Do you have an odor coming from your HVAC events in today's video I Want to talk about a number of different odors? maybe what their causes could be and what you as the consumer can do about these smells? I'm assuming if you found this video you smell something and you want to find out what that is and what you need to do. Who am I my name is Josh I Host the HVAC Guide for homeowners YouTube channel Let's dive into this and let's talk first about some of the smells you could be smelling first. If you're smelling some sort of smoke smell like a smoky smell What? I would describe this as is like dust burning type smell. It's not a pleasant smell and usually if it's temporary.

in a lot of cases, your heat has just turned on for the first time and that odor should dissipate in the next 10 to 30 minutes. If it doesn't dissipate, keep an eye on your heating and air system. There may be a bigger issue and you may need to call a professional number two a rotten egg type smell and what this in a lot of cases, if it's almost smells like rotten eggs, It's actually an odor that's been added to gas. So if you have an LP gas or natural gas leak, those can sometimes smell like rotten eggs and that's a big problem if that is a smell you're smelling.

in a lot of cases, you need to take action quickly. You need to open Windows in your home. You need to evacuate your home and you need to either call a professional or maybe the fire department to make sure that everything is safe in your home. Gas leaks are no joke, and if you don't take drastic action, there is a big safety issue there.

Number three: a dead animal type smell. If this is a smell you're smelling, there is a possibility. It's not unheard of for animals to have climbed into your ductwork and unfortunately passed away. So if that's an odor you think you could be smelling coming through the vents, you need to have the duct work inspected.

Usually a good visual inspection and maybe a professional running a camera through your ductwork finding out if everything is okay. Possibly a duct cleaning may need to be done if they do find something. or in some cases in drastic cases you may need to replace the ductwork entirely. Sometimes the infestation of rodents or other types of Critters getting in there.

it's just too much to just do. A simple repair and a full replacement is necessary. at least a partial replacement of the ductwork. Next is an odor we call the Dirty Sock Syndrome an odor that you're only going to smell in certain times of the year and really only in certain parts of the country.

And we did a whole video years ago. It was one of my first videos that I did called The Dirty Sock syndrome and I'm going to put that up here. But ultimately, if you have the Dirty Sock syndrome happening, it's usually an issue of some type with the evaporator coil. A stagnant water type smell could be causing it and we've even seen The Dirty Sock syndrome happen on brain brand new systems.

There's a number of things you can do such as installing UV lights on there and possibly running an extended fan run time to dry out that coil every time the air conditioning turns on. Next, how about a moldy or mildew type odor coming from your ductwork? There is a possibility if things were not installed properly or maintained properly or you have other issues going on in your home for mold or mildew to develop in your ductwork. We did a whole video on just that issue alone that will also be up here in that video. We go deep into the issues, what you can do about it.

Check that video out if you think you could have mold in your ductwork. Ultimately, if that's the problem in a lot of cases, it may warrant fixing the actual problem and then replacing the ductwork. I Don't think there's any Duct Cleaning company out there that can fully guarantee that they removed every mold Spore out of that ductwork. Next, a burning type smell.

And this is unlike the smell of smoke like we were described grabbing earlier. This would be more like burning plastic or some other burning type odor. Burning odor smelling almost like fumes coming out type smell. If you smell something like that, you probably want to shut your system down immediately.

There's a possibility that if it hasn't already shut down already, in some cases, when we smell those types of smells, it actually has some sort of electrical component or some other component in your heating and air system that is failing or has failed. And if you continue to try to run that system, it could cause bigger issues including a fire. So I would shut the system down immediately and call a professional. If turning off the system does not make the odor dissipate in a reasonable amount of time, then it may be a good idea to call the fire department.

Burning smells are no joke. I'm not saying you need to call the fire department in every little situation, certainly if it's not a real emergency. However, I would hate for you to just ignore the smell and it not go away. and then something actually happened the next one.

Some folks call this almost like a sweet smell. What we've noticed is it's one of those things that people describe it in different ways. It reminds me of cilantro. So I have friends that they cannot stand the taste of cilantro.

