Furnace smells like cigarette

14 years ago

Hi,

My neighbors above me smoke and the odor is reeking into my unit through the furnace. My furnace smells like an ashtray. I notified the HOA and was informed that the association has no authority to tell people what they can and can't do inside of their home.

My question is how does the odor get into my furnace? I have a Carried air forced furnace. The building has 8 units total with two levels (4 on each). I am on the ground floor. My floor plan is the exact layout as above. My furnace has a giant pipe that connects to the ceiling and from there I assume it goes to my neighbor's furnace and eventually lead up the the attic (empty space) and outside. I am not sure what steps to take. Do I call a structure engineer or the pros that install heaters? I just need to talk to a professional so I can get back to my HOA to deal with the matter. Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Featured Answer

Larry Sneeringer

8 years ago

I know this thread was made several years ago but I am in a similar predicament and am looking for a solution.

At the moment I live in an apartment above a business. During the day the employees on the first floor smoke and use various chemicals involved in their work. During these days, if I open the closet in my apartment that houses my electric water heater I can smell a noticeable cigarette smell. There also seems to be a faint chemical smell as well. I have no idea how this happening, as the area where any smell would originate is not directly beneath me but sort of diagonally off to the left of me.

It may also be worth noting that a pink residue often forms in my shower, sink, and toilet, anywhere there is running water. Apparently this is fairly common but completely harmless and caused by a type of bacteria that forms when water sits in the tank for too long. It's possible that in the time between me and the former resident occupying the apartment that the water may have sat for some time. I'm not sure if this is contributing to what I perceive to be the chemical-like component of the odors emanating from the water heater. Still, it's an issue that I would also like to address.

I'm not very savvy when it comes to these kinds of things so any insight would be much appreciated.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

weedmeister
14 years ago
Is this unit inside or outside?

Is this gas or a heat pump?
Lexie76
Original Author
14 years ago
All the units have access to the outside. There is no hallway like an apartment complex. It is basically a big house (square divided into four units on each level). Each unit has its own furnace and water heater and they are inside of the unit.
Related Discussions
Cigarette smell and a new home
Q
Comments (45)
I am a smoker, but I don't smoke in my apartment. Former smokers and never been smokers tell me my apt. doesn't smell of smoke. This is what I did 1: Washed down the walls. I couldn't wash the ceilings, because they're that cardboard cheap stuff. The ceiling in my kitchen has been painted over, but none of the others have. 2: Washed in hot water and bleach, or simply got rid of any and all curtains. Disposed of all blinds too. (They were cheap, so it didn't matter, if you have expensive blinds that are made of plastic you could probably wash them down with hot water. 3: Sniffed around my place a lot and ran around with a bottle of Dawn power dissolve. Honestly, that stuff worked fantastic for the little corners and things I found where the smell would linger. I also used several bottles cleaning all around my windows, in the little cracks, etc. I always made sure to do this on warm days so I could keep the windows open 4: Speaking of windows, when I was home, I lived without the AC, bought a bunch of cheap box fans, and ran them in reverse in every room I could. When I wasn't home, I ran the dehumidifier. The problem with cig. smoke is that it's sticky. (Smoke from various illegal substances is even worse, I know this because the people who lived here before us smoked a lot of that) The moment any moisture gets in, it mixes with any dried sticky smoke and hydrates it, making it much smellier. The humidifier dried it up. 5: Again, washed down the walls, after several months of "Fan when home, humidifier when not" 6: Scrubbed bathroom tile with Dawn power dissolve and then used a Clorox bleach pen on the grout. 7: Bought a shark floor steamer and washed the kitchen floor quite often. That eliminated the need for any harsh floor detergent. Distilled water works the best in one of those, and you can get a gallon of the stuff for about a buck. It worked wonderful, especially getting into the little cracks. 8: For the carpeted floors? (which is everything but the kitchen and bathroom) I knew that would be a problem, so I just went crazy on it. Made carpet freshener from baking soda. For every box, I mixed a half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Try this before you do it yourself, because some people find that even that little can make them sneeze. I took each room, one at a time, pulled the furniture out, sprinkled the carpet freshener liberally around the room and left it. Preferably, I did this when we were going out for a few hours. When I came home I vacuumed. Did this with each room about three times, then I would... 9: Rent a carpet steamer (Or, call a professional, but renting was cheaper) steam cleaned the carpets. 10: Continued to vacuum and use my home made freshener whenever possible. Didn't move all the heavy furniture out of the way anymore though, unless it was spring/fall cleaning. Just vacuumed as I normally do, but used the freshener. 11: Put boxes of baking soda into all closets and in cabinets. (after cleaning them, of course) Since doors and cabinets are kept shut, it's hard for them to be aired out. The baking soda helped a lot. Also, if I could I kept the doors open. The biggest problem? People who came over started griping that they could smell the cat's litter boxes, when they never had before. So, we learned to changed them the moment someone came over. (Not that we don't changed them a lot anyway, but we'd go to the extra effort) and also switched to a sawdust type litter that works better than any litter I've ever tried at covering up the smell with a natural scent (pine or cedar) No, I didn't use baking soda in the litter box, never found it helped all that much. I do put a layer of newspaper on the bottom though, to help absorb the urine. Since I use the newspaper for compost, (only for non edible gardening) I never felt guilty about using it for the cats. And, my cat box is 12 years old and the bottom looks brand new.
...See More
How to remove cigarette smell?
Q
Comments (3)
I know people who have put pans of vinegar on the registers if they are in the floor so it slowly evaporates. I don't care about the smell of vinegar but it does work to neutralize the odors. One other and faster option is called Ozium. Wal-mart and some auto parts stores carry it. The original scent is the only one that works well with bad odors so don't bother with any other scents. I will warn you it is overpowering but dies down to a clean tolerable scent. Turn the heat/air off and FAN on and spray in the air return and give the filter a good spritzing. The rest I would spray the carpet lightly and spray the walls around the windows especially if the previous owners had drapes which are magnets for smoke and hold it close so it permeates the walls. I would do a combination ozium and vinegar attack. Eventually you will win the war. I used to work at a dealership years ago that used a small bottle of ozium on smokers trade ins and sprayed under the seat, the headliner under the visors and in the vents and after the can was all gone shut the car and leave it for 24 hours. One treatment on a hot summer day would pretty much eat any odor. Here is a link that might be useful: Ozium ORIGINAL scent only
...See More
Stale cigarette smoke smell on hot days
Q
Comments (5)
Thanks for the input. I called a duct cleaning company, and they were very helpful. First, they wanted me to check the cold air returns to see if there was any dust in them. I checked, and not only is there dust, but it is sticky matted dust which I think might be the culprit. So, I have scheduled a duct cleaning. Another thing they suggested was to get my furnace coils cleaned, so they will examine them also, and clean if necessary. They would have suggested this option first if I hadn't found evidence of the ducts needing to be cleaned, since coil cleaning is less expensive. Lastly, they did warn that a duct cleaning won't help if the odor has bonded with the metal of the ductwork. For that, they recommended I contact ServPro who can perform an ozone treatment. Hopefully, though, the duct and coil cleanings will be enough.
...See More
need advice on lingering cigarette smoke smell after 1 year
Q
Comments (9)
The previous owner of our house smoked. I kept getting a whiff of smoke every once in a while. Turns out it was the light bulbs in one of the closets. You really do need to wash down each and every surface. Priming and repainting will seal any smells on the walls if that is where they are coming from. You could also look into having a company come in and run an ozone machine.
...See More
creek_side
14 years ago
Something is wrong. You obviously know that. If you are 100% certain that the smoke smell is coming from the furnace, then it is likely a faulty installation of some sort. It will take a home inspector, or more likely an HVAC professional, to figure out exactly what it is.

