How to Control Food Odor Coming Through My Heating Return Vent

Living above a restaurant or near an oft-used kitchen can have its perks, but food odor wafting through your heating return vents is not one of them. Consistent food odor smells can permeate your clothing and the upholstery in your home. Although you can't stop the food odors altogether, you can control how much comes through your vent and how you keep your home deodorized.

Paper
Pen
Filter
Screwdriver
Cotton balls
Essential oil
Duct tape
Bucket
White vinegar
Clean cloths
Exhaust fan
Electric fan

Instructions

- 1
  Keep track of the times when the food odor is strongest. Jot these times down on paper over the course of a week to see if there's a pattern. Close heating return vents during the time in which the food smell is the strongest to control odor.
- 2
  Change the filter in your heating and air conditioning system once each month.
- 3
  
  A couple drops of essential oil freshens an entire room.
  
  Unscrew the heating return vents. Secure a cotton ball inside the vent with a piece of duct tape. Place two drops of essential oil, such as citrus, vanilla or lavender, on the cotton ball. As air moves through the vent and across the cotton ball it sends a pleasant scent into your home.
- 4
  Fill a bucket with full-strength white vinegar. Wash household surfaces that have absorbed food odor to deodorize them.
- 5
  Run exhaust fans in your home to draw the odor out. Open windows during times when the odor isn't as strong. Aim electric fans toward the open windows and turn them on to draw smells out the window.

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