My mother is out of town and is complaining about a smell that is coming from the PTAC in her hotel room. Whenever she turns on the heat, there’s a slight dead smell, it eventually goes away after it is left on for a while. She took a peek inside the vent and didn’t see any dead rodents or anything. What else could be causing this odor?
There are components of the system you can’t see from the vent. Also, it doesn’t take an entire dead rat to create that smell - just bits and pieces of one, or juices soaking through from somewhere else.
The other possibility is that her sense of smell isn’t quite calibrated right. Heaters common create odd smells, especially if there is organic material in the system (mold, dust, etc)
In any case, what does it matter? It’s not her HVAC system, and if the smell is bad enough, she can request another room (and likely get it).
Someone will have to open things up and figure out what is broken if it comes down to it.
She fears that someone else could’ve died in that room, previously. lol
PTAC? I’ve never heard that term before.
Well, if that were case, the smell would not be coming from the heater, it would be coming from some other object in the room.
She should take heart that it is unlikely to be a smell from a plant or animal not able to fit into a heater. That means a rat or squirrel sized animal at worst.
Google.
Packaged terminal air conditioner.
Again, never heard the term before.