Possum wee wee?

[nats]

First of all - love this forum and i've enjoyed learning from the mistakes of others for months now

But now I have an issue with the aircon that my BIL installed. For the first 10mins , on the fan only cycle, the air wreaks of wee wee
Is it simply a case of get rid of the possums and all is well or has he/she/them/it destroyed my air con???

TIA

[Buzza]

Trap the possums outside with a one-way trap. That is, as they leave the house for their evening rambles, all exit holes should have been be blocked during the day, except one. This will have the trap-door in it. They can get out, but cannot get back in again. This way you do not have to confront them and end up getting done for RSPCA stuff. Do the possum proofing tomorrow if possible. The longer you leave them, the worse the damage. Soon it will appear as a dark stain on your ceilings and then they will need to be replaced unless you know a way of covering the stain.

The smell will only then begin to dissipate. You will live with it for a few months so long as the possums are gone.

[Bleedin Thumb]

Put a cowling cover over the top (only) of your AC unit. The possum pee is most likely raining down from overhead trees. Note dont cover the intake...........

Hang on isn't the intake inside on top of the internal unit? Do you have possum problems inside? Check yor filter you may have a dead mouse in there!

[LeftyJim]

Hi nats,

Was it a reverse cycle or evaporative type of aircon installed ?

I'm assuming due to Sydney humidity levels it was probably a reverse cycle system.

We have the same problem with our ducted system, and while I haven't spoken to the company that installed it yet, I have had a look up in the roof while doing some other work.

The indoor unit (I believe it is called the evaporator) has a large tray below it to collect condensation formed while cooling your house. This is drained outside by a pipe.
In our installation they used a small (~50mm) length of clear tubing at the outlet of the tray, and connected this to some PVC which then ran out to the guttering outside.
I noticed when gently moving the unit that there was still water in the tray after the aircon had been switched off ovenight.

My theory is that it is this water evaporates when you switch the unit on in fan only mode. Because the water contains all the impurities from the air in your house, it is not particulary pleasant smelling - probably a bit of a stagnant pond after a night of incubation in a warm roof space. Once the water has completely evaporated (~10 mins), the smell goes away.

I intend to try and tilt the indoor unit slightly to make sure that it drains all the collected water away.

Any aircon/fridgies have a comment on my theory ?

[nats]

Thanks for your responses
jim I think you might be onto something there with the condensation pooling in the tray. I fear that pipe that runs from the unit might not be on enough of a downward slope before it gets to the gutter outside. (Husband )


Buzza Wow, stain on the ceiling?!? That's sounds a bit devastating considering we only just installed the jiprock about 7 months ago. We have insulation up there.

Bleedin Thumb It's a ducted system. The compressor/condensor what eva the hell its called is on the outside under the car port. It think those rodents ....erm, I mean lovely Aussie fauna are getting into the roof. I was worried they p!$$ed in the ducting or something


A word on possum wee wee ..admittedly I don't know what possum wee really smells like - this smell is just like the koala park so I assume it's feral urine stench for sure

[Ashore]

Mate the drip tray is most proberly the problem , make sure the tray drains away blow down the tube if you can and pour some boiling/ hot water down it to make sure its clear , if this blocks then the tray overflows and can cause a lot of damage to your celing and walls.

Rgds