From: Dan Herrick [mailto:herrickdan**At_Symbol_Here**HOTMAIL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 10:07 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] odor question
 

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

 

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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