Hi.
We have a bypass humidifier installed on the evaporator coil cabinet which sits on top of the furnace. The installation (previous homeowner) required cutting through the cabinet and also the foil faced fiberglass insulation inside. Just noticed that left the fiberglass pretty torn up around the cutout and a section (10-15 sq inches) had lost the foil facing.
To make matters worse some mold (not dirt) has appeared on the exposed fiberglass around the cutout.
Trying to figure out whether to replace the whole cabinet with the evaporator coil or try to remedy the situation.
The system is about 8 years old, Carrier Infinity I think. It’s in the basement.
Cons of Remedying:
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– disturbing fiberglass inside the cabinet – even though the loose/moldy fiberglass is limited to the just around the cutout for the humidifier, in order to remove it will need to cut through some of it which will release it inside the furnace and subsequently blow it around the house.
– dealing with remaining glued fiberglass – since the fiberglass itself is glued to the cabinet some of it will remain inside and be exposed. Taping over or sealing with some substance sound like potential solutions but not sure if there’s anything suitable and durable for this application given the temperatures coming out of the furnace.
– any remedy effort will happen through the humidifier cutout which makes for a pretty tight access and working space
Cons of Replacing:
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– cost, obviously
– not certain if humidifier can be installed any differently (there seem to be obstructions or tight space around the return plenum) so may end up facing the same situation. I guess we can replace with a cased coil which is not insulated, not sure what the downsides of that are
– mismatched by age system parts
– the hassle
I’ll admit I am probably more concerned than most folks about fiberglass being distributed around the house.
Just wanted to see if this is an obvious situation with a clearly better approach and if there’s some useful advice.
Thanks in advance.