Air Condition Smell

[posing]

If I turn on the cold air condition, I smell a smell for the first few minutes then it usually goes away.

When I get home, I then get a scratchy throat and a cough which subsides the next day.

Toyota air condition service cost £99.

Are there any other cheaper way to solve this problem with smelly air con? Air con is cold so is not faulty. I guess a air con recharge is not needed.

Maybe a Halfords air con cleaner or something?

Any advice appreciated.

From Toyota website:

"If the condition already exists, spraying a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water (1 to 5 ratio/mixture) or a disinfectant in the outside air intake may help reduce the smell."

Might give it a go

[Jan&tone]

Could be the cabin filter? Depends on the age of the car....

[Parts-King]

Tell your dealer you can get it done for half the price at the next dealer down the road, we charge £59.99 INC a pollen filter. The A/C service we offer covers, Re-gas and oil, pollen filter AND sanitiser, to get rid of the nasty bugs that lurk in your air ducting!

Kingo

[Daveyonthemove]

I bought a 'Comma air conditioner cleaner' from Halfords last month, and it was a waste of money.

I'll be getting it done properly next time.

[Mistermena]

If I turn on the cold air condition, I smell a smell for the first few minutes then it usually goes away.

When I get home, I then get a scratchy throat and a cough which subsides the next day.

Toyota air condition service cost £99.

Are there any other cheaper way to solve this problem with smelly air con? Air con is cold so is not faulty. I guess a air con recharge is not needed.

Maybe a Halfords air con cleaner or something?

Any advice appreciated.

From Toyota website:

"If the condition already exists, spraying a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water (1 to 5 ratio/mixture) or a disinfectant in the outside air intake may help reduce the smell."

Might give it a go

£99 for a air con service! Think they might have seen you coming at that price. Forte has a product called "Air Conditioner Treatment" that you spray down your cabin air vents that kills mould and fungi. £6 off eBay

[dwilson]

Tell your dealer you can get it done for half the price at the next dealer down the road, we charge £59.99 INC a pollen filter. The A/C service we offer covers, Re-gas and oil, pollen filter AND sanitiser, to get rid of the nasty bugs that lurk in your air ducting!

Kingo

I would go for this - especially if health is involved.

Seems a good price for all that

[posing]

I got a new pollen filter and air con bom for £60.

I originally haggled it to £50 to get it done along with my service but on my bill it clearly adds up to £60.

:ffs:

[Daveyonthemove]

Tell your dealer you can get it done for half the price at the next dealer down the road, we charge £59.99 INC a pollen filter. The A/C service we offer covers, Re-gas and oil, pollen filter AND sanitiser, to get rid of the nasty bugs that lurk in your air ducting!

Kingo

Can't argue with that price.

How much will it cost without a pollen filter (mine was replaced last month)?

[Ancient Nerd]

I got a new pollen filter and air con bom for £60.

I originally haggled it to £50 to get it done along with my service but on my bill it clearly adds up to £60.

:ffs:

Always check that your price includes VAT! It makes a big difference.

[johalareewi]

Always check that your price includes VAT! It makes a big difference.

Even moreso now it is 20% :(

[capnbirdseye]

I just checked my filter & it's very black & dirty, according to the schedule it should be replaced at every major service so the previous owner of my vehicle paid for the 20,000 mile service & did not get it replaced as it should have been. it's next major service is 40,000 in Nov & it should be replaced so I will check that it's done.

After finding a step by step photo page of how to remove the glove box & filter I had it out in less than one minute so I can check it along with the air filter before I leave the premises.

[dwilson]

I just checked my filter & it's very black & dirty, according to the schedule it should be replaced at every major service so the previous owner of my vehicle paid for the 20,000 mile service & did not get it replaced as it should have been. it's next major service is 40,000 in Nov & it should be replaced so I will check that it's done.

After finding a step by step photo page of how to remove the glove box & filter I had it out in less than one minute so I can check it along with the air filter before I leave the premises.

My dealer only changed mine at 20k because I specifically asked for it to be done - otherwise they said they wouldn't normally ....

David

[posing]

This is annoying me now.

Today I smell a nasty smell without having air con on. Today is cool and raining and no need for air con but with the smell i have to turn on air con to get rid of it.

To me it seems things today are getting worse with having the air con bom thing done to my car a few weeks ago. The past few weeks were fine no problem with maybe a whiff when i move the car out but that disappears very soon.

Today the smell is continuous for a few minutes after which I have to turn on the air con to remove the smell.

So can air con bom makes things worse? I had it done at the Toyota dealers. Grrr.

[Joseph D]

<snip> we charge £59.99 INC a pollen filter. The A/C service we offer covers, Re-gas and oil, pollen filter AND sanitiser, to get rid of the nasty bugs that lurk in your air ducting!

Kingo

Kingo,

I picked up a brochure on cabin filters (same thing as pollen filters, yeah?) and there is a standard cabin air filter and also an enhanced cabin air filter mentioned.

The enhanced CAF is impregnated with carbon and is quite black to look at.

Why would one use the enhanced CAF over the std CAF?

What is the difference in price?

Thanks.

[kithmo]

The enhanced CAF is impregnated with carbon and is quite black to look at.

