Let us know in 6 months - 1 year how the new Lennox coil holds up. The white dust you see is simply a by-product of the water you are using. Are you farther suggesting that consumers should go as far as knowing about ADP problems and the information is easily available to consumers? scenario 4: similar to the previous except I would get rid of my existing TV stand, and mount the TV on the tall thin stand as shown in scenario #1. The lawyers get paid, other than that good luck. It could be the coil just as much as it could be the furnace. We do. Where do you live? Using it as a teaching tool. Then she transferred me to whatever department, and I was on hold for two hours until my phone died. When I am upstairs I can bear it click on, but do not notice any motor noise. also says its used in diaper rash paste, so... you should be ok in that aspect lol! When the water goes through the humidifying process and is essentially vaporized, those minerals take on a solid form and look like white dust. L.E., Sorry but I have to call you out on the obvious here but you asked for it. Thank You! Some households have reported that changing brands of toilet paper can substantially reduce white dust. Over the years we've noticed that our dust accumulation on all levels tends to have what appears to be a super-fine white dust, almost "chalky" or "soft" in appearance and feel. Additionally, it’s important to check the ductwork in your home. I was just told it might be because the outlet isn't grounded. In the first picture, the pan was full of that white powder stuff.! Are there any UV lights or herbicidal bulbs installed in your equipment? When I'm concurned something might be hazardous,I've always looked under testing labs that advertise "environmental testing". ....Also, the flakes and smell ONLY seem to occur when it's colder than around 35 degrees...which means I must have a some type of dual auxiliary system that comes on? I have whitish yellow coming out of our heat ruins and it leaves a terrible taste in your mouth would any know what that might be and is it haz to breath. The pax would be the bigger 78" one so all my stuff would fit. … Aluminum melting point is very low so I believe they may use a chemical reaction paste of some sort to seal the hair pin bends. The white flakes look like dandruff for a lack of a better comparison. I'm wondering if there are some chemicals used in the manufacturing of the furnace that are reacting, possibly with something like salt in the air, then settling. Since it is concrete walls built for hurricaine protection my contractor does not want to break it, he wants to go through ceiling and roof.Now I am afraid of leaking through ceiling and roof? (In fact read the fine print of your manufacture warranty and it will tell you in black and white print.). Wish yal well; I'll post exactly what the problem was soon. HVAC equipment and materials used to produce them have changed. Third party coil is separate from major manufacture. Benign chemicals can evaporate, mix and react in the air, forming a white powder that than settles (and it goes everywhere). If they don't do it, they could probably direct you to someone who does. I had a brand new McQuay Water Source Heat Pump (19K BTUs) HVAC unit installed in my apartment less than one year ago. Maybe this secondary system is causing the flakes and smell, is what I am guessing. 20 Ideas for Daring Ductwork, Need help starting a gas fireplace during this power outage. I really do appreciate all of your responses, it really helped me get through this, like I wasn't all alone through this. pros: tv would remain on a normal stand vs. a thin metallic one (don't know if this actually looks good in an apartment). I wager few know who manufacture's components from which Cummins assemble's their engine. That all makes very good sense..! Many HVAC contractors will also do assessments and upgrades. In all scenarios, I'm getting rid of the mirrored pax, replacing it with a narrower leaning mirror so that I can move my bed a bit away from the window and so things don't look as tight by the bed. The better the filter, the less dust is recirculated thru the structure. Your ductwork has a coating inside. So for a better best dust-capture system, you want to upgrade to a more effective air filter. The house is about 5 months old. Does anyone know if that's what the white powder stuff is, for sure? In February of 2012 the home’s original furnace failed and a new unit was installed. I'm sure you will sleep better tonight than since this began. As a side note your coil is 3rd party ADP coil. It's also possible the flaking could be a combination of both furnace and coil. Your ductwork may be a large contributing factor. Now the white dust could be aluminum oxide, or aluminum rust, as the fins break down. Gain access to our free AOP (Ask a Professional) Section to get real answers for your questions. I'm just super curious as to what the stuff is that we have inhaled a lot of in the last two weeks.? Call a lab to see how they prefer material be collected and handled before they analyze it. When the mist lands on furniture or other surfaces and dries, it can sometimes leave behind the dried mineral deposits, or "white dust". Make sure it doesn't say ADP on the upper unit.