Question:

Hi... I have been noticing a strange, "wet like" smell from the gas furnance...I live in a 8 story tower building and a 1 bedroom apartment.. I call the maintance guy and he changed the filter.. but it didn't go away.. he claimed that he couldn't smell it, but my 2 brothers came to visit me and when I opened the door the made a comment to "what a horrible smell"... I told them to smell the air coming from the ducts and they agree there was a "strange sweet" smell... I been having sinus problems and trouble with breathing cuz of this smell.. but I kept calling the maintaince guy for a weeks period-- he came out 4 times and each time told me "just spray lysol" in the air vents on the floor.. I did that and I got sicker..cuz the smell of lysol mixed with this "strange" smell was not very healthy.... so I did some research online one evening and found out about ac coils and possible mold build-up ...I call the maintaince guy again and told him I think the problems are with my coils.. but he started screaming that I am just crazy.. but agreed to come look at them... so he came with another guy and they opened the unit and the inside coil seemed clean.. and the drip pan was dry... I insisted they go outside and look at the coil out there cuz I read online that people could clean both the inside and outside coil when they have a musty odor.. but he argued with me that it is IMPOSSIBLE for the outside coil to influence the smell in my apartment, cuz he claimed that it is seperate from the system inside... I understood what he was saying, but I just need a solution.. so I made both those go outside on the patio and look at the unit... just as they were about to leave, I put my nose to the coil and told him "THAT IS THE SMELL THAT IS IN MY APARTMENT" he smelled it, but claimed it is totally impossible to have it travel inside to the air vents... he told me to turn on the AC and then we smelled the exhaust air coming out from outside and I excitely told him that "that is the smell.. but he conitued to tell me it is impossible for it to go inside.. the other guy with him described it as a "sweet" smell- just like my brother.... but he continued to deny it.. and told me that I was to sensitive to smells... I am so desperate to fix the problem, cuz my husbabnd and 6 month old son are overseas visiting his family in Jordan and I didn't want my baby to come back to an unhealthy environment (mold)... ironically the weather got cold when they left, and I started putting on the heat-- and that is when the smell appeared.... so I literally begged the maintaince guy to clean the outside coils-- they are rusy looking and very dusty and dirty... but he claimed he can't clean them cuz that is something that is not required with furanace maintainance.... finally he agreed to spray them with some "self-cleaning foam" spray for "coils"... well the smell actually dramatically inproved.... but I still think it needs to be sprayed a couple more times..... my question is... why did this smell appear all of the sudden? I lived here for 3 years and never had this before. And my other question is.. does a foam coil spray actually work to clean the outside coils or should it be cleaned with maybe bleach and water? What would have been a better approach to dealing with this "smell"-- is there something I can buy? Thank You for your help...

Answer:

Call a commerical duct cleaning business.

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