HVAC Mold Cleaning in Plano, TX
Every afternoon in July, the air conditioning comes on and the house smells like a wet towel for the first minute. There is a tan ring on the hallway ceiling right under the attic access, and when you finally climb up with a flashlight the secondary drain pan under the furnace is full and the insulation around it is dark. This site connects you by phone with an independent local provider who does HVAC mold cleaning in Plano and across Collin County.
Pan, coil, line, and ceiling, checked in that order
The crew starts in the attic. They pull the panel on the air handler and look at the evaporator coil, the primary drain pan, and the secondary pan under the whole unit. Then they trace the condensate line, which in most Plano attics runs to a bathroom sink drain or out through the soffit, and find the clog or the sag that backed it up. Insulation around the platform gets metered along with the ceiling drywall below.
Growth on the coil fins or in the pan is cleaned with products made for coils, and a pan that has rusted through is replaced. Flex duct that got wet inside is replaced rather than cleaned, because the inner liner cannot be scrubbed. The ceiling below is a separate removal job, and the crew meters it the same way they would a wall.
Switch the system off and look at the pan before you call
If the ceiling is dripping, turn the thermostat to off and put a bucket under the stain. If you can safely reach the attic, look at the secondary pan under the unit: standing water there means the primary line is clogged. Do not run the system until someone has cleared the line; every cycle adds a gallon or two to that pan.
Photograph the ceiling, the pan, and the insulation. Do not pull the wet insulation or cut the ceiling yourself; a wet ceiling opened without plastic drops spores straight into the hallway and the returns.
Coil and pan cleaned, duct replaced, ceiling cut to the reading
The coil is cleaned in place or pulled if the growth is heavy, the pans are cleaned or replaced, and the condensate line is flushed or rerouted with a trap and a cleanout so it can be maintained. A float switch is often added to the secondary pan so the system shuts off before the pan overflows next time. Wet insulation around the platform comes out in bags.
Below, the ceiling drywall is cut to the meter line under containment, the joists are cleaned and dried, and the opening waits for the attic to read dry. Growth that has spread across the roof decking rather than staying near the unit is attic mold remediation. A musty smell that follows the ducts into rooms with no stain is mold odor removal. The ceiling going back is mold damage repair.
An attic that reads 130 degrees and a unit that runs all day
Most Plano houses built after about 1990, which is most of west Plano and nearly all of the Legacy area, put the furnace and coil in the attic rather than a closet. North Texas summers hold above 95 degrees for weeks at a stretch, the attic runs 130 or more, and the unit cycles most of the day from June into September. That much runtime pulls gallons of condensate off the coil every day, and all of it has to leave through a three-quarter-inch line that algae loves.
When the line clogs, the primary pan fills, the secondary pan fills, and the ceiling takes the rest. In older central Plano houses the unit is often in a hall closet instead, and the overflow runs under the closet door into the carpet. Either way the ceiling or floor work is remediation, and a job over 25 contiguous square feet needs a TDLR mold remediation license. The condensate line and any electrical for a new float switch are mechanical and electrical trades, and the provider tells you who handles which.
Calling about a musty air conditioner in Plano
Have the address, where the unit sits, and whether the ceiling under it is stained or dripping. Say whether the smell comes only when the system starts, whether the secondary pan has water in it, and when the system was last serviced. Call (972) 787-0657.
