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I felt this question would be most appropriate for this forum, although I do live in an apartment room.
In one bedroom only of the apartment, there is a sickly sweet almost chemical-like odor that reminds me strongly of soymilk. It began after the vent in only that room stopped working for approximately 15 minutes, despite indoor temperatures being several degrees higher than the thermostat setting. The rest of the vents worked fine. It returned to normal function after the 15 minutes of being turned off, but now has the sickly sweet smell. Are there any ideas on what this problem could be?
Additionally, the A/C has been running nonstop due to the heat recently, and I am wondering if this is causing some of the problems I am experiencing. Thank you.
I felt this question would be most appropriate for this forum, although I do live in an apartment room.
First question- What is your occupation?
In one bedroom only of the apartment, there is a sickly sweet almost chemical-like odor that reminds me strongly of soymilk. It began after the vent in only that room stopped working for approximately 15 minutes, (does it smell like cheap cologne?) despite indoor temperatures being several degrees higher than the thermostat setting. The rest of the vents worked fine. It returned to normal function after the 15 minutes of being turned off, but now has the sickly sweet smell. Are there any ideas on what this problem could be?
FBI, CIA, NSA, DoD, Special Forces/ other clandestine groups/organizations, or a neighbor disconnected the vent momentarily to plant a camera/listening device (refer to "first question").
Additionally, the A/C has been running nonstop due to the heat recently, and I am wondering if this is causing some of the problems I am experiencing. Thank you.
The heat could be having an effect on your psyche- who knows?
Maybe it's just a figmentation of your imagination!
I don't think it is the smell of a dead animal, as it is rather sweet. Nor has the smell altered in 7 days, although it appears to be transient based on the time of day. Hmmm.
To the second post, as I am not a criminal, this is really not a serious suggestion. The smell is not as chemical in nature as colognes, but perhaps it is antifreeze leaking?
I don't think it is the smell of a dead animal, as it is rather sweet. Nor has the smell altered in 7 days, although it appears to be transient based on the time of day. Hmmm.
To the second post, as I am not a criminal, this is really not a serious suggestion. The smell is not as chemical in nature as colognes, but perhaps it is antifreeze leaking?
There shouldn't be antifreeze in your system.
Have you noticed it lose cooling capacity besides the airflow to one room? It's possible that you're leaking refrigerant in your coil and the coil was freezing causing a loss of airflow which will tend to affect vents the furthest away from the air handler the worst.
There really is no way for us to diagnose this without pics and a lot more information. You could be onto something with the antifreeze idea if the building uses a chiller. Highly unusual, yes, but possible. In any event, you need to notify the landlord.
In a building cooled with a chiller, there are coolant pipes and the main unit transfers heat out of an antifreeze solution or a saline solution in those pipes. The pipes are insulated and various areas have radiators that tap into the flow. Malls and hospitals may be more likely to use these. The advantage is the use of water evaporation for cheap cooling boost on the hot side, and some seriously humongous compressors that can be more efficient. In cold weather, the pipes serve heated water to the various areas.
Just a FWIW, mating roaches give off an odor somewhat like you describe. Bedbugs give a sweet almost cherry odor. The roach smell is usually transient, and with bedbugs you would have welts and sleeping problems.
Im having that same sweet smelly smell and it stared after I got cable in my apart this smell has landed me in the ER four times with chest pains high blood presure stomach pains and even made my friend sick too .iv had firer dep out health dep and all they say it a sweet smell.but this sweet smell is afecting my health in bad way help.at night it get worst to the point where it wakes me up
Last edited by My lady1957; 12-17-2014 at 09:52 PM..
Reason: Misspelling
My money is riding on the fact you have a newer unit that uses Puron as a refrigerant. I'd certainly ask about it. The symptoms for exposure to Puron gas in an enclosed structure is loss of coordination, symptoms of asphyxiation, nausea, increased heart rate, deep respiration and cardiac arrhythmia. Some of the Puron Gases have a sweet odor added to detect a leak. I would strongly suggest having the unit checked for leaks immediately or move out until it's fixed. Yes, this can be a life threatening condition depending on your health. I'm not a fan of the Puron units at all. The early units, the gas smelled like ammonia and would knock you smooth out if you got enough of it. Puron gas is also known as R-410A refrigerant. Here's an MSDS on one brand of Puron http://www.refrigerants.com/MSDS/r410A.pdf
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