Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there
was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation
when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a lot
of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent mold
from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)



--
Steven L.

"Steven L." wrote in message
m...

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

But yes, of course, you can still remove it, get some rigid insulation board
(foam) from a big box store. Hold the board up- against the sleeve while
someone inside traces the sleeve pattern on the foam. Then carefully cut out
a section Carefully cut out the foam so that it will tightly slide in to
the sleeve. Make two so you can put in 2 with an air space between them.
Then seal the outside of the sleeve with tape and plastic.

On Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:45:21 -0400, "Steven L."
wrote:

Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there
was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation
when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a lot
of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent mold
from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

Clean around the inside with a bleach solution as best you can, clean
the filter and front panel. Then take a plastic trash bag and put it
over the front of the unit sans cover, then put the front panel back
on. I do that in the dining room.

On Sat, 19 Oct 2013 12:51:04 -0500, "SRN" wrote:


"Steven L." wrote in message
om...

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

But yes, of course, you can still remove it, get some rigid insulation board
(foam) from a big box store. Hold the board up- against the sleeve while
someone inside traces the sleeve pattern on the foam. Then carefully cut out
a section Carefully cut out the foam so that it will tightly slide in to
the sleeve. Make two so you can put in 2 with an air space between them.
Then seal the outside of the sleeve with tape and plastic.


Sure, that will work, but maybe the OP is 85 years old and cannot lift
it out. I leave my window shaker in the dining room and I'm only in
my 60's.

Steven L. wrote:
Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there
was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation
when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a
lot of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent
mold from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

My suggestion would be to seal it well on the inside, and make sure it can
breath to carry away moisture on the outside. Any leakage from the inside will
carry moisture which will condense when it hits the cold metal.

On 10/19/2013 12:07 PM, Bob F wrote:
Steven L. wrote:
Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there
was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation
when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a
lot of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent
mold from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

My suggestion would be to seal it well on the inside, and make sure it can
breath to carry away moisture on the outside. Any leakage from the inside will
carry moisture which will condense when it hits the cold metal.


I've found this very useful to predict mold.

http://www.dpcalc.org/

"Steven L." wrote in message
m...
Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there was
still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation when
contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a lot of
work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent mold
from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)
--
Steven L.

May I give you little experience of my own? The new window Shakers that
manufacture makes them sacrifice clean air for efficiency. In other words
the AC does not drain them use condense water to throw over condenser which
naturally makes it more efficient, "but doing off cycle water remain inside
of some units, when unit is off for longer period of time what happens to
that water it start to grow Mold. It is compromise between cleaning and
efficiency. So next times you purchase window shaker make sure you lock in
health warrantee. Hahahehe

On 10/19/2013 4:00 PM, mike wrote:
On 10/19/2013 12:07 PM, Bob F wrote:
Steven L. wrote:
Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there
was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation
when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a
lot of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent
mold from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

My suggestion would be to seal it well on the inside, and make sure it
can
breath to carry away moisture on the outside. Any leakage from the
inside will
carry moisture which will condense when it hits the cold metal.


I've found this very useful to predict mold.

http://www.dpcalc.org/

I don't really understand how to use it.

I thought that condensation occurs when the outside temperature falls
below the indoor dew point. This calculator doesn't seem to deal with
the outdoor and indoor temperatures.

That's OK for warm humid climates, but I live in a very cold climate.
Please explain.


--
Steven L.

On Sat, 19 Oct 2013 17:49:32 -0400, "Steven L."
wrote:

On 10/19/2013 4:00 PM, mike wrote:
On 10/19/2013 12:07 PM, Bob F wrote:
Steven L. wrote:
Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there
was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation
when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a
lot of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent
mold from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

My suggestion would be to seal it well on the inside, and make sure it
can
breath to carry away moisture on the outside. Any leakage from the
inside will
carry moisture which will condense when it hits the cold metal.


I've found this very useful to predict mold.

http://www.dpcalc.org/

I don't really understand how to use it.

I thought that condensation occurs when the outside temperature falls
below the indoor dew point. This calculator doesn't seem to deal with
the outdoor and indoor temperatures.

