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After I posted this thread, someone suggested that formaldehyde *had* to be the issue, even if the mobile homes were gutted. Of the six I have looked at over approximately 10 years, all but one had been gutted and renovated. The ductwork and cladding must have never been changed.
And larger critters too. While working at a remote office I lived in an on-site single-wide that also housed a skunk. My boss warned me about running into a skunk in the dark, but they thought it only lived UNDER the trailer or the attached deck. One morning while sitting in the bathroom I heard what I thought were mice scrabbling toward the vent in the floor next to the throne. Next thing I know, a black and white face was peering up at me through the grille. There was a tense silent moment, then the air literally exploded with stink. You could see the fumes. It was also dead of winter, about 28 F, but it took days with fans and open windows for the place to be habitable again. At least my employer paid to get all my clothes cleaned.
A couple of nights later I trapped the skunk in a garbage bag-covered HavaHart trap, threw it in the back of an suspension-free 4X4 pickup, and drove that intruder miles down the roughest road I could find before releasing it. Didn't want him to ever attempt to find his way home.
Hopefully THAT wasn't the source of the smell OP!
Wow! You are a compassionate lady. Yes, I do believe that, let's say a combination of organic matter, make unprotected ductwork particularly iffy. If you add to that a trailer lived in by cigarette smokers...I've seen some ducts used as ashtrays.
A trailer can NEVER been made into a modular house. A modular house is built in a factory to national building code, transported in pieces, and attached to a foundation. Modular houses are built to the same code as a stick built house. Trailers are manufactured homes which are built to HUD standards....two totally different things.
Financing them is different. You can't put a manufactured home anywhere....many towns and counties have very strict laws on them. Modular homes can usually be built anywhere. A manufactured home could be moved again. A modular home can't as it's all assembled and attached to the foundation.
I knew the difference but just wanted to state how thoroughly one trailer owner had gutted his mobile home. I've seen modular homes I think are more desirable than homes built-on-site.
It's been a rental. All the ductwork doesn't look like that.
All of my tenants in mobile homes sweep garbage into the heater vents. When they move out, I vacuum whatever is loose, spray orange cleaner into the vent and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Then I wipe them clean. Dirt and yuck (including a layer of hair and often including food items) never extends more than a few inches beyond the vent cover. From down at floor level, you can see the rest of the ductwork is fine.
It's been a rental. All the ductwork doesn't look like that.
All of my tenants in mobile homes sweep garbage into the heater vents. When they move out, I vacuum whatever is loose, spray orange cleaner into the vent and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Then I wipe them clean. Dirt and yuck (including a layer of hair and often including food items) never extends more than a few inches beyond the vent cover. From down at floor level, you can see the rest of the ductwork is fine.
Your tenants are lucky!
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