: Air condtioners / JEFFREY MAY

[Guest guest]

, do you know why window

>a/c's have mold problem but dehumidifiers do not?

>

Barb,

Mine did. At least I believe it to have been a big problem. I did

not run it that often because it was to hot and I did not want the ac

and dehumidifier going at once. But one occasion after being away for

a week and having it run full bore set at 35%, and having not been

cleaned for a week, I came back and left it running and got sick right

away. There are so many variables so the reliability of my suspicion

it was the dehumidifier is not absolute but an air

condition/humidifier type of high is pretty hard to mistake when they

are dirty. They make me profoundly ill, I sleep like a corpse and

can't get out of bed to do the simplest chores. I am pretty confident

that the mold was in the aluminum cooling fins of the evaporator

coils. Although it was not visible as it never was on my ac coils

cause I cleaned them every day.

Wall/window unit's splash condensate everywhere and the entire bottom

of the unit's are covered with dampness and water, so you have a much

larger area for breeding mold. Humidifiers on the other hand only drip

the condensate into a small easy to clean tray which collects the

condensate and drops it into a container so you need only clean the

evaporation coils, the drip tray and the collection container.

I have been staying inside of the house here in NC and running the

dehumidifier in my trailer until I decide what I want to do with it.

But because I don't stay inside of it and there are no pets in there I

spray the coils with a ten percent bleach solution and don't rinse the

coils off since I am not inside to breath the bleach fumes. I would

suggest you do the same with all of your equipment while your house

is unoccupied.

[Guest guest]

and Barb,

Microbial growth (mold, yeast and bacteria) definitely occurs on

dehumidifiers. Without exception, wherever there is dust and moisture, there

will be microbial activity.

I have seen dozens of contaminated dehumidifiers. The worst ones are in

basements where people cut wood. If dehumidifiers had decent filters, there

would be less of a problem. So cleaning the cooling coil (and bucket) is a

good idea.

Perhaps there is less obvious growth on dehumidifiers because the dust load

in basements is less than upstairs. Also, the water drains down into a

bucket rather than collecting in a trough directly below the cooling coil.

C. May, M.A., CIAQP

May Indoor Air Investigations LLC

1522 Cambridge Street

Cambridge, MA 02139

617-354-1055

www.mayindoorair.com

www.myhouseiskillingme.com

>Re: Air condtioners / JEFFREY MAY

>Posted by: " Christ " antares41_41@... antares40_40

>Date: Fri Oct 6, 2006 9:08 am (PDT)

>>, do you know why window

>>a/c's have mold problem but dehumidifiers do not?

>

>Barb,

>Mine did. At least I believe it to have been a big problem. I did

>not run it that often because it was to hot and I did not want the ac

>and dehumidifier going at once. But one occasion after being away for