That smell wasn't a dead animal after all

[CookingWithGas]

I asked for help dealing with a dead animal smell in my house. It was only in one room. We’ve spent weeks trying to find it. Strangely, it was intermittent.

After crawling around the attic, removing switchplates and sniffing, having ducts checked, it finally occurred to us that we only noticed it at certain times. It got worse the longer we were in the room. Then it occurred to us that the only thing that changed when we walked in was that we turned on the light. I reached up to the ceiling fan, which has four lights, and started unscrewing the lampshades. The arrangement is that the socket is ceramic with wide threading around the outside. You put the glass shade so the socket comes through the hole in the shade, then you use a plastic nut to screw onto the threads to hold the shade in place. I took them apart and those plastic nuts (look like a plumbing part that holds a waste pipe to the flange) stank to high heaven. I was very surprised that heated plastic could smell like dead fish but there you have it. They were also browned, like they had been cooked, and had become brittle and cracked. I had put 100-watt bulbs in, but found a little tag that says don’t use bulbs higher than 60 watts.

The lamps have been up there about10 years, I don’t know why they suddenly started to smell, or why they smell at all.

[Shirley_Ujest]

I think you were very close to having a fire.

Be very glad you caught it time.

[teela_brown]

I once accidentally used a saline nasal spray that was very old, and it stank. I thought it was old salt solution, but closer examination proved it was the ancient plastic that was stinky. It actually smelled like organic decay.

[Finagle]

@CookingWithGas

I was very surprised that heated plastic could smell like dead fish but there you have it.

Heh. Must be bakelite.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

@CookingWithGas

I asked for help dealing with a dead animal smell in my house. It was only in one room. We’ve spent weeks trying to find it. Strangely, it was intermittent.

After crawling around the attic, removing switchplates and sniffing, having ducts checked, it finally occurred to us that we only noticed it at certain times. It got worse the longer we were in the room. Then it occurred to us that the only thing that changed when we walked in was that we turned on the light. I reached up to the ceiling fan, which has four lights, and started unscrewing the lampshades. The arrangement is that the socket is ceramic with wide threading around the outside. You put the glass shade so the socket comes through the hole in the shade, then you use a plastic nut to screw onto the threads to hold the shade in place. I took them apart and those plastic nuts (look like a plumbing part that holds a waste pipe to the flange) stank to high heaven. I was very surprised that heated plastic could smell like dead fish but there you have it. They were also browned, like they had been cooked, and had become brittle and cracked. I had put 100-watt bulbs in, but found a little tag that says don’t use bulbs higher than 60 watts.

The lamps have been up there about10 years, I don’t know why they suddenly started to smell, or why they smell at all.

Try using the screw-in fluorescent blubs. They use less than 40 wats of power on the strongest bulb availablr, & will still save energy.

[The_Vorlon]

@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

Try using the screw-in fluorescent blubs. They use less than 40 wats of power on the strongest bulb availablr, & will still save energy.

Just don’t do it if the fixture in question is on a dimmer.

I think Casa Vorlon is down to less than a half dozen conventional lightbulbs—I even found C-7 base bulbs for the hallway fixtures. Now if I could find some C-9 ones for the stove counter lights…

[Lynn_Bodoni]

@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

Try using the screw-in fluorescent blubs. They use less than 40 wats of power on the strongest bulb availablr, & will still save energy.

We love those things. They seem to last a lot longer than incandescent bulbs, too, so we save money AND time.

[Sunspace]

@The Vorlon

Just don’t do it if the fixture in question is on a dimmer.

I think Casa Vorlon is down to less than a half dozen conventional lightbulbs—I even found C-7 base bulbs for the hallway fixtures. Now if I could find some C-9 ones for the stove counter lights…

You can get trilight CF ‘bulbs’, but I don’t know whether those will work on a dimmer circuit.

[Q.E.D]

@Sunspace

You can get trilight CF ‘bulbs’, but I don’t know whether those will work on a dimmer circuit.

They do now make CFL bulbs which will work with a standard solid-state dimmer. Naturally, they’re a bit pricier. Regular CFLs will not work with dimmer, however.

[CookingWithGas]

@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor

Try using the screw-in fluorescent blubs. They use less than 40 wats of power on the strongest bulb availablr, & will still save energy.

I put those everywhere I can but Mrs. Gas hates them. Something about the color of the light, I don’t know.

I have used two types, two different brands. One type seems to have a warm-up period, whereas the others are full speed ahead as soon as I turn them on. The former were bought at Costco at a “bargain” price. All the other ones I bought at Home Depot.