hi all. the past couple of days i’ve been noticing a weird musty sort of smell in my room, and i think i’ve narrowed it down to my aircon unit. i tried to open the top hatch to take a look and accidentally knocked it onto the 内部クリーン (internal cleaning) setting, and soon after the smell worsened.
i live in a student dorm, so i can’t really do anything super in depth, but is there anything i can do to clean it myself before asking for help? i also want to make completely sure that’s actually the problem before asking. how exactly do i open the top hatch (i’m scared to break it by using force), and what are some signs of something being amiss inside there? for reference, it’s a mitsubishi electric unit. TIA!
edit: i think it smells a little better since using the cleaning setting, but i’m not sure if that’s just because i’ve gotten used to it lol
4 comments
It’s the moisture inside the AC being blown out and recycled back into the room, increasing the humidity and giving you that funky smell, self cleaning mode will do this as it works by expunging moisture inside to stop mold buildup. What you can do yourself for cleaning is basically just the filters at the front, which might help, but a deep clean in the unit will need a professional.
You can buy some aircon cleaner spray, and spray it all over the fin stack which is behind those filters. After doing that, I’d stick the unit on dehumidify mode and it should be fine. Even if your unit is clean, it can start to stink if you set the temperature too high sometimes as it stops cooling (reaches equilibrium with current temperature) and just starts to blow out all the moisture built up inside. To combat this, lower the temperature some more, and again you can use the dehumidify mode.
If you don’t know how to open your unit, I’m assuming that means you’ve never cleaned it.
It should have mesh filters in there that you’re meant to remove and clean every few weeks. I had a friend that didn’t know this, and when i brought up cleaning mine we opened his together. His filters were slimy with a thick brown-black mould.
Google the model number of your unit to find out how to open it. If the number isn’t on the unit, it’ll be on the remote control.
Can you see mold spots inside? Just remember that the cleaning setting only prevents mold, it cannot get rid of mold. The smell is likely either just moisture and humidity building up inside from not being cleaned, or actual mold already growing inside.
You need to regularly clean your aircon unit. It’s a quick Google to learn how.