Contributor of numerous Tips.Net articles, Lee Wyatt is quickly becoming a regular "Jack of all trades." He is currently an independent contractor specializing in writing and editing. Contact him today for all of your writing and editing needs! Click here to contact. Learn more about Lee... Free Newsletter:Get tips like this every week in Cleaning Tips from Tips.Net. Enter your address and click "Subscribe." (Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.) Want to see what the newsletter looks like? View the most recent issue. Removing Bad Odors from Ducts Most home owners will experience a time in their life when they have some kind of strange and unidentified odor that comes from their air ducts. For most people, the first instinct is to call a professional duct cleaning service. Not only is this an expensive option, it is one that is completely unnecessary if you take the proper steps.Before you can actually begin removing bad odors from ducts, you will need to identify the source of the odor.

This means that you need to see if you can narrow down the cause of the odor. Is it due to an animal (such as a mouse) dying in the vents, maybe one of your pets relieved themselves on the ducts, or perhaps you have an old musty smell that is coming from your air system. Not only do you need to identify the source of the odor, you need to identify from where in the system the odor is coming from. This is done by simply going to the different vents in your home, and seeing which one has the strongest odor coming from it.how can you separate clean air from smokeThe simplest way to remove the odor of a dead animal from your air duct is to actually remove the animal first. nasa list air cleaning plantsLocate where the animal is located, and then remove it. spray gun washer parts

As stated above, you do this by going around and sniffing out the problem. Once you have located where the animal is located, be sure that you take the proper safety precautions in handling the critter. This means that you should be wearing (at the minimum) rubber gloves. Properly dispose of the dead animal, and then proceed with cleaning your air vents.When faced with a musty odor coming from your air ducts, there is one place that you should take a look at first before you take a look at anything else, and that is the air filter. If the air filter is dirty or smells musty itself, replace it and you should be finished. There are a couple of other things that you should check as well to make sure that you don't have any other problems, but this is usually the biggest cause. Also pour about a cupful of bleach into the drain that holds the condensation drippings from the air conditioner to kill off any algae or mold. Also, take a look at the outside unit to ensure that it is clear of any build up of dirt or vegetation, if it is not remove the obstructions and you should be fine.

The easiest way to identify where the pet urine entered the air ducts is by using an ultraviolet black light. Turn off the regular lights in the room, and then shine the black light near the vents, and any urine stains will simply glow in the dark. Part of removing the ad odor from the ducts will be, in this case, to also clean the area surrounding the vent. Do this by using a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. The reaction between these two elements will help pull out the urine, but make sure that it won't damage the material around the duct first. Unfortunately, the best way to remove the urine from the ducts themselves is by hiring a professional to go in and get rid of the stuff. They have the specialized equipment that is necessary to "scrub" out the interior of the ducts. Air Duct Cleaning Equipment The Power of Microfiber! Zwipes Microfiber Cleaning Cloths will become your favorite tool for every cleaning task. This 36-cloth package is perfect for hundreds of uses in the garage, kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and all around the house.

Each cloth is tough, streak-free, lint-free, reusable, and washable. Check out Microfiber Cleaning Cloths today! Leave your own comment: Comments for this tip: Helena    23 Jul 2016, 06:10 joyce small    02 Nov 2015, 14:04People often ask: “why does my house smell?” Often, this is during the winter because your house is sealed up for months, with little fresh air. In fact, with tight, energy efficient homes, this has become even more of an issue. It’s one of the reasons that there’s been a backlash against tight houses. #1 – your house might not be adequately ventilated First, let me address the energy efficient house issue. The problem is, many builders and architects don’t understand that a house is a complex system. You can’t just air-seal the house and have a healthy house. That’s why building best-practices call for a certain amount of fresh air circulation. So if you live in a tight house, you want to ensure you have adequate fresh air or your house will get stale and smell.

If you don’t know about HRV’s and ERV’s (heat recovery ventilators and energy recovery ventilators) read this short post. Every modern home should have one of these. Once you’ve lived with one, you’ll wonder how you managed without it. #2 – there might be a dead mouse/animal somewhere During the winter, mice and other critters want to come in from the cold and live in your home. In my area, the field mice flood in ever winter. This can be reduced by having a well sealed house, but they’re clever and they’ll find any little opening to get in. Invariably, some of these will die in your house, leading to a horrific smell. You’ll think the sewage lines are overflowing. The only solution is to take a good flashlight and follow your nose. But if you don’t track it down, you’ll have to live with the odor for months. Note: I’ve found many dead mice inside the air handlers (behind where the air filter goes). If the dead animal smell seems to be everywhere in the house, open the air handler and look for dead rodents.

