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my apartment stinks? hvac?

Christ_empowered

Christ_empowered

Member
i know, nothing really Christianity or church-related, here, but...

I don't get it? no rotting food, etc. (I may not be the neatest person, ever, but...its not that bad...), and...yeah. Its sort of like a methane-y smell, but I don't have a gasoline-powered...anything, honestly. all I can come up with is I had to turn the heat up to 70, for the first time recently (had been at 68), and until recently, I could leave a window open during much of the day, many if not most, days, and just run the fans.

could that be it? paranoid as this may sound, my mind --immediately-- ran to some sort of deliberate prank or...something...and I can't come up with anything, honestly. I keep the door locked. I think that way because I'm -not- well-liked, and last year, around this time...I forgot to lock the door, took a nap, woke up, and there was a dead rat in my bath tub. i don't have rats. oh, and...there was excrement on my front area, and animals don't come this way, ever. that was well over 1 year ago, though, so...I dunno.

this place is owned by my parents (condo-type set up), but there are a lot of units being rented out all over the complex. I just...don't know, don't know. this is not good.

i hope i don't have to call my parents about this, i really don't want to. thanks. :)
 
Does it smell like sewer maybe? Do you have a floor drain or other drain that is not used much if at all? If so, maybe the water trap (goose neck) is dry and you're getting sewer gas backing up into the home. Fix that by just pouring some water down the drain.

Another possibility is there should be a drain system vent outside on the roof. The purpose of this is to vent sewer gases outside and prevent water from being syphoned out of water traps. If that is plugged it could be causing sewer gases to back up as well.
 
thank you, very much, WIP . seriously.

I didn't know...what to do, hence the borderline paranoid post. I mean...my place is clean, if a bit cluttered at times, so...stench? not ok.

the weather was cold-ish for this area, for this time of year...but still, I turned off the heat, turned on the fans, and opened a back window. I kept it open till it got down to a tad less than 40 outside and the thermostat read 65 (I get kinda cold at that point, plus I have house plants....), and then I sealed it back up, turned the heat on, and...

-no stench- , this AM. yay! which is good all around, especially since it was a bit below 30 this AM, so more ventilating via a window or 2 was -not- a viable option.

I'm still trying to figure it out, honestly. I have 2 bathrooms...both are clean, neither seem to be emitting any stench thru drains or anything. The garbage disposal is running smoothly, maybe I should get something specifically designed to clean it, thoroughly? As it is now, I just a lot of hot water, add a lot of dish detergent, and then run the disposal, and...yeah, ok, domestic stuff, seems to keep it going smoothly.

the -1- odd thing i came up with was...Febreze air freshener, gone terribly wrong? I'm not super fond of air freshener, but I live right up on a lil corner of a lake, and....well, it doesn't make -stench- , but there's something of a smell, associated with that, at times. so...I got a econo-pack of the Febreze stuff at sam's, and I liked it, I mean...no overpowering scent, really the place just smelled -normal- , with a touch of added fragrance, until...

it smelled gross, and I dunno. I dunno, I dunno, I dunno.

The HVAC unit is under a maintenance deal with a local HVAC company...dude comes out, 3-4 times per year, makes sure its running and not about to explode or anything, life goes on. Maybe they should have cleaned it or...something? I read on The Google that bacteria can build up in parts of some units, and then turning on the heat can make it worse, not better, because the heat pumps get hot enough to promote proliferation, not nearly hot enough to kill the bacteria. could that be it? maybe? air filter is fairly new(ish), no probs there.

ramble, ramble...

seriously, thanks again, WIP .
 
The first thing I thought of was the drains. If the smell comes back I would put some bleach down all your drains and run some hot water down them. See if that helps. You could pur some disinfectant down the following day.
Have you been vacuuming recently? If so that can cause smells if it needs a clean out even if it is empty.
If you have your heating on all the time I would leave a small dish of water out in your living room to prevent your apartment from being too dry.
Dettol make a good air freshener.
 
hey, Tessa . thank you!

I need to get to mopping. I have...some kind of I think vinyl or linoleum floor in most of the place, dyed brown to look wood-ish. not fancy, but...man oh man, its easy to maintain, and it seems to be virtually -indestructible- , so...yay! for whatever reason(s), these units usually have carpet, and...wow. to me, that seems like a -bad- idea (moisture, maintenance), but...ok. rambling...I'll get to sweeping and then mopping, asap.

the dish of water in the living room is an -excellent- idea, and thank you. I do have one big rug/carpet thing, for decoration, and...yeah, I'll vacuum. :)

air freshener...-eek- ... mama gifted me this new fangled 'aromatherapy' thing...its nice, runs on a battery, emits steam with fragrance on some pre-set internal clock/schedule...maybe it mixed poorly with the Febreze spray? i mean...I dunno. the odor was...unpleasant, and I started kind of sniffling, minor headache...maybe it was chemical-overload, in a small place? -sigh-

ok. thanks again, Tessa . :)
 
Your floor covering sounds nice. Remember to soak your mop in bleach and water afteroppomg. Just for a couple of hours , no longer.
I used to love aromatherapy. Better than air freshener.
Good luck sorting it out :)
 
Christ_empowered said:
i know, nothing really Christianity or church-related, here, but...

