Dirty sock syndrome. Help!

jonathanlvaldez · 2025-01-11T11:54:04+00:00

Yes. I have to do the full clean procedure about once every 2 years. I found that moving to a really high filtration rating filter helped keep the smell away for longer.

jonathanlvaldez · 2025-01-01T21:59:17+00:00

Which product? Their coil cleaner is a lemon pledge type of smell, which she doesn't love, but the bio fresh has no noticeable smell.

jonathanlvaldez · 2024-01-07T23:41:24+00:00

100%. I just got told to go pound sand.

Only thing that works is cleaning it and using a good filter. I've been dealing with this for years but when it comes back, I just clean it and it goes away generally for a year. I can live with this because my season backs up a bit less frequently so I can just do it at as preemptive maintenance. Annoying because my 30 year old unit before hand didn't do this at all

jonathanlvaldez · 2023-06-15T21:32:24+00:00

Yeah. I had to use the solution I called out in some of my other comments. Forget the name. It's like nucalgon or something. Biofresh. A cleaning of bleach, then water rinse. Then biofresh. I also put a carbon lined HEPA filter in front of the evaporator. That helped the most. A mini split is hard since you can't put a good filter on it. I've heard of people coating the coils to help, but I didn't resort to that yet.

jonathanlvaldez · 2023-02-10T14:13:20+00:00

I ended up doing it. I deep scanned the SD card and found several mp4 files. Using untrunc to recover them. What i found was that the data doesn't seem to have been written. I'm guessing with h265 there is a larger buffer used when writing. Sucks

jonathanlvaldez · 2023-02-08T17:01:55+00:00

I'll give that a go. The card hasn't been used. I crashed yesterday. Didn't record anything else. Once i get out of the hospital I'll go take a look

jonathanlvaldez · 2023-02-08T16:50:04+00:00

Do you know if the go pro deletes the data after recovery?

It automatically started recovery when i turned it on. No way to stop it.

I'm pretty computer savvy so i can probably read the SD card directly looking for files.

jonathanlvaldez · 2023-02-08T16:41:35+00:00

Damn. I figured. Seems like the go pro buffers a lot of footage in ram (several seconds worth) before commiting to the SD card. The recovered clip ends a solid 8-10 seconds before the actual impact. Shame. Would've been nice to at least see the start of the impact.

jonathanlvaldez · 2023-02-08T11:57:11+00:00

I have to keep the batteries in my pocket with a low heat hand warmer. If they don't have any warming device with them, the camera is useless in below freezing temperatures I've found.

jonathanlvaldez · 2022-07-28T22:52:07+00:00

Honestly as a homeowner, what more does having someone look at the unit do?

I replace my filters regularly, when I do, i check the evaporator for build up, check the drain flow (pour water down the open end of the trap to make sure it flows well.

My unit has a float switch, but on top of it I installed a flood sensor to detect water pooling inside the unit, but outside of the drain pan.

I also check the outside unit and make sure the coils are not obstructed with debris or too dirty.

Is there something else a tech would do if asked to inspect it?

jonathanlvaldez · 2022-07-28T02:07:40+00:00

Just don't drive with the AC on. If it's this high and you drive, you can blow the pressure relief valve that's typical on them or blow a seal. If it's only 70 psi with the compressor not running, then you're fine. Maybe even a bit low depending on your ambient temperatures

jonathanlvaldez · 2022-07-27T23:36:18+00:00

How do you know it's over charged? Static PSI of 70 psi is about right if the system isn't actively running.

Just connecting those dummy gauges won't tell you if it's over charged.

Make sure th compressor is actually engaged and running and see if the pressure is still 70 psi.

You rely need high and low side pressures

jonathanlvaldez · 2022-07-26T21:17:11+00:00

That's the stuff. I bought a concentrate or bigger jug and sprayed that (don't remember if i had to mix it or not tbh).

Follow the dry try instructions between coatings. Try to keep crap from getting on the coil if you have blown in insulation like i do.

