It’s indoor mold season east of the Rockies, and modern air conditioning rant

Most all of the US east of the Rocky Mountains has been experiencing some pretty humid conditions for a week or two weeks at a time. Some states are lucky to get a little break from it apparently some don’t even get that.

Just a reminder, some of us here are very sensitive to mold, some of us are not. Even if they are not it’s still not a good thing to be breathing or having in you’re living environment.

Everyone talks about humidity and then it’s pretty easy to make a gauge that shows that. The big deal is the dewpoint which requires a little bit of mathematical calculation. There are no consumer dewpoint meters available to the best of my knowledge.

I noticed this last week in my typical northern home with a basement that my dehumidifier cannot keep up in the basement. I put some oscillating fans down there to move the air around the concrete block walls. Otherwise that’s mold territory. I have to put a fan on the shower curtain when I’m done to avoid mold specks.

And for those of you with window air conditioners. I have some bad news from you. They do not work as good as they used to as far as removing humidity from the air.

This is partially due to the manufactures, taking short cuts to meet the new energy requirements. It takes more energy to remove humidity than it does to cool it. And we’ve all seen those yellow energy stickers on the boxes of window air conditioners. There’s always a way to cheat something and that’s what they’re doing right now. I know some people in the HVAC industry and they said yes that is why new window air conditioners are not as effective at removing humidity as the old ones. Sometimes you actually need an additional dehumidifier in your living space now. That was not the case with all older window air conditioners.

For those of you with central air, those are obviously better, but sometimes they cannot keep up with higher than average human conditions either.

So back to window air conditioners. They remove humidity from the air by blowing the new air over. It’s called an evaporator coil, this condenses the moisture, pulling it out and drain pan down evaporator coil which if it’s operating correctly will drain outside.

The longer amount of time air goes across the evaporator coil, the better it dries.

So the higher /faster power you turn the fan on the less time, the air spends moving over the evaporator coil, thus the less amount of moisture it will pull out of the air. If you turn the fan on low, the air spends just a minuscule more amount of time moving over the evaporator coil thus, pulling the moisture out of the air more efficiently.

Problem is when it’s hot and humid, obviously people are going to turn the fan on high. That will blow cool air throughout your room further and quicker however, it will not be as effective at removing your humidity. So the only way to counter effect, this is have a more powerful air conditioning unit, which is kind of ridiculous because once you do that , that just wipes out the energy you saved from this newly designed energy, efficient, air conditioner.

Moral of the story if you want the same humidity pulled out of the air with a new energy, efficient air conditioner, it’s going to need more BTU energy use than the ones made prior to 10 years ago. So if you need new power to do the same, it’s not more energy efficient at all actually.

I want in on this rant! I'm in New England, where we've been inundated with rain this summer....

If you are using window AC units, then most will have mold growing in them by the end of the season, and will need to be given away and replaced the following year. Super wasteful.

Mini-split heat pumps work great, but are very expensive and don't last very long, and are supposed to be cleaned at least annually by a professional. I have not found a professional who can assure me that every single part can be taken apart and cleaned each year to avoid mold growth. They just say keeping them running 24/7 year-round is the best way to prevent mold.

Central air is great because you can clean the ducts and add a HEPA filter, but I tried to convert my house a couple of years back and no one wanted the job! Seemed strange to me. I have an unfinished basement and attic with nothing in them, so the only hard part would have been a small amount of ductwork through the middle of the house. Plus of course that conversion would be very expensive.

I buy new window AC units every year. I have big AirDoctor purifiers on both floors of living space. I have an industrial Santa Fe dehumidifier in the basement (this is magical) and a regular dehumidifier on the second floor near the bathroom where we shower. We run the vent fans in the kitchen and bathroom whenever we have cooked or showered for hours afterward. It's still humid this year. We have sensors on all floors that tell us the humidity level, so we can make adjustments and keep it below 60%.

I never open windows, and I change clothes after being outside, and I maintain a shoe-free household. But I have a dog who surely brings in various spores, and houseplants, and no house is completely air-tight.

The dew point has been very high lately, so I'm especially grateful to have a powerhouse dehumidifier in the basement to take care of the below-grade space that's so vulnerable to dewpoint-related condensation.

The outdoor mold levels are sky-high this year from so much rain, and there's just nothing to be done about it. I have sandy soil that drains a whopping 14 inches of water per hour, so there's no standing water anywhere, no wetlands nearby, etc. Just crazy humid, and stuff decays, and mold flourishes. I have found some beautiful and fascinating fungi in my yard this year!

