Hello,
I have a weird issue that has been driving me nuts for more than 5 years.
I am now planning to sell my house in the spring and I worry the issue might affect the sale.
I apologize. It will be a little lenghty but there's so many clues I need to put out there and hopefully this board has a few Columbos that will enjoy trying to find the culprit :)
Here it goes.
Background info
- My house was built in 1999
- I have a new furnace and heatpump (3 years ago)
- Everything is electric
- I live in Montreal, Canada
A few years ago, I stupidly ran my humidifier too high for a whole winter. It is only late that winter that I noticed a lot of condensation in the windows. To the point where there were puddles on my window sills. I dried everything up and left it.
A little while later (maybe weeks ?), I happen to move some ceiling tiles in the basement and noticed a lot of water sitting in the insulation of one of the flexible ducts that connect the heat exchanger with the outside.
I immediately cut the plastic sheet and took all the water out and replaced a section of the insulation that got wet.
I think that ever since then, there's a weird smell in my house. It is very hard to describe as it smells a little different in the summer than in the winter. In the winter, I notice it when I first enter the house but you quickly get used to it. In the summer, when I run the AC, everything the heat pump kicks in, I feel the first few seconds of air that comes out of the vents carry that smell. In all cases, it almost smells like dirty feet, in the summer, a mix dirty feet and some food that got freezer burnt (like the inside of a freezer). It's not nausiating or anything. But it's definitely there. Not everybody notices either. Some say it just smells "like a basement"(whatever that means :)). Some notice a little something but can't quite describe it. Many think I'm just crazy (including my wife).
I also believe the smell originates from the basement and seeps through the house and perhaps gets pushed in the house when the system kicks in. It just smells more in the basement. (this is where all the ducts are).
Here is everthing I had done over the years to try to get to the source of it.
- New furnace
- New heatpump
- Duct cleaning
- Made sure all plumbing was in order
- New heat exchanger with new flexible ducts to the outside and to the furnace
- I opened the walls around my 2 bathroom windows to see if I could see anything and nothing came of it
- I had an air quality test done in the house and everything with regards to mold came back negative.
Here is what my main remaining suspicions (in order of likelyhood) are after years of research and investigation
- A section of about 12 feet of the plenum is insulated on the inside. I sometimes wonder if when the humidity was too high, it got wet and stayed wet for presumably a little while. I had a trap put in the plenum and took pictures (attached). I also pulled some insulation to smell and I can't say it was the obvious source. It of course is bone dry now but I wonder if it still could smell something from getting wet in the past (keep in mind, mold test was negative).
- It comes from around some of the windows, just not the 2 I checked (those bathrooms are not part of the main space and don't get services as much by the system.
- It's just something else completely not HVAC related that's going on in the basement...
Anybody here has any thoughts on all this ?
Thanks !!!
I have a weird issue that has been driving me nuts for more than 5 years.
I am now planning to sell my house in the spring and I worry the issue might affect the sale.
I apologize. It will be a little lenghty but there's so many clues I need to put out there and hopefully this board has a few Columbos that will enjoy trying to find the culprit :)
Here it goes.
Background info
- My house was built in 1999
- I have a new furnace and heatpump (3 years ago)
- Everything is electric
- I live in Montreal, Canada
A few years ago, I stupidly ran my humidifier too high for a whole winter. It is only late that winter that I noticed a lot of condensation in the windows. To the point where there were puddles on my window sills. I dried everything up and left it.
A little while later (maybe weeks ?), I happen to move some ceiling tiles in the basement and noticed a lot of water sitting in the insulation of one of the flexible ducts that connect the heat exchanger with the outside.
I immediately cut the plastic sheet and took all the water out and replaced a section of the insulation that got wet.
I think that ever since then, there's a weird smell in my house. It is very hard to describe as it smells a little different in the summer than in the winter. In the winter, I notice it when I first enter the house but you quickly get used to it. In the summer, when I run the AC, everything the heat pump kicks in, I feel the first few seconds of air that comes out of the vents carry that smell. In all cases, it almost smells like dirty feet, in the summer, a mix dirty feet and some food that got freezer burnt (like the inside of a freezer). It's not nausiating or anything. But it's definitely there. Not everybody notices either. Some say it just smells "like a basement"(whatever that means :)). Some notice a little something but can't quite describe it. Many think I'm just crazy (including my wife).
I also believe the smell originates from the basement and seeps through the house and perhaps gets pushed in the house when the system kicks in. It just smells more in the basement. (this is where all the ducts are).
Here is everthing I had done over the years to try to get to the source of it.
- New furnace
- New heatpump
- Duct cleaning
- Made sure all plumbing was in order
- New heat exchanger with new flexible ducts to the outside and to the furnace
- I opened the walls around my 2 bathroom windows to see if I could see anything and nothing came of it
- I had an air quality test done in the house and everything with regards to mold came back negative.
Here is what my main remaining suspicions (in order of likelyhood) are after years of research and investigation
- A section of about 12 feet of the plenum is insulated on the inside. I sometimes wonder if when the humidity was too high, it got wet and stayed wet for presumably a little while. I had a trap put in the plenum and took pictures (attached). I also pulled some insulation to smell and I can't say it was the obvious source. It of course is bone dry now but I wonder if it still could smell something from getting wet in the past (keep in mind, mold test was negative).
- It comes from around some of the windows, just not the 2 I checked (those bathrooms are not part of the main space and don't get services as much by the system.
- It's just something else completely not HVAC related that's going on in the basement...
Anybody here has any thoughts on all this ?
Thanks !!!
source https://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?2224055-Going-crazy-after-years-of-trying-to-find-my-issue&goto=newpost
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