Has anyone had their ducting cleaned

[ageless]

I read many threads on the Hatteras smells and causes but here's one I haven't seen mentioned. We have a musty smell that seems to be within the HVAC system. As most know, our units are brand new and "yes" the smell existed prior to install. I have visualized all the ducting I can access and see no tears, loose connections, or wet areas so I'm wondering if the system can be cleaned?

All the screens/filters to the units are new and clean. I pulled each discharge vent and there's years of dust I vacuumed out and wiped down with antibacterial wipes but no real change.

 

[cww]

The only reliable way I've found to get rid of the "hatteras smell" is an ozone generator. Let it run for a few days and it kills it dead. The next time you have a diesel fuel leak, or when you have a water leak that leads to standing water in the bilge, it will come back. But the ozone generator will get rid of the smell. I'm not sure duct cleaning is going to do much.

 

[Sadey]

I replaced all of the flexible duct work on Benedetto and wow what a difference, no more musty smell! I also painted, with Kilz, the air handler compartments for the master and VIP staterooms which I'm sure made a difference based on what the area looked like before paint.

 

[ageless]

thanks for the responses gentleman. I found a compartment with some raw water standing, cleaned that up but still no real change. Looking into generator

 

[SEVEN]

Spray your head hoses and bilge with a deluded product called odor gone. It neutralizes.the nasty smell and leaves a fresh sent. I did it 8 years ago and the smell has not returned.

 

[ageless]

Spray your head hoses and bilge with a deluded product called odor gone. It neutralizes.the nasty smell and leaves a fresh sent. I did it 8 years ago and the smell has not returned.

I’ll give it a go. The only black water hoses that aren’t a couple months old are from tank to pump out

 

[cww]

I’ll give it a go. The only black water hoses that aren’t a couple months old are from tank to pump out

On my boat I think a lot the smell was standing water in the bilges. Water gets an odor to it when it sits, and these boats have lots of little boxes built into the stringer system for some reason, that collect water that doesn't fully drain to a pump through the limber holes. I had to get the rudder packing glands tightened, I had to get the stuffing boxes repacked in the engine rooms, and I had to replace the water pump on the generator, all of which were leaking. I then went and got a ton of water out of the bilge, which after all the work have mostly stayed dry. That made the smell better.

But it didn't fully go away until I got the ozone generator. I think it was a combination of the two things. Now I walk into the boat and it smells like, how do I put it, not a fresh meadow with lavender blooms like in an air freshener commercial or something, but it smells normal now like walking into a house. The ozone generator doesn't make it smell like anything, it just makes it not smell like anything. If that makes sense.

Once I figured out what was causing it, whenever I've smelled that smell I've gone looking for a leak and sure enough there's standing water in a bilge compartment somewhere. The last time it was a bad switch in the shower sump that was letting the water overflow and sit in the bilge. I fixed it and ran the ozone generator again and now it smells fine again.

 

[firbanks]

Thing that helped our boat stay low smell: dry bilges (dripless shaft seals, replacement stabilizer seals), new head hoses, replaced almost every inch of ac flexiduct, painted ac plenum boxes with mold resistant paint, cleaned all evaporator coils, ensure evaporator coil pans drain well, clean shower sump boxes periodically (consider making plexiglass covers with holes drilled for drains for sumps), stop freshwater leaks (polybutylene pipe connectors) and seek out wet wood - it smells, paint bilges with bilgekote.

 

[Dragonten]

What I found to be major source of the Hatteras smell on my boat is standing oily bildge water under the engines and stern master state room. It is the oil that seemed to be the main culprit. Once this is removed with the water the smell pretty much went away.