Why is there a funny smell coming from my air conditioner?
Question:This only happens in the summer time when I turn on the air conditioner. Occasionally, the smell of wet socks? or stagnant water? wet dog? comes from the air vents when I have the air conditioning on.
Does anyone know why this is happening and how I can make it stop?
Answers:
Most of the above answers are true. You do have a mold or mildew problem. This is attirbuted by two things first and foremost, your current AC system is under performing the de-humidification within your home. Second, that humidity is becoming trapped within your ductwork. It will sit and stagnate and thus cause a mildewing of your system. When your system starts up again it then blows the mildew spores throught your home thus creating the smell. I would suggest a duct cleaning and even a maintenance check on your AC system.
Its the smell of Freon. Some idiots when I was growing up would put it in a small paper bag and start huffing. One of them died from his lungs collapsing from the heaviness of the gas.
Hello
I would imagine there is water built up inside the unit that has become stagnant and stale. The best way to avoid this is making sure the air conditioner is tilted slightly downwards out the window so all the water can drain out. Also the filter may be jam packed full of lint and moist ensuring a rather rancid smell. They are usually fairly easy to clean. Goodluck
Greenman
They sell a product that you can use but I find that spraying Lysol in the vents really helps.
Chances are it's mold that has built up in the air-conditioner ductwork. Try this: Turn on your air-conditioner, and spray Lysol spray into the intake of the air-conditioner. Do that for about a week, once a day. That ought to kill the mold and get rid of the problem. It may come back again later due to the peculiarities of the system, so just repeat if necessary.
I assume you mean in your car, right? I have heard that condensation can form inside the compressor during use. Then you turn the car off and it sits there in the heat, never completely drying up before you use it again. The smell is bacteria from the mold that starts to form. It pretty much has to dry completely to stop . I have heard that running the heater or fan w/o air for a short time after you park and before you shut off the car may help. I know that going to the dealership and paying to have deoderiser run into it does not help for long and is expensive.
Under normal operation an air conditioner creates condensation.This water evaporates or drips harmlessly to the ground through a drain hole.If this drain gets clogged,usually by dust or dirt,the water will remain in the unit.
this standing water can cause mold and mildew to grow inside the a/c unit.It not only smells bad but can also be harmfull to Your respiratory tract.
Unit must be opened and thoroughly cleaned.
You have scumy water pooling somewhere in your AC system, probably coming off the condenser. You need to have it serviced. Specifically the water drained and the contaminated parts bleached or replaced. Then, you need it reassembled so water no longer collects in the AC unit.
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