Strange sweet smell coming from air conditioner

[COboondocker]

Our A/C (coleman-mach) has a strange smell, kind of sweet, almost like some type of aerosol spray lube. I can't quite put my finger on it but my wife thought it smelled like freon. I can't recall the smell of freon so I don't know but it is cooling just fine. I've run it for days hoping the smell would dissipate but it hasn't. Suggestions?

[COboondocker]

Well the smell came back the next morning but we figured it out. The opening cut for the AC wasn't sealed and there was a delamination so it was pulling a bunch of air from in between the the layers of fiberglass. Gorilla taped it up and all is better...with the AC at least.

[Golden_HVAC]

Glad that you found the problem.

Once I found bees flying into a hole in a building, and they had to come out and spray it to kill the bees. I guess they left the honeycombs inside the walls.

Honey does not decompose.

Fred.

[COboondocker]

well i found a huge wasp nest up there and took it out. opened everything up, no smell. closed everything up, ran it, faint smell for just a second then gone. i really can't see a wasp nest causing that smell but i didn't change or remove anything else...

[John_Joey]

When you go searching, watch out for hornets or bees.

[2oldman]

You may have already done this:

Google: your question

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Yeah, I had one in the heater blower of the toad. It got musical as well as aromatic when I switched on the fan.

[COboondocker]

Definitely not a dead mouse. That smell I know all too well.

[Jack_Diane_Free]

Sounds to me like it could be a decomposing dead mouse.

[COboondocker]

dougrainer wrote:
If you had a Freon/410 leak bad enough for you to smell it inside, it would then NOT cool. You state it has cooled correctly for a few days. They only hold 1 lb. of coolant, and if a leak bad enough to smell inside, it would not have enough coolant to continue cooling. Something else is causing that smell. Check the upper unit condenser and evap for foreign debris. Doug

Thanks, I'll get up there tonight and check.

[dougrainer]

If you had a Freon/410 leak bad enough for you to smell it inside, it would then NOT cool. You state it has cooled correctly for a few days. They only hold 1 lb. of coolant, and if a leak bad enough to smell inside, it would not have enough coolant to continue cooling. Something else is causing that smell. Check the upper unit condenser and evap for foreign debris. Doug

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Many Freon lubricants emit a sweet odor. If your A/C is cooling properly it cannot be that. Check for oil seepage at a return line connections.

[fla-gypsy]

When an AC ices up it sometimes will have an unusual smell. Just my experience.

[COboondocker]

rockhillmanor wrote:
A fridge going bad will emit an ammonia smell. If its just starting to go you may not get the whole strong in your face wiff of it. And that is what you are smelling.

That's what happened to me it wasn't the whole ammonia smell in your face and I thought it smelled like an aerosol too. Sadly the fridge might be on its way out.

hmm, i know ammonia and this didn't remind me of that at all... not as pungent, no watery eyes or difficulty breathing. And by fridge you mean A/C, right? The thing can't be more than a year old, hope it's not going out already.

[rockhillmanor]

A fridge going bad will emit an ammonia smell. If its just starting to go you may not get the whole strong in your face wiff of it. And that is what you are smelling.

That's what happened to me it wasn't the whole ammonia smell in your face and I thought it smelled like an aerosol too. Sadly the fridge might be on its way out.