I don't get it? no rotting food, etc. (I may not be the neatest person, ever, but...its not that bad...), and...yeah. Its sort of like a methane-y smell, but I don't have a gasoline-powered...anything, honestly. all I can come up with is I had to turn the heat up to 70, for the first time recently (had been at 68), and until recently, I could leave a window open during much of the day, many if not most, days, and just run the fans.

could that be it? paranoid as this may sound, my mind --immediately-- ran to some sort of deliberate prank or...something...and I can't come up with anything, honestly. I keep the door locked. I think that way because I'm -not- well-liked, and last year, around this time...I forgot to lock the door, took a nap, woke up, and there was a dead rat in my bath tub. i don't have rats. oh, and...there was excrement on my front area, and animals don't come this way, ever. that was well over 1 year ago, though, so...I dunno.

this place is owned by my parents (condo-type set up), but there are a lot of units being rented out all over the complex. I just...don't know, don't know. this is not good.

i hope i don't have to call my parents about this, i really don't want to. thanks. :)
Click to expand...
Check your heaters filter.
Look inside the furnace for dead bugs, or even a mouse.

A recent leak under a sink produced an horrible odor that required me to replace the bottom of that cabinet to get rid of the smell.
 
Tessa said:
The first thing I thought of was the drains. If the smell comes back I would put some bleach down all your drains and run some hot water down them. See if that helps. You could pur some disinfectant down the following day.
Have you been vacuuming recently? If so that can cause smells if it needs a clean out even if it is empty.
If you have your heating on all the time I would leave a small dish of water out in your living room to prevent your apartment from being too dry.
Dettol make a good air freshener.
Click to expand...
...and keep the "plug" inserted when not in use !
 
WIP said:
Does it smell like sewer maybe? Do you have a floor drain or other drain that is not used much if at all? If so, maybe the water trap (goose neck) is dry and you're getting sewer gas backing up into the home. Fix that by just pouring some water down the drain.

Another possibility is there should be a drain system vent outside on the roof. The purpose of this is to vent sewer gases outside and prevent water from being syphoned out of water traps. If that is plugged it could be causing sewer gases to back up as well.
Click to expand...

You beat me too it!

Nice.
 
Christ_empowered said:
thank you, very much, WIP . seriously.

I didn't know...what to do, hence the borderline paranoid post. I mean...my place is clean, if a bit cluttered at times, so...stench? not ok.

the weather was cold-ish for this area, for this time of year...but still, I turned off the heat, turned on the fans, and opened a back window. I kept it open till it got down to a tad less than 40 outside and the thermostat read 65 (I get kinda cold at that point, plus I have house plants....), and then I sealed it back up, turned the heat on, and...

-no stench- , this AM. yay! which is good all around, especially since it was a bit below 30 this AM, so more ventilating via a window or 2 was -not- a viable option.

I'm still trying to figure it out, honestly. I have 2 bathrooms...both are clean, neither seem to be emitting any stench thru drains or anything. The garbage disposal is running smoothly, maybe I should get something specifically designed to clean it, thoroughly? As it is now, I just a lot of hot water, add a lot of dish detergent, and then run the disposal, and...yeah, ok, domestic stuff, seems to keep it going smoothly.

the -1- odd thing i came up with was...Febreze air freshener, gone terribly wrong? I'm not super fond of air freshener, but I live right up on a lil corner of a lake, and....well, it doesn't make -stench- , but there's something of a smell, associated with that, at times. so...I got a econo-pack of the Febreze stuff at sam's, and I liked it, I mean...no overpowering scent, really the place just smelled -normal- , with a touch of added fragrance, until...

it smelled gross, and I dunno. I dunno, I dunno, I dunno.

The HVAC unit is under a maintenance deal with a local HVAC company...dude comes out, 3-4 times per year, makes sure its running and not about to explode or anything, life goes on. Maybe they should have cleaned it or...something? I read on The Google that bacteria can build up in parts of some units, and then turning on the heat can make it worse, not better, because the heat pumps get hot enough to promote proliferation, not nearly hot enough to kill the bacteria. could that be it? maybe? air filter is fairly new(ish), no probs there.

ramble, ramble...

seriously, thanks again, WIP .
Click to expand...

Maybe dead rat in the wall.
 
So you have a heat pump and it finally got chilly enough for you to turn it up some and then you got a smell...right?

I really need to know what is the backup heat for this system? A gas furnace or an electric furnace? It could be as simple as, it was the first time the furnace fired up this year so many of them will accrue dust over the off season and the first time it fires up for the year it will burn it off of the heat exchanger and put off an odor...and then will disappear until next year.

It could also be a nasty a/c coil that has been collecting sludge for a long time and when you fire up that furnace it starts cooking slime soup. But if it was that bad then the smell prolly wouldn't go away, lol.

Cleaning out your garbage disposal is as cheap and easy as buying a fresh box of salt and run it down the drain with the water running and the disposer on. Not all at once, just steadily until all of it is gone. Salt is cheap.
Baking soda is a cheap cleaner and deodorizer. Instead of paying 9 or 10 bucks for carpet deodorizer just use (what is in the carpet stuff anyway) a box of regular Baking Soda and sprinkle it all over the carpets and let it sit for a hour or three and then vacuum it up. Freshens up the carpet
 
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