My daughters hvac system is in the basement 16" from floor drain. Could this be cause of grandsons asthma like symptom, constant colds,breathing problems?

Bacteria and mold along with other nasty stuff can accumulate around a floor drain and pipe. If the furnace return air is bringing in some of the above floor drain there could be a problem BUT there are many other causes associated with your grandsons problems that could be located in the home. If affordable get a house air analysis done by a local professional and at that time see what is available for air cleaning and filter usage.

A solution of chlorox and water put down and around the drain will kill most of the nastys just becareful during the application. I usually use a pressure sprayer and a lite mix of 10% bleach to 90%water for this application and repete at least 2X on the next 2 days to be sure and get it all.

As an Asthma and allergy sufferer, it's important to know the triggers, so testing is in order.

Once testing is done, you can determine if indoor or outdoor allergies are to blame and develop the approprite mechanisms to make it easier on the grandson.

Don't start throwing money at the problem until the problem is identified.

Molds do grow in the HVAC coil and UV lights can be installed to help remove them.

Filters such as the Aprilaire 5000, which I have are composed of a LARGE pleated filter and electrostatic grid. The HVAC system monitors the pressure difference across the filter which indicates it's time to change it.

Doing all those things won't help much if the allergy is to dust mites, for example.

The first clues are when does he suffer the most? Inside, where inside, outside, what season, months, what's the weather doing, pets, etc,

If you can provide that, I'll make some guesses.

See if know or can find the Asthma trigger. Mine is weather.

If it's this time of year, I'll give my general recommendations:

1. Always wear the right jacket and dress in layers
2. Don't let dirty hands touch ANY of the mucous membranes.
3. Wash hands frequently
4. Breathe through your nose, especially when it's raining or in crowded places such as elevators.
5. Use Saline nose spray as often as you need to.
6. Use a Saline rinse like Neilmed sinus rinse as often as you need to.

You can also go to National and Local Weather Forecast, Hurricane, Radar and Report (http://www.weather.com) and monitor the pollen counts and air quality for your area.

Don't hesitate to come back.

You could have a great deal of allergens accumulated in the equipment and/or duct system. If this is a serious problem, a professional inspection would definitely be in order.

As odd as this may seem, this is far from being a strange question in the field of HVAC. Simply put, it is not always the individual that is sick but rather the home. When it comes to indoor air quality, make sure that your filters are high efficiency filters and that they are being changed out periodically. In addition you may want to installing a quality dual ultra-violet lamp in your home comfort system but make sure you have a complete and thorough analysis of your home comfort system before you have something like this installed.

Sincerely,

Robert Villalobos
HVAC Professional