We moved into an office building on Sept 1, 2018. Sometime in January, I noticed I had been coughing and clearing my throught regularly for no apparent reason (no cold/flu) and I wasn't even sure when it started. It progressed and eventually I went to the doctor on Feb 8 and she prescribed an asthma inhaler. Bingo... cough immediately stopped.

So then I started connecting the dots on possible causes and I remembered my new desk sits under this behemoth HVAC system and it is 30 years old! In September we had tons of A/C problems and the repair people were out on a regular basis. That's how I found out its so old. But look at this picture. It's also filthy:

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We are going to approach the landlord to do something, but we're not sure how seriously they will take the complaint. Firstly my boss is going to do a DIY mold test. He looked around for a broader air-quality DIY test, but couldn't find one. We could look harder perhaps. Or hire someone. But that costs more money and the landlord should be paying. And can these professional companies be completely trusted? They likely want remediation business.

So a couple of questions, especially if any professional HVAC people monitor these forums:

1. is it correct installation for a vent and a return to be right next to each other?

2. Is it correct to assume that sitting right under those is affecting my air quality? What about the entire office? (about 2000 sf)

3. is airduct cleaning a viable option? I know there are a lot of scams done. I read a thread about doing that in an office and they said the mess left behind was bad and needed 2 days of cleaning.

4. are filters for 30 year old systems readily available? How often should they typically be changed?

5. would a desktop or even room size air purifier do any good competing with a large return/vent in the same vicinity as me? I would guess the HVAC would win the contest over any floor or desk appliance.

6. Is the visible black on the grids normal dirt? or more suspicious?

Also, before we moved in there was a leak in one of the nearby ceiling tiles from A/C condensation They fixed it and replaced the stained tile. I vaguely recall there were more stained tiles that got replaced too, but I'm not positive. This puts me on alert for mold potential. But my boss said he looked around above the tiles and didn't see any.

Help!!!

What are you working on?

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