Mold inside the OTA
Hi everyone, I am a newbie to astronomy and just bought a new 10" GSO dob from Andrews (GS-880 Limited version). I set it all up yesterday only to find that inside the OTA there's a serious mold problem. There are white mold spots all around the surface and around the middle and towards the primary mirror there's a large concentration of it (I would say most of the bottom half is covered in this white mold). I only noticed this after shining a flashlight inside. I have read that this could spread to the primary mirror (it does not look like there's mold on the primary mirror looking from the top) and ruin it. I don't think I could reach it all to clean it completely off and I highly doubt cleaning would make it go away permanently in any case because there's so much of it and it has spread all around the inside of the OTA. I just wanted to get some advice before I contact them on what I should do. Should I post it back and get it replaced? Has any one had any experience with Andrews getting OTAs replaced and do they pay for return postage?
Thanks in advance.
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