My husband and I went away for six nights.
- When we came back, we noticed there was a strange smell in our home.
My husband and I checked everything that could possibly be causing the smell. We kept our smart thermostat on the whole time when we were away. We set the smart thermostat to vacation mode, so the air conditioning would remain on but the temperature would not be as cold as it normally would be when we were there. We also noticed that our smart thermostat was showing a high humidity notice, which we have never seen before. Granted, it has been extremely hot and humid out this seemed very odd. My husband suggested checking the air conditioner filter, even though he had just replaced it a few weeks prior to us leaving for vacation. We had to go to a home improvement store to purchase more air conditioner filters. We decided to go with the most expensive air conditioner filters, even though we were not sure if that would make a difference. When my husband got back from the home improvement store and changed the air conditioner filter, it was completely black. We both thought that this was strange because it is recommended to change air conditioner filters every three months, and it had only been a few weeks in between changing air conditioner filters. The completely black air conditioner filter, smell in the house, and high humidity notice on the smart thermostat made my husband think we may need to install a whole home dehumidifier. He decided to call a local HVAC provider in our area. An HVAC technician is coming tomorrow to do routine maintenance and potentially diagnose an issue with our air conditioning.