Hi JRB - well yes, I agree where there is mildew there is moisture, but we stored the a/c unit in the basement where there is some mildew smell at times and we run a dehumidifier but, still. I think the mildew smell is from being down there. and I don't see a tray that I can access to drain. We tilted it back as we were supposed to, to accomplish the draining while it was running.

window units aren't designed to be serviced, they are more or less disposable... as the cost to repair them will likely run close to if not exceed the price of a new one.

So why would you pay someone for a repair, when you could just buy a new factory fresh window unit? This is the con if you will with window units... there is not enough profit in them for an HVAC company to remain solvent.

Because the argument is always money vs I can just buy a new one for that much. Over head and labor costs make up the majority of the costs. If you want a repairable HVAC system you'll spend thousands and thousands for that type of solution. Only then is there value in repairing it.

5 year old window unit is about the best you can really expect for a disposable appliance.

Before you throw out the the AC unit try cleaning it with Lysol spray. Here is a video on how to do it.

How to clean a Stinky Window AC unit. EASY!

Okay, well....thanks for all the information. I suppose if I am going to replace them anyway I might as well try cleaning them. Have people reported that using Lysol took care of the smell, I wonder?

I would do the cleaning before installing the unit in the window. Then the next day let the unit run 15 - 20 minutes before installing it. Let us know how well it worked. I suspect there was water in the unit when you stored it last year. Try draining it as best you can before storing it.

I concur with Mike Home. There's no need to take unit out or disassembly. Turn unit off,remove filter, spray coil with Lysol at recommend dilution, put filter back and turn unit on. Normal condensation will wash Lysol off coil ,into pan and out drain. Repeat as cooling season comes to end in preparation for storage.

For operating efficiency, outdoor coil should be inspected before storage and if there's anything collected on coil wash it out and let dry before storage. Some people take unit to car wash.

Ok, well, I did take the time to look over the unit yesterday and see how I could get access to the inside. The only way without taking out screws, is to pop off the front. where the filter is. I can see coils behind the filter that I think I could spray. But I can look down through holes in the top of the case on the back and there is debris from the trees and dirt on the bottom on the right side. Helicopters off the trees. I don't see water and I don't think I see any mold or black suspect material. I'd really like to get that debris out of there, but I'm sure I'd have to unscew the whole case. There is no accessible pan that you can pull out and clean and put back. Why don't they make it that way?!

It's busy this weekend because of Father's Day but on Monday I'll try to take photos if it will show what is on the inside. Thank you.

There is no accessible pan that you can pull out and clean and put back. Why don't they make it that way?!

As I said they are not designed to be serviced. They are designed to be sold new, used for a time... and then repurchased new. (repeat) -- the manufacturers are in business to keep making them, selling them.

Much of what could happen to a regular AC could happen to them as well... refrigerant leaks? So with no serviceable means to service them cheaply... they become a waste of time.

It's probably not mold, but bacteria. So spray the lysol on the coil, run unit uninstalled for maybe an hour or two. Let sit for a day or so, start sniffing around... however the risk in bacteria related smells is that eventually those smells return. If you don't mind the possibility of wasting your time maybe you get another season out of them or mid season you come to the conclusion of the obvious. (5 years is a pretty long time for an appliance designed to be replaced over and over)

Hi, I did manage to get a photo of what is inside the A/C unit...Not easy to g but you can see leaves and debris

That's the stuff I talked about that can effect efficiency but as nasty as it looks it doesn't cause odors inside house. Debris laying in bottom of case doesn't do much harm other than accelerating corrosion and rust. It's debris ON COILS that causes poor cooling, wasted energy and short life.

Have you sprayed indoor coil with cleaning solution? If so, is mildew odor gone?

No, I haven't decided whether to try to clean it. I have my reservations. And I'm looking at new a/c units. I'm going to post for advice on that too, because there is a heat wave coming Thursday and if I want to buy one delivery dates are going fast.

You didn't specify the brand and model. Did you follow the cleaning and storage instructions for the unit?

Well, the only cleaning instructions are to clean off the filter which we did routinely. I didn't read anything about storage. I'll have to check the manual and the brand name.

OKay, regrouping. We have three a/c units - for 2 bedrooms and one LR/DR/Kit space of 450 sq ft. We have only tried the first small bedroom a/c and found the musty smell. We have 2 more that we are going to try today.

We decided to replace the one in the LR/DR/Kit area for the 450 sq ft because we only had a 6000 BTU there. We did that intentionally to avoid a heavy machine. We thought we could keep it reasonably comfortable and during a week of heat that just hasn't worked. So we've decided to deal with the heavy machine and get help with the install and removal in the Fall and get the size a/c we need for that space.

So back to figuring out what to do with this first small a/c unit. It is a Frigidaire Model #FFRA062WA1/ 6000 BTU for a 12x13ft room. It cooled off the room very well.

I always avoid strong cleaners in the house. I haven’t owned a bottle of bleach or Lysol in a decade. Of course, I don’t want to be breathing Lysol or bleach either. So…I know Klem said the condensation will rinse off the Lysol. A couple of questions…. Can I let it sit overnight after spraying and then spray with water to rinse off the Lysol and let dry before I turn it on?

