Mold/Mildew odor after cond. line blockage

jay32

I apologize in advance for my lack of knowlege in this area which will most likely make my description of the issue hard to understand.

I live in a townhouse that has a little closet containing the furnace. About two months ago I went in and saw water running out of the top of the furnace. I have an upflow system-I guess, so the furnace sits on top of a return duct. I removed the filter and saw there was about 4-5 inches of water in the 3' x 3' duct. the water was leaking into my living room through the wall vent which is about 4-5 inches of the floor. I hooked the shop-vac up to the condensation line and sucked out what i could and it hasn't leaked since. I tore out everything in that corner of the living room- drywall, carpet pad, molding and replaced after letting it air out for a week with industrial fans and a dehumidifier.

Now my questions. How long would it take for that much water to build up? More importantly since then I have noticed a mildew odor in the house. I know it is coming from the furnace. It gets stronger when the system is running plus I can smell it when I go in the closet. The smell is strongest where I saw the water running out of the furnace. Is it possible that I have mold in the unit. I have 7 month old twins and this is really starting to worry me. I also don't have much money because I have 7 month old twins. If an HVAC guy comes to clean the coils or that whole section above the unit what is a good price? The coils seem to be encased in duct. I think you would have to cut out and replace the duct work. Is it possible that there is mold in that section that has spread into the duct work running through the house?

Any advice would be helpful!

biggles

if you can access the condensate pan with the furnace that is where the water drops down and should drain out from the line coming out of the furnace...if the house is really humid on a hot day gallons of water can over flow the pan and drop down as it did...is water draining out of the white PVC line or clear tubing into a pump..the wate ris going to continue .need to get into that pan wipe it down and clean the gunk out...

thehvacguy

I solved this same problem a few weeks ago. We installed an upflow heating and air system in a closet. 2 months later we get a call saying the house has massive amounts of water soaking into the carpet. The problem was that the closet was not level. It was leaning to the back and water was spitting out of the back of the system between where the coil meets the furnace. I just shimmed up the back of the coil and put duct seal and metal tape over the gap. Totally fixed the leak, and the water dried up in 2 days. I doubt you got mold in your ducts, but you might want to get some floor fans like the carpet cleaners use and dry out your carpet. Make sure they installed an upflow coil, if they put in a horizontal coup there is no drain pan to catch the water underneith.

thehvacguy

Don't let him charge you more than $100 to fix the problem and clean your coil. Verify that your coil is dirty first though.