\. Thanks for the clearification Mike. We put the filter in the hall ceiling so easy to access for my tall husband. Are you suggesting consumers should know who manufacture's components of their purchases? It is on kitchen wall which is an exterior wall-- is that what u meant? I want to make sure I understand how this was resolved. When you have more than one manfacturer you open the possibility of finger pointing. 5 Answers. The dust normally has a grit to it rather than normal dust you’d find around the house. (for the3rd time because my HVAC guy and I have tried so many different things, and it still keeps blowing out all over the house every time.). Did you see my last post, yesterday....I'm pretty sure it's the coils. The flakes are too fine to be able to gather and send to a lab. It was white soot in 80% furnace due to incomplete combustion. I am having white powder/dust coming from my hvac system. Need help. Next to the pax I'd put a small ~33" desk. I warned that there might be more questions. If so that is the root cause of this white powder. HVAC thermostat. (We have a toddler), My HVAC guy and I spent 2 days sealing and checking everything. Our 20th year anniversary is May 21, 2020. As we often see,plastic turn's to dust with age. In the basement on the other side of the big room? Need help with AC/furnace noise in basement TV area, Please help me in choosing a kitchen vent hood, please help me organize this small NYC studio.... design disaster, It's a gas furnace. Ok, after sending a very strong email to Lennox Corp., the rep called me the very next morning. If that's the case that kind of surprises me. These dust “entry points” also may become unsealed when adding retrofit applications. Your furnace exhaust pipe should never have white residue or rust on the exterior. The second picture is the new coil which apparently doesn't have any copper.. White dust on the dash . I left him two messages yesterday and another one today. I've used off brand coils when other coils I want are not available. Scenario 1: Since there is no more mirror pax, the white pax would double in size (to 78") and I would put the tv on a metallic thin stand on an angle. What do you guys think? The fan is clean. If I had to guess I think it's probably the breakdown of the chemicals / material they use to seal the joints in the aluminum tubes on the ends of the coil of the hair pin bends at the end of the coil where the connections come thru the end of the coil to the line set. Built and sealed a new intake box underneath. En continuant à naviguer sur ce site ou à utiliser cette application, j'accepte que le groupe Houzz utilise des cookies ou d'autres technologies similaires pour améliorer ses produits et services, me proposer du contenu pertinent et personnaliser l'expérience utilisateur. Use the biggest hammer you like, pounding a square peg into a round hole does not equal a proper fit. Everything looked good, but I started noticing white dust on things, mostly dark surfaces, and when I said something, both guys swear they dusted. Having the same problem in Atlanta,GA. I'm pretty sure there is no intake vent on the top floor. So the system will not run for a day or two, then finally come on to cool the home...and then the dust is clearly visible on dark furniture and items near the vents. HVAC works by pulling air from inside structure (return) which is filtered. It happened every time the AC when on. I can also smell a chemical type smell sometimes and I really get headaches. Thank you; I am learning a lot here.! INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING ENVIRONMENT. Thanks again. Flakes of dead skin, hair and pet dander catch onto the dust, and before too long this process creates a dense, mat-like environment where bacteria, mold, dust mites and allergens can flourish. I do not subscribe to the theories above. Fred -- not sure what you mean by outside or inside wall. Peter and Klem1, first of all thank you both very much for taking the time to reply. I have a place in Florida with a 6 month old Trane unit. When I called the Lennox Corp, yesterday afternoon, the woman who answered told me she knows about this and that another person had just called in with this exact problem a couple days ago. He said it is zinc oxide. White dust is the result of minerals like calcium and magnesium in the water going through the humidifier and into the air. We moved in 3.5 years ago. Your heating and air conditioning system will try to filter out the dust and debris in your home, but sometimes that is not enough to keep your air clean in this situation. http://www.mcquay.com/mcquaybiz/lite...SHPConsole.pdf. (location, location). This is another reason third party coils should be avoided.". Kevin- my house is a 1960 house in Florida -- so exterior walls are concrete and ceiling is plaster with a truss roof. Thanks. This, too, is a major place dust can accumulate. cons: no desk, total pax (59") is smaller than what I have now, view of the back of my sofa isn't as pretty (same solution as above) Scenario 3: Completely different. A stand like this one: pros: 78" pax would be the same amount of closet space as I have now, so not foregoing closet/storage space. so, unfortunatly, I'm really unfamiliar with HVAC systems and I am trying to learn as we go....what might cause incomplete combustion? Step one is to confirm whether the forced air heating system is the source of the white granules. If you can post pictures of what I mentioned in prior post. My personal guess was incomplete combustion reaction with moisture and may be traces of sulfur and aluminum parts. Any clue why this is happening? pros: can fit a desk, can see the front of my sofa, which I think is really pretty with the pillows cons: could possibly look like i have too much furniture, might look tight with the TV stand 5" from the bed, not sure how easily it would be to make my bed since the TV stand is right up against it. Is this aluminum oxide precipitate from an oxidation reaction of the coils. H2 H1 C1?????? However, after I switched over to heating recently in November, white dust / flakes began blowing out of the unit. The road to successful design is paved with disaster stories. Can the installer account for all bags that contained paper work? Prior to the replacement of the HVAC system the home had normal levels of dust and no health concerns were noted. Here’s how to keep them that way, Ignore the instinct to go with white. There is no way any type of Trane air handling unit can manufacture dust all on its own and I do not believe you when you say HVAC experts do not have an explanation for you about where the dust is coming from. So the other thing in common with these problems is recently installed equipment. It isn't coming from the intake. What kind of emergency heating would you recommend? also, yes the ADP coil had copper tubes/pipes. It would appear that your contractor ran the heating/cooling system during final sanding of your walls. If you can post pictures of what I mentioned in prior post. Experiencing coughing headaches. The flakes and smell did NOT come out of the vents when the AC ran over the summer. It is a fairly large room with that TV area to one side, a wet bar against one wall; and built in bunk beds against the other wall under the stairs. You can be sure the gal that put you on hold will deny talking to you and Lennox will say you should have contacted them earlier. And I've read some of the parts in the furnace these days are aluminum. Sealed inside of every vent/duct to make sure it wasn't drywall. The consumer relies on the installer and manufacturer to resolve the problem in my opinion. As far as toxicity you would have to have the material tested as already mentioned. Anyway, my local Lennox rep. said he had the exact same problem in his house last November.! The Lennox representative, which I assume is a HVAC distributor, agreed the coil was defective and replaced it with a Lennox coil. I really did learn something from everyone of your guy's posts.. Oh ya, the Lennox rep. told me that it was zinc oxide. Sometimes the dust and debris originates from your ductwork and heating vents. We have a 6 month old Lennox HVAC, and the white flakes started coming out of all of the vents when we turned on the heat a couple of weeks ago. When it comes to aluminum there are special processes manufacturers use to: 1: meld / fuse copper to aluminum so that the copper end is used to attach to lineset. Multiple Toyota and Lexus models suffer from a buildup of white dust on the dash. I took the cover off the inside part of the unit and found that the flakes where inside the coils. I'm not sure if it is or isn't, so I guess I'll check that tomorrow. Dust comes from many sources, including pet dander, dust mites, tracked-in dirt, and blown-in pollen. The better the filter, the less dust is recirculated thru the structure. Most air conditioning and heating systems come with a very basic fiberglass filter, which only catches about 10% of the dust that your fan sucks up. It looks like the old ADP coil may have been copper coil? HVAC DUST CONTAMINATION STUDY; Suggested citation for this web page. and please keep sending any info or ideas that you might have.). The only other intake that I can think of is the one in the main floor hall. Not sure of all the technical issues, but we decided to go with a less efficient unit wanting our house to breathe naturally. Dust-contaminated HVAC systems: This article describes drywall dust or construction dust contamination of air conditioning or heating system air handlers. HVAC DUST CONTAMINATION STUDY at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice. Hello! He also said he would get the part I needed to replace, and pay my HVAC guy to install it. I hope I will be able to figure it out....it's driving me crazy, because the smell is horrible. When the new furnace was installed the home owner began to experience health effects when in the home. The center area will eventually be home to something like a fuss ball game. Trane Air Handler Making Dust | HVAC Troubleshooting. We learned about these appliances and their powdery by-product a few years ago the hard way. The Lennox rep said he would take care of the installation costs. It is a new system installed early summer of this year. The furnace sits opposite side of coil in your configuration, so the flakes if coming off the coil, have a far shorter path to travel out your vents. Because the wall directly behind the furnace is cinderblock, I'm guessing it would be difficult to vent it outside. Yes, I am curious to these questions too. The most probable and largest source is from your heating and air conditioning system. The HVAC guy said he does not