Renters worry about dust and mold in HVAC systems

“The panel that uncovers the filters is extremely dirty, deteriorating, probably moldy. The back side panel is also bad. What material should I use to replace and seal the airflow to go through the filters? submitted by /u/TopNotchSkillZz [link] [comments]”

“We just had our HVAC serviced and cleaned for its yearly maintenance in June. We live in Louisiana. This is our duct and the vents around the home have black stuff coming out of them. When my husband was unscrewing the vent water dripped out. Our system is 3 years old. submitted by /u/milliondollarques [link] [comments]”

“Recently purchased an apartment. Owner's guide says occupant should clean/replace the filter on the air return vent but there isn't one? I'm assuming this is the return spot? There is also a small exhaust fan in the closet laundry that automatically turns on when the AC is on submitted by /u/AussieGoonking [link] [comments]”

“650 sqft apt, built around 1970.. would an air purifier help much? Can it just sit in a corner? Any recommendations? submitted by /u/Cyber-X1 [link] [comments]”

“Hi guys, I wanted to come here and ask for some advice. Just for a quick background, I got very sick over black mold coming out my college apartment’s vents after getting covid (presumably) back in 2025 January. Since then I’ve recovered a lot but i still have some lingering symptoms like fatigue where I have to sleep at least 10 hrs and minor insomnia. The new apt I moved into: 1st floor but not directly on the ground. It’s above the basement that’s half covered by ground. Landlords use it for”

“ive been experiencing respiratory issues for about 2 years while living in a rental house. we looked at our vents and this is a picture of inside the plenum.. mold? company is coming to look at it in a few days. could this be what’s causing my health issues? submitted by /u/No_Acadia_7433 [link] [comments]”

“Wanted to get some advice and suggestions before calling a professional. Wondering if the ductwork is causing this mold issue and how it could be fixed. submitted by /u/king_semso [link] [comments]”

“We rent a 3/3 in Florida. Is this normal for an AC unit? Should we get someone to clean the system? (if that’s even a thing) The first two are inside the AC unit. It seems pretty nasty to me, but the apartment staff don’t seem to be concerned about it. The second are the two AC vents in one of the bedrooms. The two other bedrooms vents are pretty much spotless. The bedroom with the dirty vents is kept closed for the most part, which I’m assuming is contributing to the dirtiness. We keep the ceil”

“Upon moving in, I knew ducts would be bad. Previous tenant was a hoarder. With three German shepherds in under 1,000 square ft. Just inside the vents, was easily 2-3 inches of buildup. Hair, dust, who knows what. I cleaned most of them out. Now that it's humid summers end, they absolutely stink. Like old basement/barn/just wow. I have taped them over currently to avoid the smell stinking up anything further. The root cellar is dirt floor, and had a funky smell, but it's a different smell”

“I have this vent in my kitchen and have not been able to figure out how to get it clean.. I noticed today that the mold(?) is now spreading to the wall and I am completely at a loss for what to do. I rent and my landlord has not replaced it yet and I don’t think I can replace it myself. Any ideas for how I can handle this until he gets a new one? submitted by /u/Ok-Abalone9333 [link] [comments]”

“Getting conflicting information from different HVAC guys. Some saying it’s isolated to this 2ft section, some saying it’s underneath the black cover submitted by /u/FriendshipClassic765 [link] [comments]”

“I noticed that my filter is more black than usual and the fresh air vent is putting this black on the wall as well. Any help is greatly appreciated. submitted by /u/ProfessionalDeer1134 [link] [comments]”

“I opened up the indoor hvac unit yesterday to inspect it as we're dealing with mold issues in our basement from various moisture issues, and found this mold on the foam wrapping around the pipe next to the evaporator. We had literally jist gotten an inspection last week, so I'm a bit frustrated they didn't see it. We were going to just cut it off, spray Concrobium, dry it, re-wrap it. But I don't know how long it's been there, and wanted to ask if we should be cleaning the hv”

“I saw this pile of mud next to my furnace, which is in a closet in my rental apartment. The closet is a floor higher than the ground level (not in the basement). Why would there be mud in there? submitted by /u/Odd-Remove7970 [link] [comments]”

“I have a house that is older than dirt (1915) with a new Rheem high efficiency furnace installed 5 years ago. The old owners weren't really good at maintaining the place and the vents seem like they could use a clean (honestly don't look to bad looking down them) The filter was basically half off and filled with shit, probably hadn't been replaced in years. All the local Duct cleaning companies are charging $600+ tax to clean this entire system. Is this a fair price and do I really n”

“Is this normal for my indoor air until? I’m pretty concerned since we just moved here and our eyes have been burning and asthma is getting bad again submitted by /u/truestory143 [link] [comments]”

