Need help/ideas for finding source of fumes
August 3, 2022 9:54 AM   Subscribe

Since the beginning of June fumes have been entering my apartment and making me feel ill. I can't find the source of the fumes and I'm feeling desperate and defeated. I'm looking for ideas on what the source of the fumes could be, and ways to investigate. Please skip this question if your instinct is to make a joke about the situation. I'm extremely stressed and many of the people I've gone to for help have belittled me, argued with me, and insinuated I'm mentally ill.

The fumes come and go, but often last all day long. They sometimes have an odour, but usually they do not. When they do have an odour it is either a bleachy/white glueish smell, or a cloying acrid smell. There does not seem to be a pattern to their occurrence. Sometimes they wake me up in the middle of the night.

They seem to be heavier than air, as they are more concentrated near my floor. I can also smell them on my balcony. I have walked around my building - inside and outside - and around my neighbourhood seeking a source of the fumes. I haven't had any luck.

I have spoken to numerous health professionals, all of whom suspect this is environmental and not an issue with my health. I do not have any symptoms, ever, when I am not in my apartment. Let me repeat that: SYMPTOMS ONLY OCCUR IN MY APARTMENT. Not at my relatives' homes, at doctor's offices, at clinics, at drug stores, at shopping malls, at parks, at coffee shops, or anywhere else I have been other than in my apartment. I can step into my apartment building's hallway and feel immediate relief.

Two guests have felt the fumes after an hour long visit (dry eyes, burning nose), one guest felt them on two different occasions. A neighbour with an excellent sense of smell was able to smell the fumes near the floor, but not feel them (she was only around for 5 minutes or so). Once I seemed to detect them coming in through her window that is next to my apartment, but I may have been imagining that.

I do not have Covid. Everything smells and tastes normal, although when the fumes are strong they can obscure other odours.

Symptoms:
- Very dry and burning eyes
- Dry and burning nose
- Sore throat
- Wheezing and difficulty breathing
- Persistent cough
- Dizziness
- Confusion/brain fog/difficulty concentrating
- Headache
- Heart palpitations*
- Burning windpipe*
- Nausea*
- Vomiting*
- Nosebleed*
- Tingling tongue and a soapy or metallic taste in the mouth*
- Lower than usual blood oxygen levels*
*When the fumes are at their strongest.

My fridge, air vents, and plumbing have all been checked by my building's management company as possible sources of the fumes. I do not have air conditioning - that is generated by a chiller on my building's roof located on the other side of the building from me. It cools water pipes which fans in my apartment then blow air over. The heat works in a similar manner and the boiler is in the basement. I have an electric stove, a dishwasher, and a fridge. That's it. I do not use any heavy chemicals or heavily scented cleaning products. No paint thinner, etc.

My apartment is old and has plaster walls. It has been painted before and the paint fumes dissipated as normal and didn't bother me. Occasionally the building varnishes other units' floors, but those fumes only last a day or so. When the fumes first started my vents were tightly covered, so I do not think they are the source. The vents are basically empty shafts with a fan on the roof that draws air out.

No one else in the building seems to be having this issue. My immediate neighbours have been spoken to by building management. I know that while the neighbours below me have been spraying something in the air and at me (they are hostile and chaotic) I don't think they're the source of the fumes as I've been told they are not home when I've logged incidences of strong fumes. They would also have to be awake and spraying something literally 24/7 on some days.

I cannot tell if the fumes are being generated inside or outside. Sometimes they are stronger inside my unit, sometimes they are stronger on my balcony. When I am on my balcony they seem to be coming from below, but that could be a trick of the wind.

I got tired of my building's management telling me I was imagining things, so I purchased an air quality meter that measures VOCs and particulate matter. Every single time I start to feel sick I check my meter and the VOCs have risen very high. On a good day/hour they read around 40ppb. When things get bad they can go up to 3000ppb. Yesterday they were at 1000ppb all day long and it was miserable. Something is present in the air.

I have a new, working CO detector that has never gone off.

