Garage Fumes
07-19-2011, 08:45 PM
#81
Drifting
Thread Starter
It'd be a couple of weeks before I could get a pic so let me just describe what I did. The basic premise is to follow the flow of air through the unit and then seal any areas where air could be drawn into the unit from the garage.
My air handler (furnace) is an updraft model (the return air enters from the bottom and the air flow is up). The closet has an elevated floor (about 18" off the ground). The furnace sits on the floor of the closet. The return air duct enters from below and connects to the bottom of the floor.
So, one place air could get sucked into the air handler from the garage is where the furnace cabinet meets the closet floor. I caulked this area.
I then noticed that I had several screws and/or bolts going through the exterior of the furnace cabinet for holding various braces and components inside the cabinet. I placed tape over the heads of the screws to prevent any air from getting past them. Overkill? - probably, but it's my tape and I'm not afraid to use it.
On top of the furnace sits the indoor AC coil (evaporator) cabinet. You can tell which part is the evaporator because the copper refrigerant lines will run into that part of the cabinet. The main duct line into the house sits on top of the evaporator. The installer had taped the joint where the evaporator meets the duct but his work was a little sloppy and I went over it again with more foil tape. I could not tell if the evaporator cabinet had a gasket between it and the furnace cabinet so I taped this joint as well for good measure.
My evaporator cabinet has an access panel to get to the evaporator coil. This panel has a gasket but I did not care for the way it fit so I sealed the joints of the access panel by taping them with the foil tape. The evaporator is rarely accessed and its not too much trouble to cut through the tape to get it open if needed so it didn't bother me to seal it up.
The area where the refrigerant lines ran into the evaporator cabinet had some type of plastic grommet that fit very loosely. I taped up where both lines enter the cabinet.
Fumes from the garage could enter the attic through the fold down attic stairs in the ceiling of the garage, so I climbed into the attic and checked all of the joints of the ducts to make sure all were well sealed. I also added some weatherstripping to the fold down stairs.
As the area below the furnace closet floor is for return air, any penetration or gap in the wall would have allowed garage air to enter the return air chamber and then into the air handler. I pulled a short section of baseboard off the bottom of the wall at the furnace closet and I caulked the bottom of the sheet rock to prevent air from getting behind it and into the return air chamber.
Depending on how your furnace closet floor is constructed, you might want to caulk where it meets the walls.
That's really it. Low cost but requires a little effort.
If you had some way to generate some "smoke", you could turn on the blower fan and see for sure where (or if) air from the garage was getting into your unit. I wonder if some dry ice would produce enough visible smoke to detect leaks into the air handler? Hmmm. I'll have to keep that one in the back of my mind for another day.
Hope this helps.
DC
My air handler (furnace) is an updraft model (the return air enters from the bottom and the air flow is up). The closet has an elevated floor (about 18" off the ground). The furnace sits on the floor of the closet. The return air duct enters from below and connects to the bottom of the floor.
So, one place air could get sucked into the air handler from the garage is where the furnace cabinet meets the closet floor. I caulked this area.
I then noticed that I had several screws and/or bolts going through the exterior of the furnace cabinet for holding various braces and components inside the cabinet. I placed tape over the heads of the screws to prevent any air from getting past them. Overkill? - probably, but it's my tape and I'm not afraid to use it.
On top of the furnace sits the indoor AC coil (evaporator) cabinet. You can tell which part is the evaporator because the copper refrigerant lines will run into that part of the cabinet. The main duct line into the house sits on top of the evaporator. The installer had taped the joint where the evaporator meets the duct but his work was a little sloppy and I went over it again with more foil tape. I could not tell if the evaporator cabinet had a gasket between it and the furnace cabinet so I taped this joint as well for good measure.
My evaporator cabinet has an access panel to get to the evaporator coil. This panel has a gasket but I did not care for the way it fit so I sealed the joints of the access panel by taping them with the foil tape. The evaporator is rarely accessed and its not too much trouble to cut through the tape to get it open if needed so it didn't bother me to seal it up.
The area where the refrigerant lines ran into the evaporator cabinet had some type of plastic grommet that fit very loosely. I taped up where both lines enter the cabinet.
Fumes from the garage could enter the attic through the fold down attic stairs in the ceiling of the garage, so I climbed into the attic and checked all of the joints of the ducts to make sure all were well sealed. I also added some weatherstripping to the fold down stairs.
As the area below the furnace closet floor is for return air, any penetration or gap in the wall would have allowed garage air to enter the return air chamber and then into the air handler. I pulled a short section of baseboard off the bottom of the wall at the furnace closet and I caulked the bottom of the sheet rock to prevent air from getting behind it and into the return air chamber.
Depending on how your furnace closet floor is constructed, you might want to caulk where it meets the walls.
That's really it. Low cost but requires a little effort.
If you had some way to generate some "smoke", you could turn on the blower fan and see for sure where (or if) air from the garage was getting into your unit. I wonder if some dry ice would produce enough visible smoke to detect leaks into the air handler? Hmmm. I'll have to keep that one in the back of my mind for another day.