“I was up in the attic and noticed a pipe that seemingly used to vent outside and was diverted to the attic. It looks like it connects inside the air handler box but not to anything. However, the place it used to connect appears to be a Y joint shared with the exhaust. Pictures included. Pipe 1 seems to be the exhaust. Pipe 2 is the pipe starting in the air handler box and terminating in the attic. Is rhere a reason for this, is it something that needs to be fixed, or is it a harmless oddity? My”

“Hi there! I just moved into an apartment and it doesn’t look like the previous tenants cleaned/changed the air filter at all (it looks like a washable one rather than the cardboard replaceable ones). The first pic is my filter, second is what I assume to be the model number, and third is a result I found online for the type of filter, but no instructions on cleaning. I was hoping someone could help me confirm the type of filter and help me figure out if it a washable one (and how to clean it) or”

“So, I noticed a lot of dust on my return air vent and went to clean it. When I looked inside, I noticed the entire vent was covered in layers of dust. When I went to take out the air filter, I noticed this black/brown slime on what I’m guessing are the AC coils. I also noticed this black spot on the ceiling of the AC unit room. I live in a apartment. idk anything about hvac don’t make fun of me </3 submitted by /u/mynamalex [link] [comments]”

“We have smelled a musty smell in our Florida home. Got a hvac tech out here today, and we saw this growth above the blower in our AC. Also, our duct boxes in the attic show signs of sweating. He recommended that we should replace all our ducts for $18,000. Do you think this is necessary, or can this be cleaned and the source of the air/moisture sealed? submitted by /u/Equivalent-Mobile-70 [link] [comments]”

“I have dealt with mold before when it comes to renting, but ran into an odd situation. We have only one moldy vent cover right now by itself in a 2 bedroom apartment. All other vent covers are clear of mold entirely. One had slight mildew inside, but it doesn't sit flush with the cieling due to the cieling being messed up. Cieling would need a large amount of patching to even put it up properly. I am 100% contacting maintinence regardless of what is said because I have a chronic medical cond”

“This is my HVAC return vent. Could this be a reason why I’m seeing crazy amounts of dust in my house?! What kind of padding is this? What should I do? Thanks! submitted by /u/Cool-Video4702 [link] [comments]”

“I just moved into a new apartment Saturday, pretty new build. And upon opening the dryer found this on the drum and more on the outside casing of the lint trap. I immediately contacted maintenance and they came, cleaned it on Monday and said “all is good”. However I still feel like all is not good and that there’s probably more mold where I can’t see. The picture is after the said cleaning, which seems to be stains from the growths. Already talked with manager and complained they weren’t taking”

“Hi everyone, looking for some advice on the filtration setup for my home HVAC system. I’m newly renting this place and the filter hasn’t been cleaned in more than a year … To my understanding It has an older National Clean Air electronic air cleaner cabinet. An HVAC tech friend recently looked at it and told me the electronic air cleaner is no longer being used/functioning and that I don’t need the thin metal mesh filter that was installed in the upper slot. He recommended removing it and just r”

“About a week ago, I was inspecting our vents with a flashlight and noticed this inside the vent near our bed. I became concerned because our vents had been sweating more than usual lately. We had an A/C technician come out to take a look. They said what I was seeing appeared to be dust buildup rather than mold. They also said the sweating was caused by clogged drains. Since they cleared the drains, the vents have stopped sweating. I started vacuuming the vent out but stopped because I'm stil”

“Title. Is this a lot of dust to sweep up from just my bedroom? I sweep every 4/5 days. submitted by /u/Bubbly_Lengthiness52 [link] [comments]”

“We got a new ac about a year ago and now the AC furnace filter is damp and top of the furnace is starting to mold. What do yall think the issue could be? I checked the pan and it’s dry, no clog, the coils are clean. Please help! The person who installed moved and can’t come by. submitted by /u/ann904 [link] [comments]”

“I am fairly certain that my HVAC is spreading mold through my home. The air quality seems bad and we are noticing a lot of respiratory issues. Are the soft ducks able to be cleaned properly or is that snake oil? What are my options? Is it just full duct replacement? I look far up in the handler and can see what appears to be mold. submitted by /u/Accord32 [link] [comments]”

“First notched the spots on the vent in the office and bedroom. Maintenance came by and said it was soot. Then I noticed these fuzzy spots on my monitor stand— obviously there’s a bit of dust on it, but are the fuzzy round spots mold? I feel like the apartment doesn’t want to deal with it; all they said was “run the ac”. I live in a basement level apartment so I don’t have windows I can open or anything. submitted by /u/noturmagicalgirl [link] [comments]”

“Do we need a cleaning or completely new ductwork? We have a new hvac installed two years ago but didn’t have the ductwork replaced submitted by /u/tennisguy919 [link] [comments]”

