Mold is one of the more unpleasant issues you may face as a homeowner. Mold can be unsightly, cause damage to interior surfaces, and even create chronic health issues for you or your family. Unfortunately, mold can also be sneaky. While masses of black mold crawling across a wall may be relatively apparent, other mold issues can remain undetected for months or even years.

Unfortunately, your home's HVAC system may be one source of these hard-to-detect and often wide-reaching mold problems. Recognizing that you may have an HVAC-related mold issue is critical so you can remove the mold from your house and address its underlying cause. Keep reading to learn three ways that your HVAC system may be creating a future mold nightmare.

1. Mold Growth In Ductwork

Mold growing in your home's ductwork is among the most severe HVAC-related issues you can face. Ductwork typically uses non-organic material, but mold can grow on dust or other contaminants that enter the system. Once mold takes hold in these areas, cleaning your ducting may no longer be sufficient. Your blower can also push spores throughout your home, substantially worsening the issue.

Mold growth typically occurs in ductwork due to improper fan usage or evaporator issues that cause the coil to freeze. These problems increase humidity in your ductwork, creating an ideal condition for mold growth. If you suspect ductwork mold issues, you'll need a professional removal company to evaluate the problem, remove the mold, and potentially replace portions of the affected ducting.

2. Blower Cabinet Mold Growth

Another area that mold can take hold is within your blower cabinet or air handler unit. Your HVAC blower pulls air from your return vents and passes it over your AC evaporator coil or furnace heat exchanger. High-efficiency heat exchangers and AC evaporator coils will produce condensation, potentially leading to high moisture content in this area.

Plugged condensate drains and evaporator issues can cause water to remain in the air handler cabinet, creating ideal conditions for mold growth. Mold can rapidly take over these areas, infesting numerous surfaces inside your HVAC equipment and allowing spores to enter the ductwork. In these cases, you'll need a professional to repair the underlying issue and remove the mold from your equipment.

3. Increased Home Humidity

Your air conditioner will reduce interior humidity when operating correctly, but it can have the opposite effect in certain situations. For example, leaving your thermostat fan mode set to "on" instead of "auto" will prevent the evaporator from draining water, increasing home moisture content. Refrigerant leaks or other issues that result in frozen coils can also raise your home's humidity.

If you're experiencing increased humidity for a prolonged period due to HVAC issues, you may want to schedule an air quality and mold assessment. Even if your HVAC equipment is clean, the increased humidity may have allowed mold to take hold elsewhere in your home. Quickly removing this mold will help prevent it from becoming a much more expensive problem. Contact a company that offers mold removal services to learn more.