Return Air Duct Smell

The odor goes away during the winter because the heated air rushing through the ducts dries up the moisture.

Return air duct smell. If every room seems to have a musty odor the issue might be with your return ducts. In addition winter air is naturally lower in humidity so molds and mildews grow. It may be impossible to find the cause without a snaking camera system however. Is the smell coming from a specific vent or is it distributed throughout the home.

If you cannot determine from where the smell is coming call an air duct cleaning company and have your ductwork inspected. You may smell heating combustion flue gases. Mold may grow inside return air ducts and air flowing through the ducts will carry the musty odor to your rooms. This is a particular issue with bathrooms and kitchens.

This part of your ductwork feeds air from your home back through your heating and cooling system to be cooled down once more. They can assist you in finding the exact cause of your odor problem and take measures to get it resolved. If you notice a musty or moldy smell that goes away when you are not using your air conditioning or heating if they share ducts that can narrow the cause down to mold in your hvac system. An unusual or musty odor is often the first sign of mold in air ducts or in air vents.

Either way it s supposed to make. Musty smells may cause headaches or aggravate health issues such as asthma or allergies. When the return duct is leaky it can suck air from the crawlspace when the air is being pulled to the unit. In many cases you ll smell it before you can see it.

How to get rid of the smell of mildew from a central air conditioner. When the supply ducts are leaky they can actually suck air in through the venturi effect. Air conditioning particularly central air is a luxury for some and a necessity to others. Removing a smell from an air duct is not an easy process if you do not know where the odor originates.

Cleaning the ducts will eliminate the smell but it is important to remove the odor permanently by finding the source of the mold or mildew. But if combustion gases from a heating or hot water system or possibly a wood stove or coal stove are not being safely vented to outdoors you may smell other telltale products of combustion including those gases entering the duct system either through a leak in the heat exchanger or by return air. If the smell wasn t coming from the air conditioning unit then it may be coming from any part of the duct system. How to install duct filter pads.

The next best thing to eliminate the smell is by using duct filter pads. I had the smell abd taste for about a half hour or more.