Why would one use the enhanced CAF over the std CAF?

The Carbon impregnated cabin filter filters out odours as well as pollen, dust etc.

[wass]

I used to work with general air conditioning. Usually, the rate at which any filter becomes dirty is dependant only on what is contained in the air one passes through the filter. If you spend a long time following smokey lorries closely, for example, your pollen filter will be very dirty, very quickly. At some times of the year, the trees and roadside plants release a fluffy substance which blocks the air conditioning filter ( and also the engine air filter) very quickly indeed. Again, the degree to which the filters are blocked depends upon the amount of contaminants there are in the air which passes through the filters. To say that filters need changing every so many months or so many mile is a generalisation since filter changing really should have very little bearing on mileage or age of the filters.

The smell....... We used to encounter air conditioners which would smell even very shortly after a thorough strip down service. Since our business depended on finding out the source of the odour ( which was akin to a horse stable odour) we investigated the cause with some enthusiasm. The smell is bacterial which is caused by bacteria which breed in the coil and condensate drain pipe. Cleaning the coil and the drain simply reduces the amount of bacteria which improves the smell for a short period until the few remaining bacteria multiply and then you have the smell again. We used to refer to the problem as the air conditioner having an infected coil. Once the problem was isolated the solution was easy to apply. Spray the air inlet to the air conditioner with a nice smelling germ killing disinfectant. (as toyota recommend) The spray would go through the coil killing the bacteria on its way and would exit the air conditioner through the condensate drain killing the bacteria in the drain too.

Interestingly we discovered that air conditioners which had been sprayed with air freshener or which were used in environments which people used spray perfumes or hairspray seemed particularly susceptible to bad smells. Our air conditioner technicians had ot encountered this problem at all with air conditioning until the nineties when , funnily enough, the law changed which governed the type of propellants which were allowed to be used in aerosol sprays. Maybe this is just coincidence!

I hope this addresses some mysteries :)

[Sagitar]

I used to work with general air conditioning. Usually, the rate at which any filter becomes dirty is dependant only on what is contained in the air one passes through the filter. If you spend a long time following smokey lorries closely, for example, your pollen filter will be very dirty, very quickly. At some times of the year, the trees and roadside plants release a fluffy substance which blocks the air conditioning filter ( and also the engine air filter) very quickly indeed. Again, the degree to which the filters are blocked depends upon the amount of contaminants there are in the air which passes through the filters. To say that filters need changing every so many months or so many mile is a generalisation since filter changing really should have very little bearing on mileage or age of the filters.

The smell....... We used to encounter air conditioners which would smell even very shortly after a thorough strip down service. Since our business depended on finding out the source of the odour ( which was akin to a horse stable odour) we investigated the cause with some enthusiasm. The smell is bacterial which is caused by bacteria which breed in the coil and condensate drain pipe. Cleaning the coil and the drain simply reduces the amount of bacteria which improves the smell for a short period until the few remaining bacteria multiply and then you have the smell again. We used to refer to the problem as the air conditioner having an infected coil. Once the problem was isolated the solution was easy to apply. Spray the air inlet to the air conditioner with a nice smelling germ killing disinfectant. (as toyota recommend) The spray would go through the coil killing the bacteria on its way and would exit the air conditioner through the condensate drain killing the bacteria in the drain too.

Interestingly we discovered that air conditioners which had been sprayed with air freshener or which were used in environments which people used spray perfumes or hairspray seemed particularly susceptible to bad smells. Our air conditioner technicians had ot encountered this problem at all with air conditioning until the nineties when , funnily enough, the law changed which governed the type of propellants which were allowed to be used in aerosol sprays. Maybe this is just coincidence!

I hope this addresses some mysteries :)

Parts of that are quite frightening. Isn't this how "Legionaires" gets started?

[wass]

" Parts of that are quite frightening. Isn't this how "Legionaires" gets started?"

No it isnt. . Legionella form in water at certain temperatures above 20 C and below 60 C. In order for people to contract legionaires disease, it is necessary to atomise the water containing legionella and for the victims to breath in the atomised droplets of infected water. Funily enough, drinking legionella infected water is in the most part, harmless. Legionaires disease is relatively uncommon but the chances of contacting legionaires disease are increased with the use of cooling tower type air conditioning AKA evaporative cooling. This type of air conditioning is not used in cars but is used in industrial processes, it is very often controlled by biocide dosing the water which is used. The bacteria I refer to in my descripion of smelly car air conditioning just doesnt smell nice. A pathologist once told me that the smell is caused by the dead bacteria so following his logic, one needs to clean, flush and sanitise which is exactly what Toyota advise in their suggestion.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Different kind of air conditioning system.

Legionaires gets carried in small water vapour which when breathed in, heads on down into the nice warm, damp conditions of your lungs and breeds. You can get legionaires if the hot water system isn't hot enough and occasion use showers (non electric) can be a source. Always ensure your hot water is over 55c at least and you should be ok.

[Sagitar]

Well that's a relief. It was reading of bacteria in the condensate drain and looking at the pool of water left under the car when I drive it out of the garage and which evaporates away during the day that got me going.

Thanks for the very clear explanation