Question—we get a smell from a closet in one room—we feel it is coming from the attic (the only time we get this smell is when the furnace or air conditioner is OFF). There is no force air circulation going on.
At first we thought is was a dead animal however each year the smell comes back.. After searching on the internet our attic insulation might be causing the problem.
NNZ or N7Z; are these products you can spray? Secondly if I can spray it – can I spray it on attic insulation?
Do you think it would help or rather replace the insulation? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
There is most likely one of two contributing factors responsible for this odor issue. The first place to look would be the insulation. Most materials used for insulation can in fact harbor and hold odor. This odor would not be noticeable when the air flow is “out” of the living space. But as soon as the air flow is neutral (like when the furnace blower is off), the smell will reappear.
The second likely culprit could be the duct work or filters in the furnace. At some point something could have gotten in there leading to an odor which again will only be detectable when air flow is neutral.
Though replacing your insulation is an option, it would first be quite expensive and without knowing for sure whether it’s at fault, a risky way to attempt solving this matter without first doing a some more testing to better identify the source. I suggest treating the insulation with either the NNZ or N7Z to see if it helps or has no impact. If it doesn’t help, you’ll know for sure the insulation isn’t involved and at that time could move on attempting to locate the real source. This would avoid the cost of both removing and replacing said insulation.
And though spraying either up in the attic is an option, I recommend applying the product with one of our B&G FOGGING MACHINES. You can either purchase the unit or rent it. Rentals are good for 2 weeks of use so you’d have access to the unit for plenty of time to see if the targeted area you treat is involved. Misting is a much better way to get uniform coverage. Plus it removes the risk of “pooling” the spray which can leak down to the living spaces causing other issues that would have to be repaired.
If the insulation isn’t the source, I would then recommend fogging the intake vent for the furnace. You would want to do this when the unit is on. A light mist being “sucked” into the vent won’t have an impact on the furnace or duct work but if the source of the odor is inside, the odor neutralizer will readily remove most if not all of it. After misting it for a minute or two, you would then shut the unit down and see if the odor comes back or has been weakened by the treatment. If it’s been weakened, you can then proceed to treat the duct work more thoroughly with the goal to be getting it well enough treated so the odor is rendered undetectable.
Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:
NNZ: http://www.bugspraycart.com/sanitizer/liquid/nnz-64-oz
N7C: http://www.bugspraycart.com/sanitizer/liquid/n-7c-64-oz
Fogging Machine: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/foggers/bg-my-t-lite-2300-120-v
Fogging Machine Rental: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/rental/fogging-machine-rental-2-weeks
Leave a Reply