"clifto" wrote in message
...
Charles wrote:
"clifto" wrote...
Our house is developing a cigar-smoke smell, and there have never been
any
cigars inside the house (not at all, much less lit ones) in the 5-1/2
years we've been here.

1. Near the cold-air return when the blower is off.
2. Cigarettes were used in the house.

3. 19 months between the last cigarette in the house and the start of the
smell.

Cigarettes are little cigars ... and they can smell about the same under
certain conditions. When the blower is off, it is possible to have a
reverse flow of air and an exchange of stored odors (due to built-up tars
and nicotine).

I could almost go with that, if the smell had shown up within 18 months of
the last smoking. Even the wife, who always hated smoking in the house,
didn't smell this before a week or two ago.

Or, it could be an electrical problem with overheated insulation, which
can
produce all kinds of odors.

My first full-time electronics job started over forty years ago, so I'm
pretty familiar with smells from electrical burning, including insulation.
This isn't even close.

Any other information? Pesticides or fungicides used recently?