Weird Exhaust Smell

[chopper33]

Hello,
I am in the middle of finishing my basement in a house that is 4 years old. As I am making the basement more energy efficient by insulating and drywalling I have noticed a strong smell in a specific area of the basement by an outside wall where it looks like 2 pipes are venting outside. It looks like a cold air return? and something else? but they both look like they are coming from the gas furnace ducting. It smells as if it is some type of exhaust fume. I have place a C02 detector there but it does not register anything. What could this be? I have check the connections of those 2 pipes to the vents and they seems to look OK? I am asked other people to come down and ask them what they smell. 2 out of three said it smells like new the glue I used when drywalling but that was about a month ago. The glue should be dry by now and it seems some times the smell is worse than other? Is this something I should be concerned about? I kind of am I guess. :mask:

[Ed Imeduc]

Id say as long as you have the carbon monoxide alarm there you are ok. Not sure just what you have there. the vent and intake pipe for the furnace or a make up air intake from out side. Sure all water traps are full also the one on the furnace for the AC. So its not sewer gas.


ED ;)

[chopper33]

I have attached 2 pix of the problem area of the exhaust odor.
The 1st pic. show the to pipes coming right at you, they both lead outside, the furnace is directly behind the far wall as shown in the 1st pic. In the next pic. the pipes on the very left and right are the suspicious pipes and the middle one is a heat duct going upstairs. Both of the pipes are vented to the outside. I checked them from outside today and they both look as if they are hooked up so I don't see anything that could be airleaked indoors from them? :mask:


http://www.freewebs.com/baiters/DIY.html

[Ed Imeduc]

That duct on the right with the flexpipe comeing out of it is that a heat duct and just panned in the joist???, Also I see "I" joist how about the glue in them and the chip floor above. Can the smell come from them????

ED :thinker:

[chopper33]

The duct on the right with the flexpipe coming out of it is the same flexpipe on the 2nd picture on the very left, it leads to an outside vent and so does the pipe on the far right. The middle duct is a heat duct. I don't think the smell is from the I Joist,glue or chip wood becuase I think I would maybe smell that smell in other parts of the basement. Wish we had "smell 'o vision" for this one... :mask:

[Ed Imeduc]

Is that middle one then a heat duct like you say .It looks like it is just what we call panned the joist to make a duct. Like you do for a cold air duct. Is why I ask? Now if I have this right the one flex on the right goes out side and the 3or4"pvc on the left goes out side and is the flue????????
Id say the in and out are only 30" apart out side???? Not to good if so.

ED ;)

[chopper33]

Ed,
After doing some more investigating. The PVC pipe venting to the outside is bring fresh air into the basement, it ends up right by the furnace and the fresh air goes into the basement freely. The flex tube venting to the outside looks like it goes into a cold air return????? by the furnace. I would assume that the "panned" duct is a warm vent but I will check into that one tommorrow when the wife is not sleeping. I will turn the furnace on and see what comes out if anything, then it would be a cold air return I guess. :mask:

[chopper33]

Yep, that "panned" duct is a warm air duct. The furnace and water heater are both vented on the opposite side of the basement where it goes outside so I am baffled????? :mask:

[Ed Imeduc]

Yep, that "panned" duct is a warm air duct.


Did this pass any code???? You cant pan a joist and use it for a heat duct. If this is so Id get someone to check it out right now. Id also check on my insurance here for sure. Ill bet they wont cover this set up at all.


ED :wall: :wall: :wall:

[chopper33]

I would assume that this passed code when the house was built/inspected 4 years ago and again at the inspection prior to us buying the house last year. By panning a joist, do you mean guiding the duct across/below other joists prior to venting somewhere? Is there a danger present here? What are the dangers of a panned heat duct? Is sounds like there is something very dangerous here? How can I fix this if need be? Funny no-one has said anything about this? Any suggestions?
Thanks!

:mask:

[chopper33]

Sorry for all the confusion! I did a little more research on what a panned joist is and after checking out the basement ducts, it is only the cold air return which is panned. The flex tube seen in the pictures is venting to the outside looks like it goes into a cold air return, which is the panned joist we have been talking about. The warm air duct comes directly from the furnace. This was a hard thread to relay without actually seeing the layout of the ducts. I have not smelled that wierd exhaust smell in the last couple of days but it is still mysterious to me? :mask:

[Ed Imeduc]

You have to look at it I dont know what you have there.
Now you can not pan are use the wood joist for a heat duct. All of the heat runs have to be in a full metal duct or metal pipe. Now you can come off of the metal pipe with flex duct to a register outlet. Only the cold air going back to the furnace can be in just a pan joist or like metal sheet nailed to the bottom of the joist to make a duct like. For sure check his out.
That one on the left sure looks like a panned joist to me. Also Id check on the size of the cut outs I see there also in the I joist they look too big to me. Go to the www for the joist maker and see what the cut out is aloud for the Ijoist you have there. :alarm:

ED :thinker:

[chopper33]

The 2 panned joists seen look to be as follows. The panned joist on the left is a cold air return from a room upstairs and the other panned joist on the right with the flex tube coming out of it runs to a vent outside (cold air or fresh air?). The heat ducts are solo metal ducts.

"Also Id check on the size of the cut outs I see there also in the I joist they look too big to me."

What do you mean by "cut outs" in the joist? :mask:

[Ed Imeduc]

Swell on the heat ducts then Its ok. I have found guys that did pan the joist for a heat duct

What do you mean by "cut outs" in the joist?

Did they cut the I joist out there in the back for a 6" pipe to come out of it? With pictures its hard, but like how big is the holes for the sewer drain pipes to go through?

ED ;)

[chopper33]

It looks like the cutout is 3-4" in diameter for a 3" PVC piping. :mask: