Cover indoor side of room A/C to prevent mold?

[Steven L.]

Last winter, a lot of mold grew inside my room air conditioner, even though the outside of it was covered for the winter. Evidently there was still enough warm room air seeping through to cause condensation when contacting the colder outside parts. Removing that mold took a lot of work.

Would covering both the outside and the front panel of the room A/C prevent mold growth? Or is there anything else I can do to prevent mold from growing inside my room A/C during the winter?

(No, removing the A/C unit for the winter is not an option: It's a through-the-wall unit that is inside a wall sleeve.)

[SRN]

But yes, of course, you can still remove it, get some rigid insulation board (foam) from a big box store. Hold the board up- against the sleeve while someone inside traces the sleeve pattern on the foam. Then carefully cut out a section Carefully cut out the foam so that it will tightly slide in to the sleeve. Make two so you can put in 2 with an air space between them. Then seal the outside of the sleeve with tape and plastic.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Clean around the inside with a bleach solution as best you can, clean the filter and front panel. Then take a plastic trash bag and put it over the front of the unit sans cover, then put the front panel back on. I do that in the dining room.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Sure, that will work, but maybe the OP is 85 years old and cannot lift it out. I leave my window shaker in the dining room and I'm only in my 60's.

[Tony944]

May I give you little experience of my own? The new window Shakers that manufacture makes them sacrifice clean air for efficiency. In other words the AC does not drain them use condense water to throw over condenser which naturally makes it more efficient, "but doing off cycle water remain inside of some units, when unit is off for longer period of time what happens to that water it start to grow Mold. It is compromise between cleaning and efficiency. So next times you purchase window shaker make sure you lock in health warrantee. Hahahehe

[Stormin Mormon]

I'd sure try it. Has to be reasonably vapor proof. Plastic, and tape.

One apartment complex not far from me has metal covers for the outside of AC units through the wall. . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

.

[Robert Green]

When sealing up the unit for the winter, do two things. Spray the interior with Lysol or some other mildewcidal air freshener. Then take a compressed air hose and blow out the water that sits in the evaporator pan. As Tony noted the modern A/Cs use that water to (noisily) splash on the outer fan to aid in cooling the unit.

If you let that icky water fester over the winter, especially a warm one, it's going to be mold city on startup in the summer. Though I don't like the smell of Lysol for the first day or so of operation, it sure beats the smell of mold.