TromboneAl
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2006
- Messages
- 12,880
A month ago DW and I heard a chewing noise coming from our forced air heating vents (in the floor). The next day I set out traps and caught two mice. I think I got them all, because no mice have been caught in the traps since then.
Looking into the registers, I saw some chewed up insulation. I pushed a vacuum hose in a few feet, and I could hear it suck up some stuff.
Now, I'm noticing a sweet "grain" type smell coming out of the ducts. It's not foul or objectionable, but it's a smell that I associate with rodents, and I don't like it. The stuff the vacuum pulled up smelled very strongly of this.
Note that we only run the furnace for about 10 minutes a month to keep things working. We use wood heat the rest of the time. However, air flows slowly out of the ducts all the time (cold air -- a separate problem).
Any suggestions on how to fix this?
Option 1 is to go into the claustrophobic, dirty crawlspace, unhook the vents and try to clean stuff out somehow.
Option 2 is to hire a duct cleaning company like TheFed's.
Option 3 is to run the heat, and hope that whatever smells will dry up and stop smelling.
Suggestions? Thanks!
Looking into the registers, I saw some chewed up insulation. I pushed a vacuum hose in a few feet, and I could hear it suck up some stuff.
Now, I'm noticing a sweet "grain" type smell coming out of the ducts. It's not foul or objectionable, but it's a smell that I associate with rodents, and I don't like it. The stuff the vacuum pulled up smelled very strongly of this.
Note that we only run the furnace for about 10 minutes a month to keep things working. We use wood heat the rest of the time. However, air flows slowly out of the ducts all the time (cold air -- a separate problem).
Any suggestions on how to fix this?
Option 1 is to go into the claustrophobic, dirty crawlspace, unhook the vents and try to clean stuff out somehow.
Option 2 is to hire a duct cleaning company like TheFed's.
Option 3 is to run the heat, and hope that whatever smells will dry up and stop smelling.
Suggestions? Thanks!