Hi,

Never used this site, but it's a last ditch effort. We've had our heating ducts blown twice, and we are continuing to get this horrendous smell of "poop" coming out of them. It is only coming from three out of 9 vents. Anyone ever delt with this before?

Go to the source. Where does "poop" reside? Suspect a leak in a drain pipe probably in the area of the 3 vents that have the odor

First, check where is your condensation line connected to.

Some HVAC contractors have a bad habit of connecting condensation lines to vents inside attic or to drains behind trap. Both of these installations are wrong, health hazard, against the Code and should be immediately corrected. When your central HVAC unit activates, it draws sewer gas into duct system and distributes it through out the house.

Milo's on to something. In my area we have had AC guys connect the condensate drain from a attic air handler to a plumbing roof vent. Which is just dandy for the AC guy but leaves the home owner with a direct connection to the city sewer allowing sewer gas to enter. Let us know what you find out. Good luck, Tom

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Originally Posted by indigowater

Hi,

Never used this site, but it's a last ditch effort. We've had our heating ducts blown twice, and we are continuing to get this horrendous smell of "poop" coming out of them. It is only coming from three out of 9 vents. Anyone ever delt with this before?

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Does your furnace have a drain on it? Is it traped? Check the ac drain for a trap.

Totally agree with everybody and suspect that the drain from the air handler was plumbed into the sewer system which is illegal.

During the summer the trap dries out and pumps nasty smelling sewer gas into the living space.

That condensate line should drain outside and be trapped.

A quick fix until you get it fixed is to fill the trap with vegetable oil.

Look at the air handler. Usually there is a small diameter plastic pipe below the AC coil.

Find the air handler.
Then find the lines that head to the outside unit.
Start looking for a plastic pipe within a foot of that area. Usually it's on the same side. See where that line goes.

It could be close to a damp french drain because sometimes that's where it's plumbed. This isn't normally a problem unless the area is wet.

If it's an attic unit, the line should dump outside.

In a worst case, you may have to add a condensate pump with an overflow switch in the plenum in case it fails.

In all cases there should be a p-trap and a way of cleaning the line.

If you need an example I can take a pic of one.