air con sanitizers and cabin filters

[steve12345]

Not specifically a GTI question but I'll try my luck for some opinions anyways.

My mums car (SEAT Ibiza) has pretty much sat un-used on the drive way for months while we been locked down etc. The other day I went round and thought I'd start it up, only to find mould all over the place. The passenger seat, was particularly bad however there were spots all over. I even found it on the seat belt when I pulled it out!

I got a professional detailer around to give it a deep clean, he wasn't surprised due to the lack of use and said this wasn't the worst he had seen either. Anyways car looks good as new now, however I'm still paranoid so I've picked up a air con sanitizer and new cabin filter.

I've seen a few instructions online suggesting to replace the filter first and then use the air con sanitizer, some the other way round. So not sure what's optimal.

I wanted to take the old filter out and then blast the air con cleaner through the system without a filter in place. Once the system is "cleaned" I'll fit the new filter. My logic being I don't want to clean the system with a "contaminated" filter in place, that could just spread the germs / bacteria around even more. However I'm not sure if its safe to run the air con without the filter in place?

Am I thinking into this too much?

Any advise would be appreciated - thanks in advance!

[Finglonga]

PersonallyI would remove the old filter, use the sanitiser  then put the new filter in. In a couple of weeks of use I would swap the filter again just in case some spores survived.

[willni]

Why not save yourself the effort and ask the detailer if they provide an Ozone car treatment service? Kills most bacteria and germs, then whack a new filter in after.

Edit - Ozone treatments are much stronger and much more thorough than the cans you pick up from halfords.

[steve12345]

Thanks for the tips.

Took the old filter out and ran the air con sanitizer through the system and then installed the new filter. All seems fine, time will tell if the mould returns. Unfortunately the car will struggle to get regular use, pre covid my mum barely did 1k per year and now its even less.

Will see how that goes, I may get the DIY Ozone treatment or similar, there's quite a few about out there and give that a go in a few weeks.

Thanks for now!

[baka]

Hopefully, we won't have to leave our cars on the drive for that long again, but if you do these are really handy:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ANSIO-Interior-Dehumidifier-Condensation-Dehumidifiers/dp/B01C6V5IVG