Hope this helps.
DC
07-21-2011, 02:39 PM
#82
Drifting
Thread Starter
It'd be a couple of weeks before I could get a pic so let me just describe what I did. The basic premise is to follow the flow of air through the unit and then seal any areas where air could be drawn into the unit from the garage.
My air handler (furnace) is an updraft model (the return air enters from the bottom and the air flow is up). The closet has an elevated floor (about 18" off the ground). The furnace sits on the floor of the closet. The return air duct enters from below and connects to the bottom of the floor.
So, one place air could get sucked into the air handler from the garage is where the furnace cabinet meets the closet floor. I caulked this area.
I then noticed that I had several screws and/or bolts going through the exterior of the furnace cabinet for holding various braces and components inside the cabinet. I placed tape over the heads of the screws to prevent any air from getting past them. Overkill? - probably, but it's my tape and I'm not afraid to use it.
On top of the furnace sits the indoor AC coil (evaporator) cabinet. You can tell which part is the evaporator because the copper refrigerant lines will run into that part of the cabinet. The main duct line into the house sits on top of the evaporator. The installer had taped the joint where the evaporator meets the duct but his work was a little sloppy and I went over it again with more foil tape. I could not tell if the evaporator cabinet had a gasket between it and the furnace cabinet so I taped this joint as well for good measure.
My evaporator cabinet has an access panel to get to the evaporator coil. This panel has a gasket but I did not care for the way it fit so I sealed the joints of the access panel by taping them with the foil tape. The evaporator is rarely accessed and its not too much trouble to cut through the tape to get it open if needed so it didn't bother me to seal it up.
The area where the refrigerant lines ran into the evaporator cabinet had some type of plastic grommet that fit very loosely. I taped up where both lines enter the cabinet.
Fumes from the garage could enter the attic through the fold down attic stairs in the ceiling of the garage, so I climbed into the attic and checked all of the joints of the ducts to make sure all were well sealed. I also added some weatherstripping to the fold down stairs.
As the area below the furnace closet floor is for return air, any penetration or gap in the wall would have allowed garage air to enter the return air chamber and then into the air handler. I pulled a short section of baseboard off the bottom of the wall at the furnace closet and I caulked the bottom of the sheet rock to prevent air from getting behind it and into the return air chamber.
Depending on how your furnace closet floor is constructed, you might want to caulk where it meets the walls.
That's really it. Low cost but requires a little effort.
If you had some way to generate some "smoke", you could turn on the blower fan and see for sure where (or if) air from the garage was getting into your unit. I wonder if some dry ice would produce enough visible smoke to detect leaks into the air handler? Hmmm. I'll have to keep that one in the back of my mind for another day.
Hope this helps.
DC
My air handler (furnace) is an updraft model (the return air enters from the bottom and the air flow is up). The closet has an elevated floor (about 18" off the ground). The furnace sits on the floor of the closet. The return air duct enters from below and connects to the bottom of the floor.
So, one place air could get sucked into the air handler from the garage is where the furnace cabinet meets the closet floor. I caulked this area.
I then noticed that I had several screws and/or bolts going through the exterior of the furnace cabinet for holding various braces and components inside the cabinet. I placed tape over the heads of the screws to prevent any air from getting past them. Overkill? - probably, but it's my tape and I'm not afraid to use it.
On top of the furnace sits the indoor AC coil (evaporator) cabinet. You can tell which part is the evaporator because the copper refrigerant lines will run into that part of the cabinet. The main duct line into the house sits on top of the evaporator. The installer had taped the joint where the evaporator meets the duct but his work was a little sloppy and I went over it again with more foil tape. I could not tell if the evaporator cabinet had a gasket between it and the furnace cabinet so I taped this joint as well for good measure.
My evaporator cabinet has an access panel to get to the evaporator coil. This panel has a gasket but I did not care for the way it fit so I sealed the joints of the access panel by taping them with the foil tape. The evaporator is rarely accessed and its not too much trouble to cut through the tape to get it open if needed so it didn't bother me to seal it up.
The area where the refrigerant lines ran into the evaporator cabinet had some type of plastic grommet that fit very loosely. I taped up where both lines enter the cabinet.
Fumes from the garage could enter the attic through the fold down attic stairs in the ceiling of the garage, so I climbed into the attic and checked all of the joints of the ducts to make sure all were well sealed. I also added some weatherstripping to the fold down stairs.
As the area below the furnace closet floor is for return air, any penetration or gap in the wall would have allowed garage air to enter the return air chamber and then into the air handler. I pulled a short section of baseboard off the bottom of the wall at the furnace closet and I caulked the bottom of the sheet rock to prevent air from getting behind it and into the return air chamber.
Depending on how your furnace closet floor is constructed, you might want to caulk where it meets the walls.
That's really it. Low cost but requires a little effort.
If you had some way to generate some "smoke", you could turn on the blower fan and see for sure where (or if) air from the garage was getting into your unit. I wonder if some dry ice would produce enough visible smoke to detect leaks into the air handler? Hmmm. I'll have to keep that one in the back of my mind for another day.