There was a mold smell in my kitchen a few weeks ago that was driving me absolutely nuts. We tore into walls looking for the source of this dastardly smell. It would come and go, change location, and worsen when rain came. Eventually our plumber came for something unrelated, and I asked him about it. He said I was the fourth person to ask him so far that week! Apparently everyone's drains are moldy, and because of the dewpoint and humidity level, there's nothing to be done about it. So that's discouraging! He said to pour boiling water down (metal) pipes, or bleach or vinegar or whatever mold-killing substance one favors, but to expect it to keep coming back this year unless the weather changes. (It's pouring at the moment....)

I am so. tired. of the constant din of fans, air conditioners, air purifiers, and dehumidifiers. It's ridiculous.

saraeli- looks like you’ve done your research and you have it figured out as best as you can so far.

The North Central area on the west side of the great lakes has had a drought this summer until two weeks ago, then it rained like crazy and humidity skyrocketed along with rising temperatures. We have a nice little break from the mugginess right now though.

I have a good old black dirt all around my area so at least when it rains the dirt sucks it up versus sending it down into your basement walls. The basement, concrete block walls still gets condensation though, so I ended up running fans on them ,…this morning and they appear to be nice and dry.

I take apart my window, air conditioners every spring before installing them on my front sidewalk and clean them quite thoroughly. I put a plastic bag around the electrical panel while I’m doing this with the hose.

As you may have noticed all the newer conditioners have a foam divider between the inside, and the outside fans. It’s white and yes you can see black mold specs on it much more easily. The older ones had metal dividers and they did not get mold buildup on them in my experience. I have two old broken down window AC units in my basement and I just looked at them. They’re a little dusty but there’s no mold on the inside fan area time to take them apart and bring him to the metal scrap yard.

Luckily, I don’t seem to be affected by mold. I’ve never had vast amounts of it just little small areas, sometimes on the shower curtain which I clean with water down, bleach or vinegar and then on my AC vents.

Think I’m gonna go get a better AC unit today a GE 6000 BTU for my bedroom, versus the cheap under powered 5000 BTU (that doesn’t seem to remove humidity , or the ability to drain the humidity fast enough out the back.) so I’m hoping that a little more power which will allow a slower fan speed will evaporate the humidity better.

The little one that’s in my bedroom now, I got two summers ago on closeout for 50 bucks at Walmart so I can’t complain. The day prior my older all metal unit completely gave up it’s ghost. At the time it was the end of a long hot summer and everyone was sold out of the smaller AC units so this cheaper one from Walmart was sort of a Band-Aid until I got a better one.

Those movable floor, AC units that have a hose that go to a window seem to burn off humidity better. Thus that is also why that kind of cost a lot more to run (in addition to their odd design, but easy to install ) requires more energy. I have one of those in my living room. I used to completely close off my living room during the hottest weeks.

My family got central AC in our home growing up when I was about 12, that was really nice! To add that on and convert some of the simple ductwork in my basement, there’s probably about 10 grand. If I’m still living here once I’m officially old, I think I’ll get it done. Lugging around AC units is not on any old peoples list of priorities! But those portable movable floor mounted ones are pretty good for older people (or the younger injured ones amongst us) who don’t want to lift heavy stuff up and install things, so at least there is that option.

Post Edited (astroman) : 7/30/2023 7:09:49 AM (GMT-8)

Rainy, when my Lyme disease was raging and messing up my thyroid even more,…I was an overheating mess. I’m glad those days seem to be behind me, but I’m still not normal as far as taking temperature changes.

Unfortunately, as you know, in the United States, there is no affordable place to live with jobs that still has a comfortable year-round temperature. I thought of moving to the dryer west but that’s getting an affordable. And the Pacific Northwest (I had some relatives there to) now it gets hot in the summertime and is unaffordable as Californians move northward.

In the three states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan (my regional turf) on the same day from the extreme northern to the southern part of each state you can go from extreme high temperature differences of 30° F. That’s a lot of driving though. If I’m still here when I’m old, I just might try to rent a space on friends lake superior Shoreline property for parts of the summer…. And park some compact jalopy of a motorhome there. Not really very supporting jobs around there and it’s pretty cold in the winter time.

(I had an option to buy my uncles year-around cabin home property. It was more than I can afford. Plus It got to -50 F one winter morning. -35 to -40 is more normal. The odd thing is, based on lake affect cooling you can go west from there 25 miles and the temperature will increase 25° any given day. But -50 F is just too cold for any living thing, and somewhat dangerous, if you live alone. I’ve only felt -40 there and that’s bad enough. And that happens only every other three to four years. When it does happen, its simply survival to keep your mechanical things from breaking down, and making sure your house functions properly. Going to work? Forget it no one will be there unless you work at a small regional hospital.)

Post Edited (astroman) : 7/30/2023 8:57:52 AM (GMT-8)