How to Test for Mold in A/C Ducts
Mold is a plant fungus that decays organic matter. A little mold growth and presence in your home is completely normal, but excessive mold can be a cause for concern. Test your air conditioning ducts for mold growth to determine if you have an unhealthy level of mold spores in your home. Mold test kits are, however, limited. They can only assess the amount of mold spores in their air as opposed to visible mold growth and not all mold test kits will be able to identify all types of mold growing in your home. Use a mold test kit as an initial snapshot of mold in your home rather than the complete and detailed picture. Purchase a test kit at a home improvement or hardware store. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Put on latex gloves to prevent yourself from contaminating your Petri dish sample.
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Pour the medium from your test kit into the Petri dish provided and close the lid.
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Gently swirl the Petri dish so that the medium covers the bottom of the Petri dish without touching the inside of the dish lid. Let the medium harden for one hour.
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Open your air conditioning vent. Choose the vest that is farthest from your HVAC system.
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Remove the lid from the Petri dish and tape the open dish inside your air conditioning vent using duct tape. Be careful not to touch the medium. Tape it in such as way that the medium is fully exposed to the air in the air conditioning system.
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Turn the air conditioning on for 10 minutes.
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Remove the Petri dish and replace the lid. Let it sit for 96 hours. If you see visible mold growth, send the Petri dish to the lab indicated on your kit for testing. If you don't see visible growth, simply throw the Petri dish away.
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References
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