A usual shopper of our Heating and A/C contractor called about a terrible smell coming out of their ductwork, however i was dispatched out for a ductwork cleaning and possibly an entire Heating and A/C cleaning, traditionally, I have discovered that when your Heating and A/C system is putting out a poor smell it can be anything from mold to a dead creature that chewed its way into your ductwork and died.
I was happy to find that the source of the stench was not a dead creature and it was a little bit peculiar than expected.
The vent was not covered in the living room and our customers four year seasoned child had apparently been throwing food down into the ductwork. The parents had no system that the boy was doing this although they did say they make him clean his plate every meal. I suppose there is more than 1 way to clean a plate and there was now a few months worth of old, moldy food in the ductwork… Of course I had to clean it all out. The smell was pretty poor too; maybe even worse than dead creature smell. The scented candles that the family had put around did little to nothing to help with the stench. They told me they had been trying to find the smell for a few weeks before they finally tighted it down to the Heating and A/C system. I was able to clean out the ductwork entirely wonderful and I also installed a charcoal, baking tea filters to help with any lingering scents. I also put a new cover over the vent in the living room although I advocated that the child’s seat be moved away from the vent anyhow… He could still put food down the ductwork if he wanted to with the vent on it.