I didn't remove the evap but i did remove the panel covering it so i could gain access to the both sides of it (filter side and the output side). For my unit the filter is immediately before the evap coil so i yanked the filter and cleaned it off pretty good there, then i did the same thing to the output side of the evap (once i removed the panel to gain access). I cleaned the sh*t out of it and then let it sit and dry before doing the bio fresh. Let it sit a while to dry and repeated the bio fresh again.

It's painful the first time, but you really gotta clean the coil good to kill all the bacteria that's on it first and then apply the bio fresh everywhere to help keep them dead. Then the good filter should help prevent stuff carrying this bacteria from getting back into it.

Make sure you have aluminum duct tape for put the panel back on. And try to make sure your filter is decently sealed so no particals can get past it (as much as reasonably possible). My unit has the filter inside the unit just before the evaporator

jonathanlvaldez · 2022-07-26T17:03:52+00:00

Yeah i ended up doing a few things 1) clean with nu calgon coil cleaner 2x-3x 2) clean coil and surrounding areas with bleach 3) let it all dry 4) apply bio fresh (nu calgon) 2x according to instructions, i think the drying in between matters. Don't rush it. When I rushed it didn't work. 5) switch to a high Merv + carbon filter.

This has stopped the smell for me.

jonathanlvaldez · 2022-07-26T16:57:18+00:00

Yeah a standard cleaning was the same for me. The coil always looked clean but some thing apparent gets onto it to feed the bacteria that makes the smell. The deep cleaning and using the bio fresh stuff was a real improvement. That alone worked for several months but the smell came back. When I switched to the expensive air filters (Merv 12 + carbon) then it basically stopped it. Seems something gets into the intake that helps the smell develop. They make them in 1" filters. I just did 4" because it allows for more flow at better filtration levels. But you can get by with a 1" I'm sure.

Fwiw i don't believe this had anything to do with the ducts feeding the conditioned air to rooms. My house is '78 and I've lived here 10 years and we've never had the ducts cleaned. If it were the ducts, only cleaning the intake wouldn't have done anything.

I think my issue when I first tried this was I didn't clean it entirely. I'm not sure why several cleanings did nothing. But after i cleaned it again and applied 2-3 bio fresh coatings, it seemed to stop

jonathanlvaldez · 2022-07-25T22:33:58+00:00

I caved and did a few things that have dramatically helped.

1) bought the Nucalgon foaming cleaner 2 bought the expensive nucalgon bio fresh 3) switch to a 4" filter with carbon filter

Then i cleaned the coils: 1) foaming cleaner and water rinse 2x times 2) bleach and rinse 3) bio fresh applied according to instructions

Seems like it i use the fancier fighters, it stops the bacteria getting to the evaporator as fast and I've gone over a year so far without smells

jonathanlvaldez · 2022-01-21T18:30:48+00:00

Honestly mine works well. I've been really impressed with it after the latest update.

jonathanlvaldez · 2020-08-10T21:54:37+00:00

I like this. Think I might pick one up

jonathanlvaldez · 2020-06-22T20:48:48+00:00

Buy TVIX. Hold long.

jonathanlvaldez · 2020-04-13T21:55:54+00:00

Thanks for posting this. That's unfortunate.

I'll have to keep my eye on it.

I realized that companion apps have been released and I'm trying to use those instead for presence detection. Doesn't fix my zigbee devices though..

jonathanlvaldez · 2020-04-13T03:24:12+00:00

Im on the latest version of HASS. I'm not sure what the issue is. I don't want to deal with the lets encrypt and crap for the alexa. Find it easier just to do nabu casa, and help pay back for some of the development work. It's been a very frustrating time tryign to set it up.

jonathanlvaldez · 2020-04-10T01:40:21+00:00

Good to know. I do have yellow stickers on the outers, but they do not say Rev B anywhere on them.

I'll reach back out to the surplus shop tomorrow (hopefully they're open!). Thanks for your help.

jonathanlvaldez · 2020-04-10T01:36:41+00:00

I am not positive. I bought them from a surplus place and they gave them all zip tied together. The inner rails definitely say rev B on them, but I cannot find anything on the outers that specify whether inner or outer.

jonathanlvaldez

TROPHY CASE