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Heating & Air Conditioning

help w/ smell when AC/Heat is on

17 years ago

When the AC/heat is on, I can smell vitamins or a medecine smell coming out of the ducts. Ducts have all been cleaned this year. I have had this problem since I bought the house. The basement has a stonger smell of vitamins. That's where I suspect the smell is coming from. I have looked everywhere. I wonder what this could be, how can I get rid of it?

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Comments (5)

fairyprincess
17 years ago
Jazzfox:

First thing you should check is your health.

Get a complete physical and tell your doctor about the smells you sense and the conditions under which you smell them.

Often times odd smells can be an indicator of a health and/or physical injuries or problems, and that should be looked at first.

If you had said "musty" smell, that would be consistent with conditions sometimes found in ductwork and basements.

A "vitamin" smell is not consistent with heating/cooling problems especially since most vitamins have no or little smell.

Good luck!

Fairyprincess
vstech
17 years ago
hmm, which type of vitamin are you smelling? C type vitamins or dolomite type vitamins? better description of the smell is needed. it's possible that the a/c unit has chlorine tablets in the pan, giving off the smell, it's also possible that your wife stores the laundry detergent near the furnace, making the smell waft into the ducts.
John
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No, no. I'll try to be clearer. The Trane AC system was put in in May of 2104. I also, at that time, had a new furnace, also a Trane, put in. The ductwork did not change and was the same ductwork that connected to the furnace before this installation of AC and the new furnace. There was no AC prior to my having it installed in May 2014. The first time I turned the system on after installation, there was a very loud explosion. Long story short, it was the coil on the AC and it had split at the seam. This caused the AC to not cool the house last summer. HVAC guy got the new part last summer and fixed that and then the AC system cooling did work. But it was also stinking up the house. Don't know how to describe the smell. HVAC guy send some guys out to look at the ductwork for leaks and they said it all looked good, didn't find any leaks. We did seal up a very old vent on the duct (??not sure of the word) that rises above the furnace as we thought that was the source). So everything is supposedly very well sealed, no leaks in the ductwork, and the weirdest and most telling clue is that there is NO smell when the heat is on, which I obviously had on all winter, but only when the AC is on, yet they both use the same duct and vent delivery system. I also have a very good dehumidifier in the basement, which runs 24/7 and drains automatically. The basement is very dry. If air was somehow being pulled in from the basement, would it also smell when the heat was on? Why would an evaporator coil have microbial growth on it when it's so new? Remember, this smell has gone on from the VERY start, upon installation.
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garyg
17 years ago
Or it is possible that someone who is in the Black Market for vitamins has stashed their stolen load in the ductwork or in the furnace. I would hire a vitamin-sniffing canine, turn him loose in the house, and see what he finds.
mr_havac
17 years ago
How do you know its vitamins you're smelling? Maybe its some illicit drug! Who'd you buy you house from? The ducts make a great stash but I think the goods are ruined. :-)
macbirch
17 years ago
I can't remember under what circumstances but I've smelled something that made me think of opening a bottle of tablets so I think I know the sort of smell you mean. I just don't know what it is and like I said, I can't remember where or when. Sorry I can't help.

Don't suppose your smell is only present when the booster element comes on? We experienced that. These things can be so frustrating.

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