Weird question, maybe, but the integrated AC/heating units in my apartment are passing the smell of cured meats into the unit. I’m talking Summer sausage, pepperoni, chorizo, coppa, lonzino, soujouk, etc., as though I were standing next to a meat counter at a traditional butcher’s with links hanging from the walls/ceiling.

Aside from the remote possibility that the landlord has started storing $50K in salted meats in whatever out-building on the roof contains the building’s air intake & venting, what the Hell could be producing this scent? The AC units are antiquated (50-ish years), fully electric, but not routed to any kind of boiler like some older buildings… is there some chemical of which I’m not aware that could be leaking and producing that smell? If so, it is hazardous?

  • TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ⁽ᵗʰᵉʸ‘ᵗʰᵉᵐ⁾@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    101·
    11 days ago

    Does it genuinely smell like those distinct meats? Or does it smell more like a vague mix of them and kind of like BO? There’s something called dirty sock syndrome, which could be described as smelling vaguely like “lunch meat”, and it’s caused by mold/mildew/bacteria buildup on the evaporator coil

    • Komodo Rodeo@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      11 days ago

      Not any specific one, no, more the variety. It’s not BO, so I don’t think that it could be the ‘dirty sock’ syndrome per se. I guess that it couldn’t hurt to crack them open and take a look at the evaporator coil, but they’re insulated with asbestos so I’ll have to be careful to not disturb it.