If your air conditioner is beginning to smell, then it's time to find and clear the source of the bad odor. Air conditioning odors usually come from mold and mildew that accumulate from condensation on the refrigerator coils, in a clogged drain pan, or leak in the system. But, animals can also get in the unit and die, creating a really bad odor. You'll need to check for both conditions before cleaning. If you have a window unit, cleaning is a little easier. Depending on the style and model, open the covers, top or access panels of your air conditioning unit. Using a flashlight, look inside the unit for signs of what might be causing the odor. Look for any dead animals (mice, rats, bats, squirrels, or snakes,), decaying vegetation, mold or mildew. If you have a window unit, remove the unit from the window and place it on the ground or a flat outdoor surface. Removing access panels to a window unit may take a little more work because of the amount of screws. Draw a diagram to indicate what screws and snaps go to what panel to make reassembly easier.

While wearing latex gloves, remove any visible debris or dead animals you can reach. When you've removed as much of any debris you can find, use your foaming coil cleaner and spray the air conditioner's coil. Allow the foam to work for about 10 to 15 minutes. This should loosen any dirt, oil or grime. Rinse until the water from the unit runs clear. Find and remove your air conditioner's condensation drain line. Flush the line with bleach and hot water, or with undiluted distilled white vinegar if you don't want to use bleach, to kill any fungi, mold or mildew that may be in the line. Allow the line to dry. While you have the line off, install a three-way clean-out valve to allow for future cleaning without having to remove the line. In a window unit you won't have a line, but will be able to see the built in drain pan and drainage hole. Make sure the pan and hole are clean. Use an old toothbrush if needed. Find the drip or drain pan or tray. Remove and wash thoroughly with hot, soapy water.

Rinse with diluted bleach solution or undiluted white distilled vinegar if you don't want to use bleach. Allow pan to dry. Find and replace, any filters in your unit. If your unit uses reusable filters clean them with hot soapy water and rinse with a diluted bleach solution of 1 part bleach to 10 parts water. air conditioner outside unit costCheck the old filters for mold and mildew.air handling unit sale After cleaning your air conditioner, turn it back on and test the air with a few sniffs. switch on ac unitIf the odor persists, your problem may be in your duct-work.Residents were told to remove window air conditioning units at the height of the summer.  Order this photo  As temperatures rise, so do tempers, and Ken Borden is sweaty and mad.

He’s had an air conditioner in his apartment at Finch Ave. W. and Bathurst St. for more than three years, but last week, when daily highs topped 30 degrees, his landlord told him to get rid of his A/C.“This is a bunch of nonsense,” he said. “Our building collects heat. Our bedroom is really hot, even with the windows and doors open. Without air conditioning, I can’t sleep.”Borden says his wife suffers from migraines that are exacerbated when the mercury rises, so the couple considers adequate cooling to be a health issue.Despite paying for their own hydro, 21 tenants at 521 Finch Ave. W. received three letters in quick succession demanding they get rid of their window units “due to issues with air conditioners causing injury or damage, as well as the additional drain on power to the building systems.”The letters, which the Star has viewed, are dated July 24, 27 and 31, and give the tenant 24 to 72 hours to comply. The last one states that “not removing the A/C by August 1st, 2015 will result in legal actions being taken.”“

It gets very, very hot. Over 35, easy,” said Michael Simand, who also lives in the 91-unit building. “I don’t know what they expect us to do, but there’s no way I’m getting rid of my A/C … not unless the police come.”Brent Merrill, president of MetCap Living Management, which oversees the building, says the leases require tenants to seek permission to install an air conditioner in their unit.“Of course, residents who require A/C units for medical reasons or can provide proof of proper installation from a professional contractor are exempt from this policy,” Merrill wrote, though this was not explained on the letters sent to tenants.The law doesn’t explicitly deal with the question of air conditioning in rental units. While landlords are required to maintain a minimum temperature in the winter, they only have to respect a maximum temperature in buildings that have central air conditioning.Since most of Toronto’s apartment buildings were built before the development of central air systems and lack the ductwork necessary to install them, many of the city’s renters have no alternative to individual air conditioning units when summer temperatures soar.

Geordie Dent, executive director of the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations, says that no matter who pays the bills, landlords can’t prevent a tenant from using air conditioning. “You can do whatever you want in your apartment unless it does something illegal or it damages something, and this is a basic principle of law,” said Dent. “If an air conditioner is causing a brownout in your building, the problem is not the air conditioner. City bylaws are clear on this: you’re supposed to have a proper electrical system, and I don’t know why an air conditioner would blow over the top on that. Many landlords charge a monthly fee for the months when an air conditioner is in use, and this is legal as long as it’s included in the lease, said Mary Todorow, a policy analyst at the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario.“While there’s no absolute right to having an air conditioner in your unit,” she said, “you don’t have reasonable enjoyment of your apartment if you can’t keep it at a healthy temperature.”

According to its own calculations, Toronto has more than 500,000 people living in 1,200 older apartment buildings built between 1945 and 1984, the majority of which do not have central air conditioning.“Many older apartment buildings without air conditioning face significant overheating problems,” states a city staff report tabled in June. “Ensuring access to cooling in apartment buildings that do not have air conditioning is an important but complex undertaking.”The report projects a five-fold increase in the number of heat waves by 2050, which would double the current number of premature deaths caused by heat. A series of consultations hosted by the city has identified solutions that include requiring landlords to provide “cooling centres” once temperatures reach a certain threshold. The city is also studying incentives to induce landlords to retrofit their buildings with roof coatings and window films.These solutions have been developed in places like France and Italy, where heat waves in 2003 killed thousands — mostly seniors and socially isolated people.