The video, recommends leaving it overnight after spraying before running. Klem said spray then run for 15m and then let it sit overnight. Which is it?

In the video he suggests pulling out the vents and spraying and wiping behind them and I assume washing the vent pieces and drying before putting back. But, does every machine allow for those vents to be pulled out?

The Debis inside, is not causing the smell…can I try to turn the machine upside down to let it fall out of it?

Does every unit have a pan that collects water? and is that at the very bottom of the unit? It seems so easy to design so that you could remove and clean that tray without taking the unit apart. Like a toaster crumb tray.

I watched the video. I took photos of the machine….

In this photo, am I supposed to spray just the center sections and the Right sections and avoid spraying the two on the Left side?

These units are inexpensive and designed to be thrown when they stop working. A removable pan would be very nice but it adds additional cost.

If I were doing the cleaning, I would first clean every surface I could reach with a product like Fantastic. Then I would try the Lysol spray. I would spray around the temperature sensor if I could not unclip it to move it out of the way. I think spraying first and then running it would allow some of the Lysol vapor to be pulled through the coils and neutralize the odor you smell. It should not take much of a spray and then running fresh air through it to stop the odor.

I understand not liking strong odors of cleaning products and in this case there's other options.. Many bath and kitchen cleaners have pleasant odor while some have very little odor. Most dishwashing or laundry detergents mixed with water suffice for coil cleaning. Refrigeration supply houses sell coil cleaners but BEWARE that many are harmful to breath, eye contact plus some are very corrosive if not used correct. That and they are only available in gallons which is 5 life time supplies for a homeowner.

Regarding condensate pan that has been discussed , it's visible at bottom of coil and ordinarily flushed by continues flow of water from coil. An occasional squirt of cleaner prevents slime and mildew growth.

Hi Klem…I could try the Lysol if any odor is going to go away pretty quickly. But again, would it work to use it and then spray with water to rinse it off the coils after it had the 24 hrs to kill the bacteria?

Also you said spray and run and then let dry overnight. The video said spray and leave for 24 hrs and then run. Which do you think is best?

On the condensation pan, I would be facing the unit without the front cover and the filter taken off, and the coils are behind the ‘fins’? If I mixed dishwashing liquid with water and sprayed that at the base of those fins, once in awhile, that could help prevent the mildew?

None of this requires me taking apart the case, right? So that's pretty good. Thanks.

The details depend on the design/construction of a given unit.

Basically, condensation collects on the evaporator (cold) coil (the one at the front behind the filter) and drips into a collection tray directly beneath the coil. It drains/flows to the back (outdoors) section for evaporation/dispersal. Could be the base pan of the unit serves as the tray at that point, or there may be a second tray (fed by a hose or channel from the front tray) beneath the condenser (warm/hot) coil and outdoor fan. The outdoor fan typically has a "slinger ring" integral around the perimeter of the blades which picks up condensate and blows it against the coil both the disperse the collected condensate and cool the condenser coil.

I've never seen a window unit that didn't have mold and smutz after a season or two of operation. My dad would disassemble ours (in the 1960s-1980s) occasionally (not always every year) for cleaning, sprayed them with a hose, with an effort to protect the controls and fan motor (wrap in plastic) from direct spray. I recall one of the bedroom units got infested with mosquito larvae one year (the outdoor section), horrible odor.

I did one last year for my neighbor's enclosed patio puppy room, let it dry for several days.

I'm getting an education. [g] Is it too late to go back to a bowl of ice and a fan? [g] Seriously though, it's good to know that most a/c units end up with mold and pretty soon after purchase. But it's such a health harzard breathing that in. I feel bad for the Midea owners, after everyone recommended them highly a lot of people bought them. Even Consumer Reports gave them their highest rating and were pretty excited about the Midea. Having your health affected by mold is pretty serious. No one has the answer to how to get rid of it once you have it. I've known people who were trying to recover from it for years. So, for that reason alone, I think it can't' be all that more expensive to design an a/c unit that has a tray at the bottom that can slide out to be cleaned and put back in. The manufacturers can't be intentionally designing them to grow mold to sell more, right? A unit that has to be tossed due to mold and not an actual break down of the motor seems a simple problem to fix.

Just for the record I never mentioned a period of rest after coil is sprayed.

" There's no need to take unit out or disassembly. Turn unit off,remove filter, spray coil with Lysol at recommend dilution, put filter back and turn unit on. Normal condensation will wash Lysol off coil ,into pan and out drain. "

I point this out for reason. It is impossible to tell one every detail of making a cake ,much less cleaning a machine. Misunderstand while making a cake can result in personal injury, starting a fire or worse. There's countless ways to get in trouble cleaning a window unit. Mixing water with electricity , putting one's face in direct airstream on start up and making contact with moving parts come to mind. To accomplish a task requires at least basic knowledge coupled with common sense. Proceed at your own risk.