understand. Also, if this is a common problem, it could be filed as a class action lawsuit.) I'm still at a complete loss, and don't know if this is hazardous. Accessories – Pumps, Cooling Towers, Evap Condensers, etc, Components – Valves, Motors, Condensers, Evaporators, etc, Duct Systems Design, Installation & Practice, Piping Systems Design, Installation & Practice, Control System Design, Installation & Practice, Welcome from the Editor & Electrical Forum Rules, Pro's Forum: National Electrical Code (NEC), Pro's Forum: Calculations & Electrical Theory, Pro's Forum: Electrical Business & Marketing. Here is a picture of a table underneath a vent. Hello Betsy! Apparently the Lennnox rep told my HVAC guy yesterday that he's seen this problem before and that it's the furnace. Problem is if this stuff is breaking down / flaking off the coil will most like start leaking refrigerant at some point. I'll let you guys know what happens with the rep/$. Top floor bedroom? If so, I would expect it to diminish with time. It only cost's less than $100 to get an analysis of what it is and if it's dangerous. The #1 question asked by NEW MEMBERS. The liner could have been on the brink of falling apart when higher velocity of new blower finished the deed. Ask Our Pros-Owner Assistance - NO DIY advice will be given. Powder samples obtained from drain pan , coils and ducts. I do not know what kind of chem/test place to look for.. ? Air filters remove most of these from the air stream, but not for all parts of the HVAC system. Uncovered dirt crawl space is my first clue. Heck for all we know its drywall dust...? I will have them explain to me exactly what the problem was. We live in a house in the northeast built in the 1990s. We live in the mid-west with two complete systems one is on the attic. It feels I am between a rock and hard place -- I will ask the local inspectors. Where would you put a second intake? Given the environment (coastal area) this for some reason seams to be the common theme for problems of this nature. No UV lights.. new filter. The new 'Lennox' coil is all aluminum. :) The HVAC manufacturers cut corners to save money and starting installing aluminum coils instead of copper. The parts and labor were all covered by the warranty. Furnace: is it a gas furnace or electric? Only ultrasonic and impeller humidifiers release these types of particles. Dust-related issues with the AC system begin with poorly sealed ductwork. Just curious David B do you experience strange smell ever? So the problem was having a copper coil instead of an aluminum one. Installation instructions, owner's manual and other documents are shipped in plastic bags. Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question … Remember you got the trip there and back to consider... so $2+ a gallon there and back. Much Appreciated! It's well known Cummins build's engines for Dodge Ram,it say's so on both front fenders. If this coil is a Lennox product manufactured by ADP then Lennox needs to take responsibility. So what ADP does is typically beyond Lennox or any other major manufacturer. I am curious if your problem has reoccurred or if replacing the coil was the end of the problem? If your air ducts are leaking, it can cause small particles to build up in your HVAC system, resulting in dirty air. ( just FYI, in a civil case I have the right to a jury trial. Inside your HVAC system, fine dust collects on air duct surfaces, vents, motors and coils. If the coil was delivered in a box labeled Lennox,are you saying Lennox isn't responsible for defects and therefore customers must deal with the coil manufacturer? (we did change the coil as well). Your a/c is shooting out cold air and it is reacting with the hot air in the house. Yes... we are 20 years old. So, I hope he follows through.\. It is drywall dust, that is true. I was always having to clean the bathroom fan, which is right above the toilet. No I just read aluminum oxide is poisonous. The bathroom is the only other room in the basement. The tv would be on a stand (the one I have now) at the base of my bed, and would almost serve as a room divider. This reminds me of a phenomenon common in chemistry labs. This dust is actually more of a nuisance than a risk in most cases. White dust is usually caused by mineral content in the water that goes into a humidifier. Get answers to all of your HVAC questions & connect with trusted HVAC professionals on HVAC.com, the #1 online heating and air conditioning resource. It's kinda freakin me out so i've been trying to keep my family out of the house, while I have to clean the entire house extremely well this time. This is happening all over my house! I have contacted my builder (Schumacher Homes) and they could seem to care a less. If it is the furnace my suspicion would be that there is some manufacturing process or film of some type on heat exchanger and the heating of the exchanger and environment leads to this flaking. Thank you for your help. I would call this place if you are interested in getting any material tested. Participate in over 40 different forums and search/browse from nearly 3 million posts. Ideas for second intake? Explaining the hardship that I have gone through, as well as exposing my wife and son to talk to chemicals, I think I would have a very strong case that they would have to settle out of court.