There is a possibility that the smoke smell is an indicator of a non-code compliant situation that constitutes a fire hazard. You could try calling the fire department. Tell them about the smell and ask is they can send a Fire Marshall over to do a fire safety inspection. That shouldn't cost anything and may provide you with useful information.

Keep us posted.
weedmeister
14 years ago
By 'unit' I meant 'A/C furnace unit', not your apartment.

I'm thinking that this might be a gas-fired furnace unit and that it has a fresh-air intake, and that your upstairs neighbors have been flicking their cigarette butts down near this intake and the smoke is getting inside somehow.
creek_side
14 years ago
If the smell that is coming from the registers is entering the fresh air intake of a gas furnace, it would probably mean a seriously cracked heat exchanger. That's life threatening.

If you do have gas heat and don't have a carbon monoxide detector, you should call an HVAC pro immediately. In fact, you should run out and buy a detector right now.
Lexie76
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you for your input.

The furnace is inside of my condo. It is outside of my bedroom, next to the dinning room. My guess is the people above are smoking in their dinning room and it is right next to the crawl space with an opening. My water heater and furnace sit about 2-3 feet above the ground. Underneath it is an open area covered by a vent cover. If the furnace takes in air from there then it definitely take in all their smoke. I don't know how the odor would end up in my furnace unless the pipe is connected.

There is a big pipe suspended from my ceiling behind my water heater. The pipe is around 7" in diameter and it does not go all the way to the floor where the heater sits. If the pipe does not go through their unit to the outside, then the smoke is definitely penetrating to my unit from this pipe. This pipe is not connected to my heater or water heater. I detect an odor from my furnace every time I turn it on. If you have a gas air forced furnace, do you smell anything at all? I am going to my neighbor's tomorrow night. She lives in the same complex to see the pipes in her unit and also sniff her heater. She lives on the second level.

I have a carbon monoxide unit. Whew!!
creek_side
14 years ago
You shouldn't smell anything when the furnace runs.
Lexie76
Original Author
14 years ago
I called several state agencies (public health dept included) and was told I need to talk to read my contract and talk to my HOA. There is not anything that they can do.

Despite the call from my HOA to the landlord I can still smell cigarette smoke. I talked to various people. One of my co workers think our cold air returns are right next to each other. I don't know that they are but even if they are right next to each other they should be for cold air, not contaminated air?

My neighbor on the top level (not the smokers) showed me her mechanical room and there no pipes from the ground unit going through her unit so I can conclude that my pipes go through their unit and out the attic or roof.

I turned my heater off since since 6am today. It did not have a smell this morning. I just smelled it and I detect an odor even though my heater has been off!!!! The odor is coming through the cracks or vents?

My neighbor also saw the neighbor next to me smoking in the mechanical room that houses all the water meters for our building. Could it be coming from there even though they are next to me? I am going to reseal around the pipes and see if it helps and if it doesn't, I am calling a contractor to find out the source once and for all. In the meantime I am spending $900 on the IQair Health Pro :(

Furnace smells like cigarette

Larry Sneeringer

Comments (9)

weedmeister

Lexie76
Original Author

Related Discussions

creek_side

weedmeister

creek_side

Lexie76
Original Author

creek_side

Lexie76
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Furnace smells like cigarette

Larry Sneeringer

Comments (9)

weedmeister

Lexie76Original Author

Related Discussions

creek_side

weedmeister

creek_side

Lexie76Original Author

creek_side

Lexie76Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Lexie76
Original Author

Lexie76
Original Author

Lexie76
Original Author