“Im 21, been having a ton of health problems since I moved into this house. I want to move but I saw mold on hvacs are normal :/ any advice or anyone who can look at this and give advice? submitted by /u/Melomocksart [link] [comments]”

“Does cleaning furnace vents significantly reduce the amount of dust in the house. I’ve read mixed reviews. submitted by /u/Ambitious-Spite1822 [link] [comments]”

“I have a strange issue and desperately need help. I have an excessive amount of dust on my main floor only. My house is a colonial style with 3 floors. Built in 2005. The main floor, top floor, and finished basement. I only have this issue on my main floor. On all of my upholstery and carpets I get an excessive amount of dust. Little to no dust on non-porous surfaces. Likely because the HVAC system keeps the air constantly moving and the dust wants to settle on the fabric. When I say an excessiv”

“Owned our house for 10 years and never changed our filter. A family friend gave us this reusable filter when we bought the place and we wash it like twice a year. We have a large amount of dust, pet hair, etc... and think we need to switch to the changeable ones. I just dont know what ones to buy. I was going to go with the 16 x 25 x 5 merv 12 by filtrete. Ive read on here the thicker ones are better and can go higher merv value. The other option at my local store is 16 x 25 x 4 merv 11 su”

“Should I be worried about its contents? I'm guessing its fiberglass. This is the intake vent so it does go through a filter at the furnace but those don't seem to be sealed in any type of way. House built in the late 60s. submitted by /u/celestial1305 [link] [comments]”

“my apartment has refused to replace my air filter and says i dont have mold. its been 1 year since my air filter was replaced and i know suggested is 3 months submitted by /u/grandmaslifealert [link] [comments]”

“for the past few summers, we’ve had to call maintenance to fix our AC unit overfilling with water. adjacent to this closet is a storage closet that we keep camping gear, winter coats, etc. in. In February of this year, as we were re-organizing the storage closet, we noticed patches of mold, running along the base of the wall and across the baseboards. we called maintenance, they essentially cleaned the area “treated “it and left. Fast-forward to July, we noticed again that the mold had grown bac”

“Somone came to check out my hvac today I noticed there is a new hole right here at the bottom above where I put my filter . Why did they do that? is it gonna hurt my system ? Can I just cover it back up with regular tape? submitted by /u/ChubbyPanda3586 [link] [comments]”

“Hi there, I am a renter who has noticed the house AC no matter what I do tends to have a musty / dirty sock smell. Online I haven’t found much as to why, other than evaporation coil could be dirty. But also noticed the outside air conditioner looks to be quite clogged up. Two photos attached of the front and side. The front being extremely clogged up. Should I have this cleaned? Is this contributing to the smell? If it’s the Evap coil, I’ll probably need a technician because whoever installed it”

“Had an air duct cleaner out to assess what I assume to be mold. He said he can only identify it as microbial growth and isn’t allowed to say if it’s mold without a confirmed lab test - but it was said in such a way to be like “yeah it’s mold, I just can’t say that word”. Anyways, by way of addressing the issue he told me to just disinfect the areas (there is also some growth on the back side of the vent box) with something like RMR 141 or vinegar and then to paint over with Kilz. Once that is do”

“I have been smelling this dusty smell that worsens everytime the AC kicks on. I checked the coils and found it looking like that. I let the landlord know they had someone come look at and clean the coil but they are still so dirty. I suspect its mold because of the discoloration and just how it seems fuzzy. Technician said its just dirt. Should I get someone with my own money to come give their opinion on this. P.S I do have a newborn so thats what made me take a closer look at it submitte”

“I think I found mold inside my furnace. This is right above the blower. What do you guys recommend in this situation. Haven't looked inside my vents all over the house but I suspect the same thing. submitted by /u/callmeknowitall [link] [comments]”

“We had someone clean out our air ducts. When they did it, we found out that the vent covers are not actually held on by anything and were painted over. The landlord special I guess. There's not a lot of wood or anything underneath to drill the register back into. How could I fix this in a cheap but effective way? We're trying to move out. submitted by /u/OfficialMikelStull [link] [comments]”

“I got a second hand couch and I don't know what is this white dust inside the couch cushions? The pillows inside are feather, but I'm not sure if this can be feather residue or not. I am planning to have it professionally cleaned regardless, but I want to know if I should be concerned. submitted by /u/Unable_Knowledge_166 [link] [comments]”

“Morning all I found some mold on the junctions between flexible ducting and the rigid boxes that carry air [boots?]. I am going to get some form of smoke puffer to search for all the leaks but I am guessing that the mastic gets cold and is condensing the humid air of the attic. Saying that, the rigid boxes themselves had a bit of sweat on them with cooling running. After watching some youtube videos, now that I am a pro :-), this is my plan. Get a smoke puffer to look for air leaks with blower r”

