odor from duct board

clammy

Looking at a hot air duct system which ducts where  constructed of duct board and the HO is complaining of odor .In the area where I live and work you rarely see many duct board duct work systems most are sheet metal and usually they are externally wrapped .The HO has the basement mint clean epoxy painted floor all the outside block walls painted as well no signs of ground water or any other water mold issues had a environmental remeadation buddy take a look see and he found nothing and stated he smelt something but was unable to lend any help as to what it could be.Workmanship on the duct board systems is sub parr and of course all the branch runs are all insulated flex some over 25 ft .Has any one heard of complaints of duct board off gasing  and odors from the fiberglass.I personally would never install or use any lined sheetmetal or duct board in any of my jobs maybe for some one I didn.t like much .Thanks for any input just don t want ton redo all his tin and still have the same issue .peace and good luck clammy

icesailor

Smell:

Duct Board often has a dead smell when you take it off a pallet. It goes away once exposed to the air. The smell leaves once installed and used.

I always found a bigger problem with it. Rodents. They live (and die) for that stuff. It gives the Meece's 100% access to a structure. I once was cutting a hole in a first floor ceiling to get at a broken pipe and was showered with meece droppings and a petrified meece or two. The only way they got there was through the duct board and flex duct.

don_9

eww that smell

I agree with ice the smell should be gone.What type of smell? Does it smell like dirty socks?If so it is not the duct board.

Techman

odor

How long has this system been running? This is WARM AIR only, no AC? Oil ,Gas, Hot water coil? Some times , the air impinging on the duct board erodes the "inner surface" of the ductboard, exposing the interior of the duct , letting "fiberglass particles" into the air stream.The same thing happens to the "duct liner" that sheetmetal shops put into their ducts when you order the ducts to be "lined".

Spence

Meeces?

The off-gassing usually is not the fiberglass, but the bonding agent, especially if it has been wet. This can cause allergic reactions in some people. If the ducts were poorly installed, it might be a good time to put in a properly installed system.