I keep my windows open unless the fumes seem to be stronger inside. I have window fans and box fans trying to direct the air towards my vents and outside.

I can't afford to move and probably won't be able to afford it until next year at the earliest. Please do not suggest this. I can't magically find a few thousand dollars. I have already spent close to $1000 trying to resolve this issue.

This is having a very negative impact on my quality of life. My cat died and I'd like to adopt a new friend, but I can't until this issue is resolved. I can't have guests over because the fumes make them uncomfortable. The fumes wake me up or keep me from falling asleep. I threw my back out sleeping on the floor near my apartment's door where the air intake is and was hobbling around in pain for 3 weeks. I can't concentrate on work or my hobbies. I wasn't able to create a piece for a art show. I can't exercise indoors. Many of the people I've gone to for help about this have treated me like an irrational, hysterical person looking for attention.

I'm about ready to snap and would really appreciate some advice on what these fumes could be, or how I could figure that out. I've been logging every incident since it started, and today I started logging the VOC measurements of each room and the balcony.
posted by Stoof to Home & Garden (38 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: I forgot to say that I've lived in this apartment for almost 2 years and before this June I'd never had problems with fumes or odours other than cigarette smoke.
posted by Stoof at 10:01 AM on August 3, 2022


You mentioned that this started in June - did you make any purchases in June that could include chemicals that are offloading at certain temperatures? Not necessarily something as large as the usual suspects (like a mattress or rug or curtains), but possibly something else you use indoors regularly?
posted by Mchelly at 10:02 AM on August 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


Response by poster: Other than clothing, fans, and the air quality meter, the only new item in my home is a collapsible deck chair, and it sits on the balcony and doesn't seem to be emitting anything other than the usual outdoor fabric smell.
posted by Stoof at 10:10 AM on August 3, 2022


How close are you to the building's laundry room, I wonder? I live in a suburban home but we had neighbors for awhile who used some kind of dryer sheets that, if the wind was right, made our driveway, right in front of the garage, deadly for me. That was easier to identify than whatever you're dealing with, since fabric softener has such a distinctive scent and feel to it, but intermittent fumes like you're experiencing might be from someone's laundry products.
posted by Well I never at 10:11 AM on August 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Any new office equipment for you? A new computer peripheral, a printer maybe, or a new toner refill from a new brand? Any craft supplies that could the cause?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:15 AM on August 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


A couple of troubleshooting questions:

They seem to appear at all times, but are they *stronger* at certain times of day? Certain days of the week?

Are they stronger in certain rooms of your apartment? Certain parts of the room?

Are they stronger in certain conditions? (E.g., when it rains, when it's really hot, etc.)

Have you controlled for things like air conditioning? This is tricky since it doesn't seem to be in-unit, but have their been days when the AC isn't on?

If you go away for a long period (say, more than a day) and then come back, are the fumes still there? Would it be possible for you to stay with a friend or at a hotel to test this?

Is your building entirely residential?

Are there any non-residential buildings in the near vicinity?

Have you spoken to any other neighbors about the issue? The fact that your one neighbor noticed them in your unit but not her own, and that the hallway doesn't seem to have a problem, indicate that the problem is with your unit specifically.

Has anyone from your building management actually been to your unit to investigate? Or are they just responding from the office? Their response about the downstairs neighbors seems insufficient to me - one could easily imagine scenarios where the downstairs neighbors could be responsible without actively doing something. If they have something that's offgassing, for example. They don't have to be home for their mattress to offgas.

Finally, is there any possibility of moving?
posted by kevinbelt at 10:16 AM on August 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


From the detail you have, it sounds like you might already be doing something like this, but if not, it may be worth starting a journal or log to write down when you notice it, the intensity, etc. That could help you discern some pattern that might not otherwise be obvious.
posted by primethyme at 10:26 AM on August 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


Do trucks idle anywhere near your building? The concept of a fume without any smell isn't something I've exactly experienced, but I can see how truck-idling fumes might be described as odorless, and I definitely would describe them as "heavy" like you did, and highly noxious. The fact that you only smell the odor sometimes suggests to me that maybe you are dealing with two unrelated sources of fumes that happen to coincide at times.
posted by dusty potato at 10:35 AM on August 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


My money is on the neighbours below, regardless of what you’ve been told. It seems to come from below, they have in the past sprayed something AT YOU (?!) and they are chaotic. Drug lab? They could certainly get sth that emits fumes when they’re away to mess with you. OR whatever produces the fumes is so bad they actually leave the apartment when it’s at its most intense.

