From: Stuart Salot <stu**At_Symbol_Here**USA.NET>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] odor question
Date: September 19, 2012 4:58:32 PM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: <BLU171-W370909B00F7B62F79D8E50C89B0**At_Symbol_Here**phx.gbl>


Hello Dan,

There are labs which are equipped to identify low concentrations of VOCs. Many use Suma canisters and some use sorbent tube methods. Once the compound is identified, you may have a better chance of finding the source. Not to alarm you, but PCBs have a "mothball" odor too.

Consider pressure differentials from other areas. The source may be outside of the room in question.

Best Wishes,

Stuart E. Salot, Ph.D.,CIH, ABIH-IEQ
Senior Industrial Hygienist
MES Consulting, LLC
Crane Island
P.O. Box 201
Deer Harbor, Washington 98243
(310) 982-7134 (office)
(310) 507-0270 (fax)

On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 1:07 PM, Dan Herrick <herrickdan**At_Symbol_Here**hotmail.com> wrote:
Greetings all,

We are investigating an Indoor Air Quality issue in an infrequently used faculty office which is full of books, papers, a computer server, etc. The odor is mothballs, and we cannot locate the source. (Believe me, we've been trying!) We've done a lot of work already, investigating, ruling things out, etc. My question to this list is:

Has anyone had an odor issue where a mothball odor was caused by something other than mothballs?

I am aware that the chemical which causes the distinctive odor in mothballs is either naphthalene (older products) or 1,4-Dichlorobenzene (newer products). This faculty member is not doing any chemistry but rather investigates materials and their mechanical properties.

All thoughts are appreciated.

Thank you,

Dan

--------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel C. Herrick

EHS Coordinator, MIT

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Laboratory for Manufacturing & Productivity (LMP)

Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE)

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

email herrickd**At_Symbol_Here**mit.edu

phone 617-253-2338

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 3-056

Cambridge, MA 02139-4307



Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post



The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.