Noxious Fumes from Ceiling Fan
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Hello again,
I posted several months ago about a weird smell in my room. With the help of some people I determined it was the tiles and ended up removing them and replacing the subfloor. The smell dissappeared and I had no issues in the rooms upstairs, even while working in them for several hours (4+).
I decided to repaint the rooms before replacing the carpet and it was going along fine until I started using the ceiling fan to dry the paint. I thought the smell was originally the paint or primer residue however it gets stronger when I turn the fan on rather that getting weaker and venting out the window. Today I decided to turn on the fan and open a window (without a window fan venting) and the smell became extremely concentrated. After a few minutes I decided to close the window and turn off the ceiling fan after I started feeling a bit weird in my chest (2 pm). Around 8 pm I developed horific chest pain, where it hurts when I breath in too much. It slowly statted getting better around 1 am (as I type this)
Is it possible this is caused by burning plastic malfunctioning in the ceiling fan, or might it be the fiber glass insulation I added to my ceiling? I’ve been having allergy symptoms since adding the insulation back in september and have been downstairs since october after my last horrific chest pain attack.
My dad and I were perfectly fine for a week working in the rooms (too cold to use fans). I was fine painting in the room without a mask for 5 hours with just the window cracked open.
Trying to decide if I should call and electrician or get an insulator to fix the issue. I feel if it was burning plastic I would have gotten sick immediately rather than a 5 hour delay.
Let me know if you have any input. Ive spent more time in the living room than my bedroom since buying this house and “upgrading” the insulation.
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Replies
If you're having chest pain, you need to go to the hospital. Chest pain is commonly associated with heart problems. That's not something to ask about online! Go to the emergency room!
Regarding the smell, if it's worse with the running, it might actually be caused by the fan. My first thought is that the fan's motor is overheating, and what you're smelling is the classic "burning electrical" smell, which is caused by excessive heat roasting insulating materials inside the machine. An easy test for this is to run the fan for a little while, then turn it off and feel the motor housing. The motor shouldn't be excessively hot -- a little warm is OK, but it should not be at all painful to hold you hand against the housing for an extended period of time. If the motor is overheating, you need to replace the ceiling fan.
Bill
Do I need to disassemble the fan to get to the motor or is feeling it from the outside all I need to do?
Just feel the housing. You don't need to dissassemble anything. The motor should not be more than a little warm to the touch. If it's really hot, you have a problem.
Bill
The window fan was causing a strong vacuum and sucking up the insulation in the kneewalls. Turning on the ceiling fan caused all the insulation on the floor to become airborn, which is why I got sick when it was running.
Talked to electrician and he said it didnt sound like an electrical issue, rather something was getting sucked in. When I checked the room, every surface was saturated in dust. Much of it was straight filaments, about 2mm long that sparkled.
I hepa vacced the entire room and mopped the walls. I then ran the ceiling fan for 20+ hours and it was warm, but not hot. There was no sign of dust in the room.
I ran the window fan for 3 hours with the bottom of the door blocked and the floor was already covered in a fine layer of dust. (Taped black garbage bags to floor by kneewall doors as visual aid). Going to run for another 8 hours to verify its increasing but Im pretty sure this was the issue.
Going to toss the window fan, vacuum the kneewalls floors/ceiling for loose dust, then redo the door seals. Doors are not perfectly flat so I will have to build an inner frame to get a solid seal.
I think the room itself will be fine as long as I dont use the fan anymore. I never had issues before I started using the window fan back in august. The knee walls didnt even have any type of seal the first few months I lived here and I do not remember having any allergic reactions.
Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks for reporting back on what you found.
If that fan was pulling in enough air that "stuff" got carried in too, then you probably have some pretty serious air leaks. I'd try to find those leaks and seal them, which will help to protect you from whatever irritant is in the walls that was bothering you. Without sealing those air leaks, removing the window fan will slow down the amount of air and "stuff" coming into the space, but it probably won't stop it completely, and certain outdoor wind conditions might also make for a bad problem inside. If you can locate those leaks, you can probably seal them to really stop the problem.
Note that you can use a fan to pressurize the room, so that all the leaks go OUT instead of in, to help limit the amount of "stuff" that comes in. While you have the room pressurized, you can use a smoke stick to help locate all the air leaks that need fixing. Electric boxes are a classic leaky spot, as are areas where trim is installed (baseboards, etc.), so I'd be especially careful to check those areas. I've also often found leaks in wall cavities holding ductwork, with the leak going between the duct and the wall cavity (sometimes you don't even have a metal duct and the wall cavity itself is acting as the "duct". You'll want to check those areas too.
Bill
Thanks, ive heard of smoke sticks so Ill go purchase some and set the window fan on reverse.
When I had the fan on I could feel the air being dragged in around the doors. I sealed off the outlets, vents and ceiling fans so I think the only thing left is probably the doors. Ill go around with the smoke stick to verify though.