Awful smell coming from my AC starting today

UnknownSaint

So this is new. This really sweet, heavy smell is coming out of the AC in my apartment starting about this morning. Smells like those old shitty Circus Peanut candy things, just much stronger and not nearly as pleasant.

Didn't rain anytime recently, never had any issues like this with the AC. Any thoughts?

Dunadan019

Its probably the coolant that you are smelling.

Is your AC on when it smells?

About how old is your AC?

Window mounted unit?

Does it still work?

Improvolone

Since it all of a sudden came about so strong, I would say it is not mold.
So say a lil prayer for that.

Kakodaimonos

That's the smell of death. Might be the smell of something that has crawled into your ducts and died. Probably a mouse or something like that. Call the maintenance people. Or wait for it to go away.

capnrico

I can't vouch for what death smells like but my first instinct from the thread title was definitely something dead in the unit.

UnknownSaint

Dunadan019 wrote: »

Its probably the coolant that you are smelling.

Is your AC on when it smells?

About how old is your AC?

Window mounted unit?

Does it still work?

Yeah only when it's on.

Not sure how old it is.

Not a window mounted unit.

Yes it still works great.

A Dabble Of Thelonius

Really sweet? I'd guess coolant leak.

UnknownSaint

Guhhhh. Turned my AC off for a few hours now, opened windows, cranked up all the fans, shut the vents, and the smell is still just as strong. Can't get my complex to look into it until tomorrow, as the unit is on the roof.

Reiten

Had this happen in a car once. It was a dead bat in the ventilation system. They can squeeze into anything.

TheRealBadger

Do you have any friends prone to practical jokes?

JaysonFour

Definately small dead animal in the vent. Not to mention A/C vents/units can be wet places. It's going to grow mold and gods only know WHAT else- disease, mold spores, etc. that's getting pumped into your apartment from this. This is a potential health risk, and needs to be taken care of NOW.

If you want it fixed ASAP, don't say "there's a weird smell coming out of my A/C." That can be blamed on anything from the outside air to anything pungent in your apartment. Instead, say "It smells like there is a dead animal in the A/C vents."

UnknownSaint

I'm pretty certain it isn't a dead animal. The AC was on full blast for a while when I was sitting here and then out of nowhere the smell hit pretty strong. Like I said, it's a sweet sort of chemical smell, so I'm believing the people that said it was coolant.

Taped over all the vents, shut the AC off, aired out my apartment all day. It's nearly undetectable now, and I'll have maintenance take a look at it tomorrow morning. (The AC unit is on the roof, so I can't inspect anything myself.)

I'll update as things go along or if I need anything else.