With that understanding, what to do after spraying coil is not etched in stone. If one can spare comfort of ac for a few hours a brief run immediately after spraying might suck cleaner into coils for deeper clean while minimizing odor in room. Fact is people do it various ways,each swearing by there's. Which ever you choose, rinsing with water is acceptable.

If it's bacteria which I think it is but a guess none the less. The smell that the bacteria provides is like a gym locker type smell of sweating socks. Big AC units get this smell from time to time and was coined as Dirty Sock Syndrome.

Some could / would call this mold. But mold is a more visible aspect as more often that not you'd look at the coil or cabinet and see it. However, with my experience going to homes and visually inspecting as well as smelling... some are more severe than others. (the smell).

Trane was more or less the manufacturer that coined the terms of this disease. Others have done studies to suggest that the reason for this disease is the practices of that of the home owners and how they are operating and or caring for the machine in question. All the way down the list as to operation of the unit, not to mention living conditions.

To kill bacteria typically revolves around temperature, moisture availability etc. Damp, dark, and cool is needed for bacteria to thrive. Once it grows anything other than more growth leads to death and death typically revolves around smelling poorly.

Bacteria is typically unseen. Not visible as it often resides probably deep within the confines of the coil. The harsh chemical will finish off and kill the bacteria, without the harsh chemical? Probably isn't going to result in something that will last for very long.

As even if you use the harsh chemical then go back to using the machine as you have (what ever that means as I am not moving in with you) but typically bacteria growth is most common in specific temperature ranges, moisture and darkness. What feeds it can be what is already in the air. (filtration is much poorer on a window unit than traditional AC you spend thousands more for to install, maintain and upgrade etc.) The harsh chemical will take care of it on contact. That is the sole reason to use the chemical as it gets the job done. But as that chemical residue is eventually washed away via condensate, the bacteria can and will return most likely.

So operationally speaking for traditional HVAC is during shoulder seasons and how you are operating the machine / and or flipping back and forth from heating to cooling. These instances of smelly nelly were originally more common with heat pumps. But due to increased efficiency requirements and bigger and bigger coils... smelly nelly started appearing more frequently in just AC only type of equipment.

What happens in shoulder seasons is primarily related to the machine not running long enough and humidity levels rising in the home as humidity also plays a role in mold as well as bacteria. Temperature is what is used to control the machine, so humidity is more often an undiscussed wild card to this as well as other problems. So it's either lower the temp setting during these periods as well as avoid putting the system into heat mode back to cool too frequently OR just simply shutting it off. Given that you take these out every season likely means they don't have a heat option which is another variable in this that you may never know what, why, when and how.

Tests that have been performed by other full size HVAC manufacturers (not window units) determined that when certain people moved out and new different people moved in to the same structure, the smells magically went away. So this information typically clouds things up, you can dismiss it if you want to but smelly nelly type problems??? what you gonna do and will you continue to delve further into this rabbit hole from a window shaker perspective? Window shaker science is at stake here. We have to know! (LOL)

It's all up to you. In terms of midea's window shaker recall, it might be something as simple as drilling a hole in that pan to drain excess condensate out the back end of the unit onto the ground. I don't know?

"Austin Air Companie: In terms of midea's window shaker recall, it might be something as simple as drilling a hole in that pan to drain excess condensate out the back end of the unit onto the ground."

Homeowners must be careful doing that. It's not uncommon for a mis-aim to puncture a refrigerant line or the compressor (I recall an uncle did that).

Homeowners must be careful doing that.

no need for a home owner to do that. (read on)

Midea is recalling approximately 1.7 million U and U+ window air conditioners due to a potential mold risk. Consumers with affected units can choose between a free repair or a full or prorated refund based on purchase date. For refunds, consumers can either return the unit using a provided shipping label or submit a photo showing the unplugged power cord has been cut. Recall Details:

• Reason for Recall:The recalled air conditioners may have issues with water drainage, leading to mold growth.
• Affected Models:The recall includes various Midea, Comfort Aire, Danby, Frigidaire, and Insignia models.
• How to Participate in the Recall:
  • Identify if your unit is affected: Check the Midea recall page or call 888-345-025.
  • Choose your remedy: Select either a free repair or a refund.
  • For Refunds:
    • Return the unit: Midea will provide a shipping label for returning the unit.
    • Cut the cord: Alternatively, you can submit a photo of the unplugged power cord cut in half to receive a refund.
  • For Repairs: Midea will either send a technician to repair the unit or provide a repair kit.
• Refund Processing Time:Midea estimates refunds will take 3-5 weeks to process.

Additional Information:

• If you choose to continue using the unit while awaiting repair, follow the inspection instructions on the Midea recall page.
• Midea also provides instructions on how to inspect your unit before continuing use.
• You can contact Midea at 888-345-025 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday with any questions.

AAC, I offered up the advice in general, not in relation to Midea's recall or any modification that may be involved thereof. Uncle's incident occurred more than 50 years ago.

Sorry, I am going to read every word of these posts, but I'm suddenly up to my eyeballs with things I have to pay attention to. I really appreciate the time and effort to help me out....and I will be back. Thanks...