Mini Split Mold Issues?

[mpire]

My mini-split appears to have some mold issues going on. Not sure what to make of it to be honest, but I am seeing some specs of mold on the plastic vent areas.

Granted I am in the South and we have actual humidity, but do we have any recommendations for cleaning the grates/grills etc just to be safe?

I run it exclusively in my home at night, so it would cost me North of $100 a month to stop using it, so I would like to make sure its clean and mold free.

Any suggestions on cleaning methods or cleaners?

 

[acmikee]

its common. just spray it down with any biocide cleaner or simple green.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Clorox CleanUp. Anything with some bleach in it. If it is not too big, put it in the upper rack of your dishwasher with nothing else. Small amount of soap. Maybe a tablespoon of bleach. Light (China) wash. Non-heated dry.

Make sure your condensate drain is working properly.

 

[Jackfre]

This comes primarily from leaving a wet coil. In other words getting up in the am and simply shutting it off. The moisture turns it into a Petrie dish. Try running the fan only for a while when you get up in the morning. Perhaps ( climate dependent) it will dry the coil and reduce the likelihood of further growth. Are you cleaning the evap coils? If they get dirty and hold the moisture it will be more difficult to get the coil dry. You have monitored your energy consumption pretty well, as I recall. It may be worth just leaving the fan on L or M and see how it affects your bill. I doubt it would be much based on how efficiently they run. I would call it worth a try. My Fujitsu's have a "Coil Dry" feature. If I turn the unit off, but want to dry the coil and drain pan. There is a button on the remote for CD. It puts the unit into the heat mode on a timed sequence to dry the evaporator. And drain pan. I consider it one of the units best features. It is less of a problem for me here in dry, dry, dry CA, but in MA I ran it all the time.
Also, check with your manuf on limitations of cleaning products. I use the NuCalgon Evap Powr C. Some other coil cleaners will etch the AL coil and you do not want that. I use a different cleaner for the Condensing unit.

 

[mpire]

It has a drying mode where it runs the fan with the vents closed to dry it out.

Not sure if this helps or not.