Air ducts are placed in houses to filter and circulate clean air throughout the entire home. It takes the used air from inside the home and takes it to the HVAC system to filter it. So, if the air ducts are unclean, it might cause some serious health issues for the inhabitants. One of the most harmful things that can grow and accumulate inside air ducts is mold.
There are a lot of types of mold that grow in air ducts. These include acremonium, aspergillus, mucor, fusarium, ulocladium, etc. Some of these molds are quite common in air ducts, while some are rarer. Additionally, some molds in the following list are fairly harmless to the human body, but some need to be cleaned as soon as possible because they pose major health threats.
Let’s take a look at all the types of mold in air ducts.
The various types of air duct molds
Molds are a kind of fungus that grows in warm and moist areas. This makes the air ducts in your homes the perfect place for them to grow since the ducts always carry warm air either from the house to the HVAC units or the other way around. Also, the air inside the ducts can be quite moist, depending on the weather and the condition of the air ducts.
To be safe from the growing and harmful fungus in air ducts, you have to know their types and what they look like. Here are the various types of mold that can grow in your air ducts.
1. Acremonium
If you are looking for fungus, there is more chance of you finding acremonium in air ducts than most either kind of molds. This fungus is pretty easy to find as it looks like white powder. Although acremonium itself is somewhat harmless to humans, the fact that it can combine with other types of molds makes it a health threat, since it can cause pneumonia and other types of infections this way.
2. Mucor
One of the most harmful AC duct molds is Mucor. They cause mucormycosis which is a kind of infection that can turn fatal if the infected person has a weak immune system. This is why you must clean them as soon as you find mucor in your air ducts.
3. Stachybotrys
This is yet another extremely harmful mold that grows in air ducts. When you think about black mold in air ducts, you are probably thinking of Strachybotrys. You need to clean this mold ASAP because it can cause a lot of different types of sickness in a human such as nasal irritation, dyspnea, coughing, etc.
4. Ulocladium
One of the rarest yet most harmful types of mold is ulocladium. This cotton-like mold can be of different colors, such as grey, black or brown. This fungus can cause serious health issues in humans such as damaging the respiratory system and causing the immune system to grow weaker. You need to take professional help to clean this mold from your air ducts instead of DIY.
5. Alternaria
Alternaria is a very common mold found in air ducts. This fungus is responsible for a lot of allergies in humans, and also causes serious health issues such as asthma. This velvet-like mold doesn’t appear in usual air ducts. If you see them in your air ducts, then it means your air ducts either have leaks or condensation.
6. Fusarium
Yet another very common mold to find in air ducts is fusarium. Although this kind of mold is not commonly found in air ducts, if your air ducts have leaks, you can find these fungi inside them. They can be of various colors such as yellow, brown, or white. These molds are relatively harmless to humans.
7. Aspergillus
This mold is one of the hardest to find out in your air ducts due to how many kinds of appearances it can take. They come in a lot of colors, including green, yellow, and white. They are very harmful to human beings, as people can experience shortness of breath, fever, chest pain, etc.
8. Trichoderma
This mold is one of the most irritating ones out there due to its sheer persistence. They grow very fast in moist conditions, causing regular cleaning.
9. Chaetomium
This mold looks like cotton and grows inside your air ducts if there are any leaks, or if the HVAC system is quite old. Although they cause some infections in human beings through their mycotoxins, the infections are limited to skin and nails. They can be of various colors such as brown, which makes them harder to spot and clean.
How to tell if there is mold in your vents
Now that you know which molds can be inside your air ducts and air vents, you need to know the signs of mold in air ducts. This will make things easier for you as you can take measures to clean them as soon as possible.
- Your house will reek of mold which is an unpleasant odor. If you sense a rotting, wet, or stale smell around your house but can’t find anything inside the house where the smell couldn’t have come from, chances are there is mold inside your air ducts.
- The mold will grow out of the air vents. This is a very serious situation, which indicates the mold has grown so much that your air vents and ducts can no longer contain it.
- You and your family members will start to have various symptoms of allergy, respiratory issues, etc. Contact a doctor as soon as possible and call professional air duct cleaning services to clean your air ducts and air vents. Read how often you need to clean vent.
Final Words
Molds in air ducts can cause serious health issues which can even result in loss of lives. So, you must know the types of mold in air ducts and what signs to look out for before cleaning them. Since these fungi cause serious health issues, it is best to leave the cleaning to the pros.
FAQ
1. Is mold in air ducts common?
Yes, as unfortunate as it is, mold in air ducts is very common. This is due to the presence of warm and moist, humid air inside the ducts. The situation is especially worst in the summer due to the humidity of the air.
2. What does mold in air vents look like?
As most molds are black in color, molds in air vents will look like black powder or black spots. These spots will be slimy, and difficult to wipe off.
3. What removes mold?
Bleach is very efficient in removing mold. All you need to do is to mix bleach with water and apply it to the area. Then you need to spray an equal mixture of ammonia and water on the surface and wait for a few hours for the two solutions to work. Then you need to rinse the area to remove mold.