Not sure what my course of action would be, mind. Figure out what it is and try to get them evicted? Do you have potential allies among other neighbours that could help?
Do you hear when they are home? Can you log when they leave vs when the fumes occur?

Anyway. Bet it’s the neighbours.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 10:38 AM on August 3, 2022 [13 favorites]


What's above your apartment? I ask because if the fumes are heavier than air, it seems more likely that whatever's up there is the source.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 10:38 AM on August 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


Also, I'm not familiar with exactly how air quality meters work, but are you able to use yours to get readings from different areas of your apartment to start building a "fume map" of sorts to understand more objectively how and where the fumes are flowing into or around your apartment?
posted by dusty potato at 10:40 AM on August 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Other than clothing, fans, and the air quality meter, the only new item in my home is a collapsible deck chair...

Fans could do it, if you bought them in June. Not the fans themselves, but they could be kicking up something that's already in the apartment and exacerbating it. Have you tried what happens when you don't run them?
posted by Mchelly at 10:45 AM on August 3, 2022


I don’t think you’re making this up. I’ve had a bad odor off and on for years in and outside my house and called the gas company. They have a full time person who checks for leaks. It turns out I was smelling the by-product of natural gas being used, and the vent was just not in a great place.

You might call the local natural gas company and tell them you smell an odor. They’ll be on it. Might force the building management to take this more seriously.

I agree about keeping a log with times and air quality readings. I’d also see if there is a tenants’ right association in your community and contact them.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:47 AM on August 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


Radon is something I'd try to rule out. With the VOC data, perhaps you can get the building management to cover the cost.

And if it were me, I'd use a second CO tester, just to
totally eliminate that possibly.

Has anyone adjacent to you refinished their floors?

Could anyone be storing chlorine for a new pool they got in June?
posted by cocoagirl at 10:48 AM on August 3, 2022


Safe Air Environmental can do indoor air quality testing in Toronto. So can Clean First Canada and Mold.ca. I found these through a quick Google (actually Duck Duck Go), and don't know anything about cost, etc. But they do advertise residential services, so hopefully it's not crazy expensive.

Good luck, I'm so sorry you're dealing with this.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:06 AM on August 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks for taking me seriously everyone. It's actually reassuring. Sometimes I feel like I'm losing my mind.

To answer some questions:
- When my fan and a/c fans aren't running the fumes seem to be the same.
- Fumes seem much worse when it's humid and not windy.
- I am close to the laundry room but I feel relief when I go in there. The dryers vent on the roof, away from me. I enjoy dryer sheet smell!
- No new office equipment, no ozone generator or ionizing air thingy or anything like that.
- Fumes frustratingly have no descerinble pattern other than being stronger when it's humid. There is no area they seem strongest, but they are weakest near my door where the air comes in.
- I have gone to a relative's for 12+ hours a few times, felt great, and then after an hour or so back in my apartment started sensing the fumes again.
- No non-residential buildings in my area. Although we abut an old cemetery (no new burials) and there are some houses being build. I hung around the construction sites and walked through the cemetery and didn't sense/smell anything similar to what I feel in my apartment.
- No trucks idling.
- Management has actually entered the unit below while fumes were strong, so they're telling the truth when they say no one was home.
- Above me is another apartment unit, and above that is the roof.
- My air quality meter detects radon and levels are low (I'm high off the ground, too).
- The closest pool is about 300m away.

