[Stephbigels01]

Hi- I had my annual inspection of my two air handlers about a month back and the technician found mold in both. He recommended replacing the units, cleaning the ducts, and installing UV lights. While doing my due diligence I had two other technicians out for their opinions and one just recommended cleaning the air handlers and installing the lights.

I called back the first company to discuss just cleaning them and they said in order to clean it properly I would have to remove the air handlers and bring them outside which would end up costing just as much as replacing.

I am at a loss. I can't figure out why one place would just say clean and another would say full replacement except for the fact that they want a "sale".

What is the best method to follow?

Also, none of the three companies can figure out why it happened. One air handler is in the basement in a crawl space. And the other is in a hot attic.

Thank you for your guidance and opinions.

 

[HVAC_Marc]

Mold needs: a food source, a habitable climate, water. Remove any one of those and mold wont grow. Not all mold is bad for your health. Like carbon monoxide, mold can be used for scale tactic sales.

I would clean in place, use an approved mold killing chemical (not bleach), and clean the ducts. Then have the tech figure out why the mold likes to grow there. It's going to be one of those 3 items i listed.

 

[BobbyBJr]

Is it really mold? As Marc said, I have no problem cleaning in place and adding either a UV light or a plasma device to clean up the rest in the ducts and the home. Have duct leaks, filters and such been addressed? Proper airflow?

Bobby

 

[BaldLoonie]

Mold grows because it is cold and damp in there during the summer. Clean it up. I've never seen the benefits of UV lights but there sure are a lot of them out there.

 

[catmanacman]

Sounds typical of most heat pumps just needs a good cleaning .also sounds typical of a commision based service tech .

 

[CircusEnvy]

Sounds like the technician was trying to throw out the baby with the bath water. Jesus, replace the air handlers? Seems a bit much. I guess the tech wants to make his boat payment this month.

95% of heat pump air handlers have some kind of microbial growth in them. Some are worse than others, but cleaning the blower assembly, coil, and cabinet should suffice. A UV light will only kill what the light touches, so they're not entirely effective unless you put 3 in each air handler.

If you want to go all out, I'd recommend having the duct work and air handler sealed and install a media filter box. As HVAC_Marc said, this would eliminate the food source and prevent it from coming back. This is the ONLY instance where I've seen the other 5% of heat pumps air handlers not have microbial growth.

FYI, it's not mold unless it's sent off to a lab and proven to be such. We, as professional service technicians, are not allowed to say whether it's mold or not and neither should your technician.