Ask Me Help Desk - Smell in attic and air conditioning

I am hoping someone can help me or point me to someone who can. We recently had a new roof put on our house and right after that we noticed a strong odor coming from the air conditioning vent in the upstairs. A little history first, last summer we had foam insulation installed in the attic, we removed some of the fiberglass insulation but not all of it. When they reroofed our house we had them close the ridge vent as it was not needed any longer.
The smell was so strong that we called the fire department(non-emergency) and they came over and walked through the house to make sure it wasn't toxic. To me the smell is sort of like kerosene but it can't be fuel related as we do not use kerosene in our house.
We have gone in the attic and retaped all of the intake vents to make sure as little of the attic air is getting in the system as possible but in the afternoon when it is really hot (in the 100's) the smell is overbearing.
We are at a loss as to what it can be any help would be greatly appreciated,

Quote:

Originally Posted by beachgirls4

I am hoping someone can help me or point me to someone who can. We recently had a new roof put on our house and right after that we noticed a strong odor coming from the air conditioning vent in the upstairs. A little history first, last summer we had foam insulation installed in the attic, we removed some of the fiberglass insulation but not all of it. When they reroofed our house we had them close the ridge vent as it was not needed any longer.
The smell was so strong that we called the fire department(non-emergency) and they came over and walked thru the house to make sure it wasn't toxic. To me the smell is sort of like kerosene but it can't be fuel related as we do not use kerosene in our house.
We have gone in the attic and retaped all of the intake vents to make sure as little of the attic air is getting in the system as possible but in the afternoon when it is really hot (in the 100's) the smell is overbearing.
We are at a loss as to what it can be any help would be greatly appreciated,

Which intake vents are you taping up.. and what kind of roof is this?

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoothy

Which intake vents are you taping up..and what kind of roof is this?

Shingle roof-Owen Corning I believe. We taped the vents that pull the air out of upstairs living space-intake vents to run through the system over coils to cool it and be sent back into living space.

OK, so its not a flat roof... and you aren't taping up the eve vents. Just wanted to be sure.

When they removed the ridge vent... I'm assuming it was determined there as sufficient air flow in and out to ventilate it correctly. And that's not as dumb as you might think. Or as rare. Dose this have gable vents... or is there a power or wind driven ventilation fan through the roof.

We spray foamed the attic roof deck and gable ends to make it a conditioned space therefore there isn't a need for ventilation. I mistakenly called the return airline lines vents and the return airlines are what we taped.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoothy

OK, so its not a flat roof....and you aren't taping up the eve vents. Just wanted to be sure.

When they removed the ridge vent...I'm assuming it was determined there as sufficent air flow in and out to ventilate it correctly. And thats not as dumb as you might think. Or as rare. Dose this have gable vents...or is there a power or wind driven ventilation fan through the roof.

We actually figured out what the smell was. When they put on the new roof they put down a Owens Corning water/ice barrier in all of the valleys and they also put it around the furnace vent pipe. Well since the attic space is sealed tight and the new roof prevented the smell to disapate it was coming down the furnace vent pipe and smelling up the attic and it was coming into the ventilation system because a leaks in the system. It has now been on long enough that the smell is gone. We did contact Owens Corning and they said there product does not emit any toxic fumes per the EPA so they don't even have to label it.
THanks for all of you suggestions