One thing I thought of. The day I noticed the fumes getting stronger my air blower (I don't know what the real term is) was serviced. As far as I know, they just replaced the HEPA filter. But could they have oiled it or something with a substance that off-gasses? It is housed in a long, enclosed wooden container/shelf of sorts that extends into my bedroom. Could its wooden housing be getting wet w/humidity and condensation and off-gassing solvent-like fumes? What about metal corrosion? Can that cause fumes?

Here are some photos of the unit.
Link 1
Link 2
posted by Stoof at 11:09 AM on August 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


I believe you. Maybe you already saw this, but here's the EPA page on what tends to cause high VOC levels.

Other prompts about potential VOC & fume producers:

Is anyone near you a doomsday prepper and storing gasoline, kerosene, or other flammable/hazardous liquids inside?

Is anyone near you cooking meth? Such as your downstairs neighbors?

Do you live near a place where clothes are dry cleaned? Consider industrial/wholesale dry cleaning operations that don't have a storefront because they clean clothes for the retail places with the storefronts.

Do you live near a natural gas fracking site? How about any LNG facility?

I second calling the local gas company and telling them about your VOC meter readings. Also, here's the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory where you can put in your location and learn which orgs have released anything toxic into the air and where.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 11:11 AM on August 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


I'd vote against radon as a possibility here. Radon is undetectable (without a radon detector, of course, which detects radiation--radon isn't a VOC) and causes no symptoms, at least until it gives you lung cancer, which isn't something that happens on a timescale of weeks to months.
posted by pullayup at 11:11 AM on August 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


If I understand correctly, you have A/C and heat that comes from a central unit. That central unit may have an air purifier/air scrubber in it. Residential air scrubbers sometimes operate in part by injecting a gaseous hydrogen peroxide into the air, which then falls to horizontal surfaces and disinfects them. Or something like that. If your central HVAC has such a feature, perhaps it is causing these irritations. I don't know if this product (or something from a different air purifying technology) would cause VOC levels to rise.

There is another air purification technology that creates ozone and can have an odor that bothers some people but not everyone. I'm in the process of replacing the funace and A/C in my house, and the bids that I received all included an option to add an air purifier that either creates ozone or uses the gaseous hydrogen peroxide. Do you know if any air purifiers were recently installed or replaced in the central HVAC unit?

Someone else in this thread likely knows more about this than I do. I don't know that this would explain the respiratory symptoms, but it may be worth looking into.
posted by happy_cat at 11:25 AM on August 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


The day I noticed the fumes getting stronger my air blower (I don't know what the real term is) was serviced.

I was already going to say from your info that I suspected the vents being the source, since there is a lesser concentration near the door where fresh air comes in.

What I would try next time you notice this is to grab your VOC meter, open the hallway door, put your fans in the windows, and thoroughly flush the air out of your unit. Then when the VOC meter is reading low again, close everything up and take it around the unit until you find the hot spot. With this info, you can take it to management and point them to the source area.

I would bet that there is some sort of leak in your air supply, and a clear HEPA filter is actually just letter more air through than the old congested one was.
posted by DoubleLune at 11:54 AM on August 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


My gut instinctual guess says that one (or more) of your neighbors in the building is using a 3d-printer heavily - possibly even a "resin" printer, (which has many bad fumes related to it's activities and should be vented properly) and venting out their window, and those fumes are permeating the area, coming back in, etc.

Maybe just ask around, if anyone uses a 3d-printer for a project you want help with. (A little white lie, but it will probably be more successful than coming straight out on the hunt for 3d-printer culprits)
posted by rozcakj at 11:59 AM on August 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


Seconding the suggestions to try to map the presence of these fumes throughout the building as well as your apartment.

Beyond that, I'd try to consult with tenant's rights organizations - there's a slim chance they might be able to suggest some way for you to move affordably (in theory your landlord should be covering the cost since it's not your fault the place isn't safely habitable, but it depends on local laws). And if mapping the building shows that the problem really only affects your apartment, maybe keep an eye out for vacancies in the building, which could make it easier and cheaper to move.