“My in-laws (elderly couple) decided for some reason they should get their vents cleaned out. They had it done and noticed dirt showing up throughout their house. They had an another company come out and try it again. It did not clear up the issue. Now it’s been almost 8+ months and the dust in their house is an issue. For example, they’ll dust and by the end of the day, a new layer of dust will appear. They just recently had a 3rd company come out. My in-laws want to redo all their air ducts. A”

“it doesn’t have screws or anything to detach the front. recently it’s been a lot louder than usual so i’m assuming it’s due for a cleaning. when i looked in, it appears to have mold all in the inside. we moved in in may so we haven’t been here long. submitted by /u/meowmeowmeow1010 [link] [comments]”

“Just moved into an apartment and on top of many other issues I have discovered this behind the ac filter. Only reason I checked was because my fiance and I started getting a random cough. Anyone have any experience getting out of a lease without paying any fees. This is only our second apartment and we don’t know how to go about this. Thanks! submitted by /u/redrobro [link] [comments]”

“We just moved into a new home. It is a high rise condo and our HVAC system is 2/4 pipe Fan Coil. We found mold on the air vents and we cleaned that up. Next we opened up our units and we found that water was pooling in the drain pans which had led to them being quite rusted. In one of the units this has also let to mild mold growth (as far as we can tell) My question are 1. Do we need to replace our drain pans? 2. Do we need to replace our coils? submitted by /u/whitman_bukowski [lin”

“I learned recently about the importance of HVAC maintenance and decided to have a look at my inside handler’s coils. I’m thinking this is mold growth and wanted to know the severity of the situation. How should I go about cleaning these coils and how quickly should I get around to doing it? It looks pretty rough to say the least. submitted by /u/ExplorerMysterious [link] [comments]”

“Long story short, smoke from our neighbors (townhome) is getting into our ductwork through the walls. We already did aeroseal and it helped some but the smell is still coming through and you can feel a draft when the AC is off. I found a large gap that doesn't look sealed and is accessible by hand. What can I use to seal it from the inside? It is within a shared wall that is incredibly difficult to get to. submitted by /u/Adventurous-Ad8712 [link] [comments]”

“Discovered black mold in my vents and I’m sure it’s been there for quite a while so I’ve been breathing it in as I live and sleep. Great. But my leasing management is notorious for not lifting a finger, and anything they address or “improve” even when it’s making sure apartments are safe for residents, you can expect a substantial rent increase on renewal. (Apartments were bought by private equity a few years ago). I’m debating if I should report it to my landlord or not. If I do and they fix it”

“I was doing some research on a Lenox or a unit that attaches to the duct work for constant air purification. We moved into a house and we found out the previous owners smoked. We can smell it occasionally but very quickly and then goes away. Scared of third hand smoke, I was wondering if a whole home purifier would be ideal. We are cleaning walls and going to seal paint the inside of the house but I was wondering if this would be beneficial. submitted by /u/ders5 [link] [commen”

“I have been sick since moving into this apartment two months ago, so I decided to start digging deeper to see if there was something in the HVAC and I found this in all four of my vents. submitted by /u/Proper_Ice_8247 [link] [comments]”

“I was looking down the duct on our first floor and saw this pile of white / grey material is on the floor of our duct. Any idea what it might be? Some is in larger flat chunks and some appears to have crumbled. I haven’t noticed anything coming out of the vents. This is about 25’ from the HVAC unit on the same floor. I’ve include a photo of the duct closer to the vent. There is some white and brown buildup on the walls but it seems much lighter than what I am seeing further down. Appreciate any”

“There’s moldy air coming out of my hvac system and I am suffering immensely. The ducts got cleaned a week ago but the same problem keeps happening. I walked downstairs last night and noticed a strong maple syrup smell. I saw this on the ceiling , does anyone have an idea of what it is/what caused it? submitted by /u/HIGHSPEEDDRIVE [link] [comments]”

“Need advice on how to handle this….any advice would be appreciated submitted by /u/Careful-Rutabaga8964 [link] [comments]”

“Also, can I clean this without taking the whole unit out of the window? I’m in a rental and management provides these ac units. This one is only 2 years old and this black stuff definitely wasn’t here the last time I cleaned the filter. I wiped as much as I could out of the front grille and it came right off with a Clorox wipe. I have my ac off currently because I’m worried about breathing this stuff in. But it’s the middle of summer on a Friday afternoon and I won’t be able to have maintenance”

“The first three pictures are of the guest bathroom AC vent above the door. I thought maybe we had too much humidity in that room until I saw a few other vents throughout our home that have the same buildup just not as much. We haven't cleaned the vents enough but need to start obviously. Were going to send off a sample just to be safe. Also how would you recommend cleaning these without risking the spores going everywhere? Thanks submitted by /u/2wheelz2freedom [link] [comm”