#3 – sewer gases? Your drains might not be dried out or improperly vented We all know that stink. You’ll look suspiciously at the dog but you won’t find the ‘evidence’. Sometimes the smell will disappear, other times it will remain for days. You might be the victim of sewer gasses! In most homes, the problem may be as simple as a dried out sink trap. The sink trap is the little ‘U’ under the sink in the drain line. This is supposed to be filled with water. This acts as an odor plug that prevents gas in the drain lines from coming out the sink. If the trap is empty or too low, the odors in your drains, which are all connected together, waft out into your home, leading to the ungodly stink. If you discover that the odor comes from your drain, simply run the water for a few seconds to fill the trap. Once the odor has diminished, this should prevent more odors from coming back in. If the sink is in an infrequently used room, like a guest bathroom, the trap may be drying out by simple evaporation.

You can greatly reduce the evaporation by adding a teaspoon of vegetable oil to the trap after filling it up with water. Don’t run the water after doing this because that will flush out the oil. You want a thin layer of oil on the surface of the water to prevent evaporation. As a side note – if you plan on leaving your house for a while, like going on vacation, add some oil to every drain in the house to keep the traps from drying out. You’ll thank me when you return. Sometimes, the trap gets the water sucked out because the air vent is clogged or non-existent. You know those 2″ pipes that come out your roof? Those are connected to the drain lines. If you sniff them, which I don’t recommend(!), you’ll smell sewer gas. These allow the sewer gases to float up and away but they also allow the pressures in your drain lines to equalize so when you flush the toilet, or drain the tub, it doesn’t create a vacuum in the pipes which sucks the water out of the sink traps. You can hear it when this happens – other drains around the house might gurgle or toilets might mysteriously drain.

That’s indicative of bad drain line venting. If you have this, explain the problem to a plumber and have them fix it. This isn’t usually an issue that a homeowner can fix. #4 – is the smell coming from your air conditioner or furnace? There are a few possibilities here. Cat pee/urine/piss smell – typically, people associate ammonia with cat urine, so when they smell ammonia, they immediately scold the confused cat. Then, as the problem lingers, and they notice the smell coming from the ventilation ducts, they realize their error and start searching in the right place. Sometimes, it’s a mouse-house inside the air handling system. They love warm places and they urinate everywhere. So if the smell comes from one vent in particular, open the vent and check for shredded material or caches of food that indicate the mouse den then clean it up with a vacuum cleaner and some warm soap-water or baby-wipes. (pro-tip: baby wipes are great for cleaning just about everything!).

If the smell comes from everywhere in the house, rodents may be living in the air handler. Usually you can open up the air handler and look behind the air filter for signs of mice. You might also have tainted insulation. Some blown-in insulation products contained compounds that smell like this. Any leaks in the duct system allows those smells to be distributed throughout the house. You can easily determine this problem if you stick your head in the attic and sniff. If it smells the same, that’s your problem. See “Mystery smell” below for more on this. Musty/moldy smell – This one is usually much easier to find – this smell is associated with water/moisture in the system, leading to mold growth. When air blows through the system, it circulates the smell from the mold source and your entire house gets that musty smell. Mystery smell – dusty, “hot”, etc – Poke your head into the attic on a day when it’s hot up there and sniff. Does it smell like what’s coming out your vents?

If so, you’ve got leaky ducts, usually on the return (air intake) side of the system. This is really common – when your system runs, it sucks in air through the “air return” line. If there are any holes in that line, or in the attic mounted air handler, it will suck in dust and any odors from the attic and distribute that throughout the house. Solving this issue can be as simple as looking at the system in the attic and finding holes. Usually it’s not that simple and I recommend a professional come in with a “duct blaster” to test and seal your ducts. Sorry, but that’s the best and safest way to track these smells. If the problem is the normal, um, stinky bathroom, you need better ventilation. Most homes have exhaust fans in the bathrooms, but few work optimally. The first test is to put a sheet of paper or strips of tissue up to the fan. It should strongly suck the paper onto the vent when the fan runs. If it doesn’t, the fan doesn’t work properly. Most fans have too much duct attached which significantly diminishes the flow.

You want a short, direct path from the fan to the exhaust on your roof. I’ve seen people with 50 feet of duct connected to the fan, rendering it useless. Trust me on this, the shorter the better, and best to go straight up through the roof if the bathroom is right below the attic. You’ll want to invest in a high quality metal roof vent like this one. These last forever and are self flashing (minimizes the chance of roof leaks) and are easy to install. In addition, the fans only work if you use them. Let them run for at least 15 minutes after you “do the deed”. This is about how long most fans take to flush the stinky air out of the bathroom. Musty basements mean damp, moldy basements. If you’ve got a wet basement, you need to do whatever is necessary to keep it dry. I’ve written a lot on this, as have others. A damp basement is unhealthy and can lead to serious damage to your home to the point that it becomes structurally unsound. If you try to sell your home, it will be flagged by the home inspector and you’ll be forced to fix the problem.