Finally, if it keeps up you might consider asking friends and family to chip in and help you be able to move. It sucks to ask, I know, but often people do actually want to help and this is a real issue.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this :-(
posted by trig at 12:06 PM on August 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


Do you have any sinks or showers or floor drains that you rarely use?

I was getting a problem like this at a previous house and it was because one of my sinks was dry, which enabled gases to vent up from the sewage mains. (If a sink is used regularly, water stays in the S bend or U bend which prevents this)

The smell I was getting was paint or paint thinner - I suspect one of my neighbours was illegally pouring paint down the drain as it happened at a regular time of day and the neighbour had more than 8 cars they were fixing up.
posted by carriage pulled by cassowaries at 12:08 PM on August 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


I'd ask the building if they put any sanitizing tablets in the air handlers when they serviced them. I lived in a large building once that did twice yearly servicing of the filters, and they always dropped a big tablet in the drain pan at the bottom of the convector unit. The tablet helped keep the condensate lines clean so they wouldn't clog and cause the drain pan to overflow. On a humid day, more condensate would be flowing along the drain pan and wetting that tablet, so that may explain the humidity factor, too. Maybe your building uses something like that and they recently changed products? The condensate drain often just drips right outside the closest exterior wall, probably right near your balcony.
posted by juggler at 12:10 PM on August 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Your 2nd picture of the floor below the unit shows clear water damage to the floor, possibly mold - that could be related. This thing should not be leaking or "condensing" enough to cause floor damage ...
posted by rozcakj at 12:10 PM on August 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


The day I noticed the fumes getting stronger my air blower (I don't know what the real term is) was serviced.

From the photos, it looks like a fan coil unit. As you mentioned, a central boiler (or chiller) sends heated (or cooled) water through the system that is used to heat or cool the apartment by means of a fan. So there's no central supply air being pushed into your unit from it.

As people have mentioned above, you want professional indoor air quality (IAQ) testing that looks for specific bacterial/microbial contaminants, CO2 and CO levels, off-gassing of VOCs and other types of fumes.

You want a company that will provide you with accredited lab results so that, if you need your building management to address it, you've got documented proof.

You also want accredited lab results because that will tell you if specific VOCs (like toluene, benzene, or formaldehyde, etc.) are present. That, in turn, is because you want to know what compound(s) it is/are in order to suss out a likely source. Not to mention, for your own health (and peace of mind) knowing exactly what it is that you're breathing in.

Unfortunately, you might have to pay for it yourself to rule out what it isn't and find out what it is. This may mean going out of pocket, but this sounds miserable and therefore worth it.

But could they have oiled it or something with a substance that off-gasses? It is housed in a long, enclosed wooden container/shelf of sorts that extends into my bedroom. Could its wooden housing be getting wet w/humidity and condensation and off-gassing solvent-like fumes?

Condensate that's constantly moistening wood, fibreboard, or drywall is more likely to cause a problem with black mould (stachybotrys chartarum is a common one). So that's one possibility (hence IAQ testing that can identify it). And from some of the water damage in the photos, it looks highly probable.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:12 PM on August 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Is it possible that one of the other apartments in your complex

recently repainted

or recently revarnished their wooden floors?

Because if so, the air con system could be moving the smell from their apartment into yours...
posted by carriage pulled by cassowaries at 12:12 PM on August 3, 2022


Response by poster: I hope I'm not breaking rules and thread-sitting, but this is a back and forth troubleshooting thread so I hope my communications are OK.

What I would try next time you notice this is to grab your VOC meter, open the hallway door, put your fans in the windows, and thoroughly flush the air out of your unit. Then when the VOC meter is reading low again, close everything up and take it around the unit until you find the hot spot. With this info, you can take it to management and point them to the source area.

So I actually just finished doing a test like this and I think the air conditioning unit or its housing might be the source. I measured the VOC near my door while my apartment was well ventilated = 165ppb. Then I measured the VOC in my living area close to the windows (where the air conditioning housing is located) = 387.

