Are you aware that mold can grow in everywhere you can possibly think of? It just needs excess moisture and poof! New mold growth. If you think about your heating and cooling (HVAC) system, you’ll soon realize that your ductwork, AC evaporator coils, and drip pans are full of that excessive moisture that mold colonies will love and will make your family sick! Mold that’s left unchecked, can spread through the air in your home and cause sneezing, runny nose, red eyes, skin rashes, and many more bad effects!
Understanding what mold is
Mold is a fungus that grows in microscopic filaments and mold spores float through the air and thrive when they find moist environments. These spores can be seen in the form of dust you find in your households and workplaces, which can cause health problems for everybody who breathes in the mold-contaminated air.
Why should I care about mold growth?
When you find mold growth in an outdoor location, it’s natural and helpful for the environment. However, indoor mold growth can be quite dangerous, particularly when it is found within your HVAC system’s ductwork, coils, and drip pans. Since your ductwork circulates air all around your home, mold growth found in the ducts or near the entrances to the ducts could signify that your family’s been breathing unhealthy air.
Most molds produce dust and allergens that can cause minor respiratory problems, itchy eyes, coughs, sinus problems, etc., but some molds strains cause more serious problems.
Molds producing mycotoxins or “toxic molds” can be incredibly hazardous to your family’s health. Daily exposure to toxic molds can cause problems with your brain and may even cause death.
Knowing how to spot the warning signs of mold growth in your HVAC systems will help ensure your family’s safety. Here are three tips to follow to spot the early stages of mold growth:
How to spot the early stages of mold growth
- Pay Attention to Your Surroundings.
Looking for mold is usually the easiest way to find it. Make it a habit to walk through your home while looking for signs of mold. For homes that are more on the humid side, you should do this as part of your weekly cleaning routine and for drier homes, it can stand to wait until your monthly furnace filter inspection.
Remember that mold grows in moisture. Look out for pooling water that may encourage mold growth, blocked drains, or condensation on your vents or on the inside of your registers. Keep your eyes peeled for mold spores — and the condensation and excess moisture that enables mold colonies to thrive— in order to ensure the quality and cleanliness of the air you and your family are breathing.
2. Through the smell, it will be found.
Most often, you won’t be able to see inside registers or down the drain in drip pans, so what happens to the ductwork you can’t see? Use your sense of smell instead! Mold will give off a powerful mildew scent that, after some time, will be smelled in every room of the house.
Once you start smelling something mildew, try turning your HVAC system off, wait about 10 minutes, then turn it on. If the smell goes away entirely — or gets fainter — when your system is off and returns when it’s back on, it’s possible that you have mold in your ductwork.
You can check out this article to see how to clean HVAC ducts. (I can’t find the link on the site, please insert link here instead)
3. Seek professional help.
If you don’t see nor smell mold, the chances of having a secret mold problem are low. If you want to be 100 percent sure, call an HVAC professional or mold specialist. Mold testing can be expensive, but it’s nothing compared to your entire family’s health, right?