Hope this helps.
DC
07-21-2011, 07:38 PM
#83
Melting Slicks
Just finished up doing the fixes you listed. Really helpful and I think it will make a big difference. When I was doing the insulation/weather stripping on the attic door I noticed a cool breeze coming from between the wall insulation while the AC was running. Probably a duct leak but if air is flowing into the attic when the AC is on it is probably flowing the other direction when the AC is not on. Have AC guy coming tomorrow - at least I will be saving some $s on my AC bill as I don't want to be cooling my attic and hopefully that was part of the culprit. Once again, thanks for your help.
Between your work and the AC guy you should have no more garage smells in your house. Then you can concentrate or more fun things, like your Vette.
Glad I could help.
DC
07-21-2011, 07:48 PM
#84
Team Owner
DC,
Your very thorough comments are a good example of why the Forum is such an informative resource.
Just curious, have you flown Douglas DC-3s? Sometimes called Dakotas?
Your very thorough comments are a good example of why the Forum is such an informative resource.
Just curious, have you flown Douglas DC-3s? Sometimes called Dakotas?
07-21-2011, 08:30 PM
#85
Drifting
Thread Starter
You got that right. This forum is a perfect example of pay it forward. A lot of selfish people out there in this world and good to see people willing to help out and take the time for complete strangers.
07-21-2011, 08:35 PM
#86
Drifting
The metal "duct tape" for lack of a better word for the duct joints, the plenums and other sheet metal in a hvac system is a really good thing to do. There is also a form of thin adhesive insulation that is foil covered that you can cut and fit to cover plenums that are in unheated or uncooled space to somewhat insulate them. My home systems, one heat pump up and one nat gas and central air system down, both have the metal tape on the joints I wanted it on and upstairs the heat pump is in the unheated attic but where I can walk up to it and it is covered above the heat exchanger element area upward with the insulation adhesive panel material. All was available from one of the big box stores and not all that expensive.
Lance
Lance
07-21-2011, 08:43 PM
#87
Team Owner
On the rear deck cables, let me know. I tried my top up yesterday for an A/C test and everything works tiddelly-boo (sp?). I did do some adjustments in April when I first put the top down and all is still well.
I enjoyed your audio thread! A good guide for many. I use an IPod without charging but you have added an improvement.
07-21-2011, 08:46 PM
#88
Drifting
Thread Starter
I have been on here for >10 years and taken out more than I have given. So I try to give back....
On the rear deck cables, let me know. I tried my top up yesterday for an A/C test and everything works tiddelly-boo (sp?). I did do some adjustments in April when I first put the top down and all is still well.
I enjoyed your audio thread! A good guide for many. I use an IPod without charging but you have added an improvement.
On the rear deck cables, let me know. I tried my top up yesterday for an A/C test and everything works tiddelly-boo (sp?). I did do some adjustments in April when I first put the top down and all is still well.
I enjoyed your audio thread! A good guide for many. I use an IPod without charging but you have added an improvement.
07-21-2011, 09:03 PM
#89
Team Owner
Technology passes us by so quickly. I have 70 tunes on that mini-IPod Shuffle. That does it for me. Even without an amp that unit rocks the house when I am in the garage doing some adjustments (not often). The Wife gets on me for that but she has a garden...I have a garage.
Last edited by Paul L; 07-21-2011 at 09:08 PM.
07-21-2011, 09:07 PM
#90
Drifting
I've got a usb 16 gig flash drive with 40 hours of music on it that fits into the pioneer radio in the Vette. Have never gotten through all of it to this day! Much better than fishing for radio stations or putting cd's in and out of the thing. I usually don't have the radio on at highway speeds but there are plenty of times that driving four speakers in the back it sounds good to listen to.
LP
LP
07-21-2011, 09:24 PM
#91
Install a small exhaust fan somewhere in your garage maybe through a wall and provide a small air intake on the oposite side. Place a timer switch next to your house entrance door so it can be turned on for for an hour or two and then shut itself off.
07-22-2011, 11:31 AM
#92
Drifting
Thread Starter
AC guy just left. He said that all of the things that I did were all good to do - thanks DC. He also found that the plenum and some ducts in the AC were taking air in so fixed that. Should be good to go here - thanks to all here for the help.
07-22-2011, 07:07 PM
#93
Melting Slicks
DC
09-30-2012, 04:04 PM
#95
3rd Gear
Member Since: Aug 2012
Posts: 3
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I have a 79 corvette, and when it is in the garage, you can smell gas fumes coming into the house... I have checked all the lines, replaced the fuel filter, gas cap and still bad, have checked around the fuel pump for leaks nothing... There is no signs of gas leaking anywhere on the floor. Idea???..
09-30-2012, 08:33 PM
#96
Race Director
I have a 79 corvette, and when it is in the garage, you can smell gas fumes coming into the house... I have checked all the lines, replaced the fuel filter, gas cap and still bad, have checked around the fuel pump for leaks nothing... There is no signs of gas leaking anywhere on the floor. Idea???..
