Smelly Toshiba

[NewmanRef]

Hi guys,

First call this morning to a smelly floor chassis unit (installed about 18 months ago). On arrival find that we are the 3rd contractor to be called in. Unit is stand alone in a bespoke boxing with no ducting on or off and no fresh air on.

Last contractor to visit has applied some good old smelly Jelly, which the customer has removed themselves as it smelt worse than the original 'musty smell'. As the unit has been used in heating jelly has run into coil and coated.

I spent an hour and a half this morning stripping down the unit and thoroughly washing coil with evap clean then rinsing through with clean water. Wash out drip tray and short drain into pump. Check unit for any foreign bodies that could have caused original smell.

Run the unit up, and leave smelling fresh as daisy (with a slight hint of coil clean). As the office is empty for rest of day advise customer to leave unit running in cooling to help rinse coil further. Customer smiling

Just put the phone down to customer- smell has returned and apparently stronger than ever??? Now a mixture of must and urinal biscuit apparently!

Any ideas?

[Tayters]

Had a little look into this myself a while back. General theory seems to be perfumes/aftershaves/carpet rubber/VOC's in the air settling on coil and causing the smell.

As to how to get rid of it not sure. More fresh air?

Given up on using evap coil cleaner for real musty units. Found a strip down then scrub up with Flash or Dettol better. Got the antibacterial stuff and smells of lemons after. Oh, cheaper too!

Cheers,
Andy.

[sedgy]

hi newmanref,
the only way a smell can contaminate , is when the condense drain pipe has no pee trap of its dried out or the air flow is sucking the water back into the unit , or the airflow is too strong and blowing the con , water away leaving the drain pipe to let in drain smells , = sedgy

[The Viking]

Did you check where the condensate drain went to?

Have seen it in the past where the condensate drain is piped in to the foul drain either without a trap or with a trap that dries out when the unit is in heating mode...

[NewmanRef]

Thanks for the replies chaps,

It's definitely not a drain issue. Drain is literally straight out of unit and into tank pump within bespoke housing.

Will probably go down Andy's Flash route tomorrow and tell the guy to ease off the BRUT!

Will try opening the fresh air damper into the room a bit more also. Any particular variety of Flash you would recommend? back to site in morning.

Thanks,
Rob

[install monkey]

last resort of gettin shut of that cat piss/sweat it 2 cans of grease gobbler- run it in cooling- open windows and get an apprentice to bladder it in the stuff- if it takes a few hrs to be able to walk in the room without asphixiation issues you can rest assured it aint gonna smell again ever

[frank]

Any particular variety of Flash you would recommend? back to site in morning.

Thanks,
Rob

The only one I have found to work and rely on is Flash with Bleach.

We buy it by the box at the local 'Macro' type warehouse

[install monkey]

shake n vac and febreeze

[Brian_UK]

Also the Dettol spray is good.

[install monkey]

deep heat - clears ur nostrils too- just dont have a wee without wearing gloves

[NewmanRef]

deep heat - clears ur nostrils too- just dont have a wee without wearing gloves

Made that mistake years ago when living at her parents. The now mother in law walked in on me bathing nob in sink.... Bad times.

[NewmanRef]

Thanks for all the advice fellas. Will arm my myself with multiple product and take on the beast...

[install monkey]

maybe she heard you clanking all the pots in the sink!- should have used the bathroom sink! haha

Made that mistake years ago when living at her parents. The now mother in law walked in on me bathing nob in sink.... Bad times.

[NewmanRef]

maybe... Should at least have moved the dishes first! He he

[install monkey]

stick it in the freezer and push the door switch in to run the fan

maybe... Should at least have moved the dishes first! He he

[NewmanRef]

Think I found the route of the problem today to be a non drying carpet tile adhesive. In this particular office the unit obviously went in before the floor and so the tiles finish just inside the boxing. Noticed that one tiles was starting to lift. Feel underneath and find adhesive still tacky and almost wet. Smell fingers- hmm smells like the room. Ask customer if they have had a water leak on the unit? No, the tile adhesive is non drying to allow for easy tile change. Check several other offices and they all have floor finished back to wall, under unit.

Seal up the floor with some temporary cardboard and duct tape, hammer the coil with flash, leave smelling good, no call back so far.....

[install monkey]

wont be the adhesive- i refer to your first post where u said it stunk of piss- tacky flooring adhesive is odorless once applied- u sure you customer isnt pissing on the carpet??- maybe sleep weeing- or hole from pipework not sealed,gutters overflowing-roof leaking down cavity-underground drain colapsing due to tree roots

[frank]

Think I found the route of the problem today to be a non drying carpet tile adhesive. In this particular office the unit obviously went in before the floor and so the tiles finish just inside the boxing.

That brings back memories of nuisance call outs to the Security Offices of a city centre shopping centre which had a VRV installed and a refrigerant leak detector system.

After the third call out, I traced the fault to the new carpet tile adhesive, which caused my 'fridge sniffer' to go ape.

Solved the issue by disabling the leak detector system until the 'newness' wore off

[billywizz]

Just an idea but you say this unit has bespoke boxing? Might be worth checking that the discharge air is not short cycling inside the boxing and causing slight icing up. Had similar problems over the years with no apparent cause with units on low fan speed, set to cold, in cold weather and no head pressure control.