It tastes like soap to them. whereas for me, cilantro does not taste like soap. It's quite delicious And so that's how I would describe this next odor where some folks do not smell it as necessarily a sweet smell, they might almost even describe it as a chemical smell. Where other folks will say it almost smells sweet like a pastry or something.

it's hard to describe and a lot of times if that's what you're smelling, you may have a refrigerant leak. What you're actually smelling could be refrigerant or some other chemical in that system that is causing that odor. Again, if that's the problem, turn the system off, Call a professional and let's make sure that what you're breathing and what you're smelling is safe for you to be breathing and smelling. And then finally, do you have an odor that you're smelling that may maybe I have not described.

Let's talk real quick about a few things that you can do. regardless. if it's an odor that I've already gone over or an odor that I have not. Of course there's a long list of things that you could be smelling out there and maybe I just did not touch on it yet.

The first thing is, what can you do and that is, find out what is causing the odor and that may seem obvious. But what I mean by that is, don't just throw mud on the wall, Don't just buy products that say they remove odors, Don't just put a carbon filter in there. For example, find out what that root problem is. That way you can figure out if that can be eliminated at least temporarily, if not permanently.

Some of these issues we've talked about: Finding the root cause of the problem is not just a an issue of whether or not you want to continue to smell the smell that you're smelling, but it also could be a safety issue. Find the root of the issue. Eliminate it, or fix it. So that way, whatever's causing it is now remedied.

But let's just say you did eliminate it. You did find the root calls, but there's still a lingering odor. Or there's still some reason you're just not comfortable. You know you want to figure out what's a way you can inhibit these odors, or what's a way that you can just simply remove them entirely.

And there are a few products on the market. The first one that I would like to go over is Daikin's Air Purifier Machine. And the reason I like this product is it combines carbon filtration HEPA filtration which is way more than most heating and air systems can even handle and UV light air cleaning capabilities all while testing the air. And the other cool thing about this machine is you can purchase it yourself if you want to receive 10 off.

Click the link down in our description. but this is a product that you can buy directly from the website. You don't have to buy it from a contractor, you don't have to pay too much for it, and in a lot of cases you're saving money from installing all of those products that we just talked about. all these different filtration, all this different air cleaning technology.

all of it is in this one unit and you saved money from having install all of that in your air handler or furnace. So click that link down below. The next thing you can do is install UV lights or some sort of air purification in your heating and air system. So for example, if you did have say mold or something else going on in the air handler, maybe an evaporator coil that keeps having odors and things like that.

installing UV Lights sanitizing everything that that light hits could take care of your issue. in fact I Like having a light on the return side of the evaporator coil. and if possible, if money allows if the customer can afford it, installing one on the supply side of the evaporator coil too, and as much of that light shining on the primary drain pan, it'll keep that primary drain pan that air flows across completely sanitize and then of course the coil itself. You're not having all of the issues that we've already described I'll put a link in in the description also to a UV light that you can purchase yourself, but I will say in most cases you might want to hire a professional to install that UV light if you don't know what you're doing aside from the air cleaning products out there.

filtration UV lights. another thing you can do is have your ductwork clean. We already talked about it. If you were to have some sort of Critter die in your ductwork, you might have to have your ductwork cleaned, but sometimes just removing all of the dust dirt.

whatever. Having those ducts properly cleaned is something that may remedy your issue if you've never had it done before or you've never at least had someone inspect your ductwork. having a camera run down them. having them inspected could possibly take care of your issue.

It depends on which one of the odors you're getting obviously. And then finally, I want to wrap up with a product that I think that if you have any sort of gas burning Appliance in your home, whether it's a furnace or some other gas burning Appliance I Think that every home should have a carbon monoxide detector and I would not go to bed tonight without one. If you have any gas burning appliances in your home now, you might say well, Josh carbon monoxide is odorless and you would be right. but I just wanted to touch on that because whether you smell an odor or not, that's how big of a deal it is.

I'd go out tonight and get one, but if you want to order it, I will put a link down in the description of my favorite one so you can order it that way. All that said, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Did I not cover an odor that you're smelling? Or maybe we didn't quite cover a good solution. Some of these mold issues that we touched on in this other video and highlighted in this video.

Some of those can be quite tricky getting to the root of the problem and remedying it permanently. A lot of folks have breathing issues and a lot of folks whether they have breathing issues or not. If they don't address some of these concerns, it can cause issues. So comment down below.

I'd love to hear that. Thanks for watching. If you like this video, click this video here. It's where I share three secrets that a lot of Heating and Air Guys in our industry don't even want you to know.

Thanks for watching. Hit that subscribe button. We'll see you next time.