Condensation occurs when the *temperature* (where it is, is
irrelevant) falls below the dew point. Water will condense on a
surface when the temperature of that surface falls below the dew
point. If it's a metal plate, inside, thermally connected to the
outside, then the humidity is whatever it is inside and the
temperature is some amount above what it is outside.

That's OK for warm humid climates, but I live in a very cold climate.
Please explain.

You don't have rain, snow, or fog, where you live? How about clouds?
;-)

On 10/19/2013 2:49 PM, Steven L. wrote:
On 10/19/2013 4:00 PM, mike wrote:
On 10/19/2013 12:07 PM, Bob F wrote:
Steven L. wrote:
Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there
was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation
when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a
lot of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent
mold from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

My suggestion would be to seal it well on the inside, and make sure it
can
breath to carry away moisture on the outside. Any leakage from the
inside will
carry moisture which will condense when it hits the cold metal.


I've found this very useful to predict mold.

http://www.dpcalc.org/

I don't really understand how to use it.

I thought that condensation occurs when the outside temperature falls
below the indoor dew point. This calculator doesn't seem to deal with
the outdoor and indoor temperatures.

That's OK for warm humid climates, but I live in a very cold climate.
Please explain.

What's your definition of very cold climate?
People in very cold climates don't need air conditioning.
Play with the knobs on the calculator. Below 31F, mold doesn't
grow.

The key to the calculator is the MOLD RISK box on the right.
Turns out that the range for mold growth is less than I expected
the first time I encountered the tool.

The dew point is the temperature at which your windows start
to fog up.
It's a measure of the ABSOLUTE amount of water in the air, unlike
the RELATIVE HUMIDITY you see on the weather channel.

When you're on vacation, the dew point inside your house is the same
as the dew point outside.
When you get home and start breathing, bathing, cooking, washing
clothes, etc. the inside dew point can be much higher than outside.

You want the place where the mold is growing to have an environment
that's in the NO RISK region on the calculator. That's a temperature
somewhat above the dew point in that region.
Unless you're running a dehumidifier, the outside dewpoint is
lower than inside an occupied dwelling.
If you seal the inside to prevent moisture getting in the front, that's
about the best
you can do easily. Insulating the outside can raise the temperature
due to heat loss thru the unit.
But that may or may not help. Check the new temperature on the dpcalc.

Sealing the outside may be worse than leaving it vented to the outside.
Especially if there's a puddle of water inside the unit or inside
humidity getting into the unit..

The dpcalc program was written to model what happens to books in a library.
You don't want mold to START growing. Not sure what it means when
mold is ALREADY prevalent.

On 10/19/2013 12:45 PM, Steven L. wrote:
Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even
though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there
was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation
when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a lot
of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C
prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent mold
from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a
through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)



I'd sure try it. Has to be reasonably vapor proof. Plastic, and tape.

One apartment complex not far from me has metal covers for the outside
of AC units through the wall.
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On 10/19/2013 3:07 PM, Bob F wrote:

My suggestion would be to seal it well on the inside, and make sure it can
breath to carry away moisture on the outside. Any leakage from the inside will
carry moisture which will condense when it hits the cold metal.


Well said. The indoor air has the humidity.


..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

"Tony944" wrote in message news:EwC8u.37578

May I give you little experience of my own? The new window Shakers that
manufacture makes them sacrifice clean air for efficiency. In other words
the AC does not drain them use condense water to throw over condenser
which
naturally makes it more efficient, "but doing off cycle water remain
inside
of some units, when unit is off for longer period of time what happens to
that water it start to grow Mold.

When sealing up the unit for the winter, do two things. Spray the interior
with Lysol or some other mildewcidal air freshener. Then take a compressed
air hose and blow out the water that sits in the evaporator pan. As Tony
noted the modern A/Cs use that water to (noisily) splash on the outer fan to
aid in cooling the unit.

If you let that icky water fester over the winter, especially a warm one,
it's going to be mold city on startup in the summer. Though I don't like
the smell of Lysol for the first day or so of operation, it sure beats the
smell of mold.

--
Bobby G.