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Does A/C encourage mold growth?

I think I'm being sold bunk by a mold company, but not sure.

We live in the tropics, we recently had our bathroom ceiling flood due to a burst pipe, and went away immediately after. (the landlord had the bathroom ceiling removed a bit under a week into our holiday)

Before we left, we called a mold control company and said we were going to leave the A/C on to keep the humidity down to prevent mold growth (we have a new A/C, very efficient, was going to keep it on the lowest setting just to dry the air a bit, so the energy usage would not have been a concern). They said not to do that. They're the "experts" so we followed their advice.

When we returned, the apartment had bloomed (literally bloomed) with mold.

Our landlord now is saying that this is because we use the A/C a lot (we don't), and need to open the unit windows more, and buy a dehumidifier. If we actually did use the A/C a lot, wouldn't the cooling and drying of the air have prevented the mold growth more than opening the unit?

We live next to a rainforest, so I would've thought that opening the unit would invite spores and damp air in rather than prevent mold?

ChristopherJ
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