HVAC-Talk: Heating, Air & Refrigeration Discussion banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

How do you get a cat piss smell out of the ducts?

Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 24 Posts
M

MisterFixer

· Professional Member
Joined
·
99 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
200K home and the air coming out of the vents smell like cat piss which sets off my allergies.
I'm going to clean the evaporator coil and have the carpet cleaned again. Might even have to tear it all out.
Purchased a home last month that was built in 1998 and we don't have pets but all of a sudden it has a pet odor.
They must have had it covered up because we did not smell it when first looking at the home.

Any suggestions??
 
#3 ·
The odor would be where cats could get to and it's most likely not the supplies but the return if it has grills on the floor level or under the platform.
I'd start with the return duct anywhere someone could have left a grill off and a cat could get in a pee.

Maybe it isn't the ducts but under a carpet and pad. Those get really nasty. Perhaps any wooden floor that soaks it up. Cats like to go in corners of floors or hidden places- look all around first.

Maybe there is a dead one left behind sucked up against the coil. :grin2:
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Yeah, it is vented from the floor and the return is also low on the wall at floor level
I've gone all over the house looking (smelling) for any specific areas.

Started taking vent covers off and finding pet food in the duct work. What a damn nightmare!!
Looks like they swept everything into the floor vents for the past 15 yrs. I took the vacuum to the duct works and have found all kinds of treasures.

Seriously thinking about ripping all the duct work out under the house and going back with new (it's all flex duct) and would be simple enough.
House has 70% carpet 25% wood and bathrooms are tile. 2400 sq. ft nightmare.
Just going to take a few days or weeks cleaning everything from carpets to vents.
 
#5 ·
MisterFixer said:
Yeah, it is vented from the floor and the return is also low on the wall at floor level
I've gone all over the house looking (smelling) for any specific areas.

Started taking vent covers off and finding pet food in the duct work. What a damn nightmare!!
Looks like they swept everything into the floor vents for the past 15 yrs. I took the vacuum to the duct works and have found all kinds of treasures.

Seriously thinking about ripping all the duct work out under the house and going back with new (it's all flex duct) and would be simple enough.
House has 70% carpet 25% wood and bathrooms are tile. 2400 sq. ft nightmare.
Just going to take a few days or weeks cleaning everything from carpets to vents.
Click to expand...


My bad. We don't have floor ducting here much except in mobiles.

Yea- it's probably the duct.
 
#7 ·
The only thing that gets rid of cat odor is removal of the item that was urinated on. Get rid of the cat to.
 
Save
Like Like
#9 ·
Ok i dont think a cat would crawl into flex and piss and try to back out. But it sound like you should replace duct if they are filthy.
I have been in many rental homes that have had carpets cleaned and the musky piss order is horable when carpet is still wet.
I would pull back carpets in corners and smell. Many times by a slider door cats piss because they see a cat outside the window and want to mark their teritory. If you find that you need to paint the wood with Kilz paint or replace wood. It wont go away on its own for many years. Male cats piss on walls too !
 
#10 ·
Stupid cats....I have seen floor joists completely eaten away by their insidious urine. Infact, when I was home shopping, I wouldn't even bother going in the house if I smelled a cat. And one always knows if a cat owner lived there.

Cant stand the lil bastards! :)
 
#13 ·
If the cat or cats ever wet the carpet, you can try various enzymes avaiable at pet stores to soak the spot with (you'd have to know where the carpet was soiled with pee to do this) and it might knock down the odor awhile. But the only permanent solution is to remove carpet AND padding, and seal the floor underneath, whether it's concrete or wood. I learned this lesson the hard way when I did apartment turnover and the new tenant, usually without pets, would complain about pet odors in spite of everything in the place having been thoroughly painted and cleaned.

And regarding your ducts...since the previous owners chose to use them as a built-in dust pan for God knows how long, replacing everything is likely your best bet. I would also have the indoor coil and blower cleaned, and insulation inside the air handler or furnace treated with an odor neutralizer...or replaced also.
 
Save
Like Like
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Yeah I will try the light from my dye kit.
Can't run duct through the attic because the 2nd floor already has its own unit and that duct is up their.

I may have it under control, didnt smell anything today.
But it did seem worse after it rained Monday.
Cleaning away in our spare time and going to replace a couple runs of duct tonight after dinner.
 
#16 ·
They have been discussed at length and the subject beaten to death but I have had good luck using the RGF guardian purifier. Some say snake oil but I am a believer. In my old house, when I moved in I had the same issue. Installed a phi cell and the smell was gone in 48hrs
 
#17 ·
Just curious if the cats had access to the crawl space under the house. if so, there is a good chance they hung out and sprayed/peed under there. Some of the smell may be coming from under the home. We have a customer who doesnt have a pet, but has feral cats that hang out under her house (which smells like piss).
 
#18 ·
A couple years ago I had a customers cat run up my ladder into the attic and piss in a mixing box we had partially made up,that stuff doesn't come out so we just scrapped the box and built a new one. Best of luck to anyone trying to get cat urine out of duct.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Possibility cats had access prior to our arrival, the home has an access door which did not have a lock on it until I put one. I actually found the door open one afternoon after a wind storm. Also Ive seen 2 cats late at night that I'm not sure who they belong too. Im way out in the sticks but do have 5 or 6 neighbors within a half mile.
 
#20 ·
Had that problem when I bought my house. Pulled carpet and padding.
Used killz to seal floor in corners where cat had peed before having new padding and carpet installed.
I hate cats....
 
1 - 20 of 24 Posts
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
About this Discussion
23 Replies
19 Participants
Last post:
cajunhvac75
HVAC-Talk: Heating, Air & Refrigeration Discussion
posts
5M
members
275K
Since
2000
The #1 HVACR Community
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
AOP Residential HVAC/Refrigeration(Beenthere Zone) General Discussion Tech to Tech Chat - Residential Controls Refrigeration & Ice Making