Air condtioners / JEFFREY MAY

[Guest guest]

Jeff,

Thanks so much for heads up on window a/c units. At temporary stay

place I'm at I did two sets of culture plate tests, one with a/c on

and one with it off. After several days one that I did with a/c

unit on had I counted 30+ spores growing all of same type except for

one single different mold spore, so I asked them to clean a/c out.

They were very willing after seeing my mold plate and explaining I

had mold allergies (I skipped the cancer story!). Anyway, when they

pulled the unit out it was REALLY, really dirty, ugh! It had

standing water in it that was jet black sludge. You are so right.

Just to think when a/c went on, air was blowing over that black

sludge and into the small room and over bed I was sleeping in. They

cleaned unit out best they could but the black goop was all over the

place. After the cleanup, I ran culture plate again, before and

after and it made a HUGE difference in results, but running it would

cause water to collect, so I decided to leave it off.

THEN, as if that wasn't enough, I was in bare feet and when I walked

over there carpet was wet. I talked to hotel and they suggested a

different room and showed me two other rooms. Both of the other

rooms had damp carpet underneath each window unit, so these units

are real trouble makers!! They also created a little swampiness

outside of window on ground I noticed. I think these machines

should be banned as a health hazzard and need to be outfitted with

better filters and better drain systems. No wonder so many people

have allergies and asthma. Looking for apartments, just about

99.99% of them have these for air conditioning, and most hotels

also.

Anyway, other two rooms, carpet was less damp so I moved.

Maintenance engineer gave me a call and said they would pull unit

out and clean it completely and then reinstall it with something

underneath it to prop it up to correct tilt angle so it drains

better. He said they are heavier toward the room and so over time

start to tip inward and hold water in them for that reason.

Maintanence person came and suctioned all the water out of it and

cleaned it best he could and reinstalled level again. I will only

run it if humidity becomes a problem.

After he was done, I wrapped the air inlet and outlets with 2M

Filtrete fabric, couldn't find the Webb filter paper you described

where I shop and will not use it unless humidity gets too high.

People here couldn't have been nicer about it though and said to let

them know if I wanted it clean again. I'm staying at a M & **A & **RR*

((IOTT extended stay. I don't want to mention their name in

relationship to mold since they did so much to try to correct and

otherwise the place is spotless. I don't think there is any dust or

rust anywhere, so I was shocked to see the inside of the a/c unit

but just as you said without seeing it, it would be moldy, it

definately WAS.

Your explanation of why this happens makes sense. However it seems

that if the fact the filter is absent or not good, I wonder why my

dehumidifier does not get this dirty. Unless it has mold some place

I cannot see it, I don't see any signs of mold in my dehumidifiers

that run all summer long. Sometimes a little mold in water bucket

but I clean it out periodically. , do you know why window

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