I then removed the a/c housing door again and put it to the side. Fumes seemed to be wafting out of the cavity after a minute and I got a faint metallic taste in my mouth (possibly psychosomatic). I turned the air conditioning off and closed the housing door. VOC = 167. I turned the a/c unit on and opened the housing door. VOC = 350.

Also, the fumes are worse when it's humid. But when it's humid I have the a/c on. I'll do the test again but with more time in between readings.

So now I guess the question is why I smell it on my balcony if it is my a/c or its housing. Leaky windows? Other people's a/c units off-gassing?
posted by Stoof at 12:13 PM on August 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


Any chance you've purchased a new shower cap, new shower curtain, or similar? You would be amazed how powerful the fumes coming off cheap flexible plastic that has been stored in airtight plastic packaging for 12 months can be.
posted by carriage pulled by cassowaries at 12:15 PM on August 3, 2022


When I say "air handler" or "convector unit" in my response above, I mean a fan coil unit, like Mandolin Conspiracy speaks of.
posted by juggler at 12:15 PM on August 3, 2022


But could they have oiled it or something with a substance that off-gasses?

Absolutely - in fact, the label on the unit in your picture says "Suggest 4 drops number 20 oil..."

Also, there's significant water damage, so something is leaking from the unit.

I'm going with:
* person who last serviced the unit messed up, and dumped the wrong oil (or too much) on the unit
* unit is failing, and possibly overheating, generating oil fumes
* unit is leaking, and something in the leaking water is causing issues (google "boiler water treatment" for a list of possible chemicals)
posted by soylent00FF00 at 12:16 PM on August 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


What happens if you put your VOC meter inside the air handler closet, leave the A/C off, put the closet door back on, then check it again in 30 minutes?
posted by soylent00FF00 at 12:25 PM on August 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


You can call an environmental testing company and ask them to do some diagnostic testing. I’m sure there’s a panel of testing in cases of unknown source. Call the people home inspectors bring their radon tests to, the same type of company that would do licensed asbestos testing.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 12:36 PM on August 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


The AC/Air situation you linked looks... suspicious. There's a lot of discoloration and damage on the flooring. That's a very old American Standard logo/tag on the unit. (Google suggests the round portion of the logo was use in 1969 - 1987). You may be able to look up the serial number and get a manufacturer date. Old machinery can last a long time, but it can also cause problems like leaks and problems with maintenance.
posted by Crystalinne at 12:46 PM on August 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: What happens if you put your VOC meter inside the air handler closet, leave the A/C off, put the closet door back on, then check it again in 30 minutes?

I got a reading of 387 in the cabinet. 320 outside of the cabinet 20 mins later. A/C off, windows closed.
posted by Stoof at 1:12 PM on August 3, 2022


You can call an environmental testing company and ask them to do some diagnostic testing. I’m sure there’s a panel of testing in cases of unknown source.

I work in environmental consulting - industry standard would be indoor air testing with the EPA TO-15 method. A consultant would likely recommend 2-4 cannisters, the analysis plus tech to deploy/pick up cannisters would likely be over $1,000. This is industry standard and the method can detect what specific volatiles are present. To me, this seems like a pretty long way to go when the VOC meter is pinpointing the source area and OP is symptomatic. It might be useful in a personal injury lawsuit (showing negligence on the landlord's part for old/faulty equipment despite numerous complaints in an inhabitable apartment), though whether that woud be something OP would seek or could win is out of my purview.
posted by DoubleLune at 2:02 PM on August 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


I have a Coway air filter, and I looked for a replacement HEPA filter for it. I noticed that on a lot of reviews that people complained about the smell from the filter, especially third party filters. A good example is here. Google searches reveal this is an issue for other brands as well.

I think there's an expectation that HEPA filters must filter smells, because they're HEPA and that's good, but I think that's not the case. Could it be possible that it's the filter?
posted by kaefer at 2:04 PM on August 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


My first guess was that a neighbor was doing something sketchy like cooking meth, but looking at those photos, I would agree with everyone pointing to that as the likely problem area.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:03 PM on August 3, 2022


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