caturine in heater ductwork

I really hope some one can help me. One of my lovely cats have evidently peed down my heater/AC vent in my home.We didn't know it until we turned out furnace on. It sticks horribly. I have taken the vent off and wiped it with soap and even some vinegar. I had to tape the toilet bowl cleaner to a broom so I could get deaper but I cant get all of it. Am I going to have to call someone who works on duct work. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this cleaned up and fast.

Thanks
Shawna

OMG....I can't really help you...but I just wanted to give you my sympathies...that is absolutly horrible.......

I hope you can get it cleaned out....good luck

Have you got the smell cleaned out yet?
I know this is going to sound wierd...but how about trying some type of douch powder? We bought a used freezer once that had a fishy smell...and it took care of that!
If this does`nt do the trick, and you can`t find anything else that does...you could have a section of the duckwork replaced....but I`d want to be sure it was a one time accident and not an ongoing thing before I put the $ into that.
Linda

No I haven't gotten rid of it yet. Luckily you cant really smell it until you turn the furnace on. Except sitting next to the vent you can. I have never had this happen and I haven't seen it ever happen so I am assuming it isn't an ongoing behavior. The guy across the street is always getting under his house and fixing things. I thought about asking him if he and my husband could replace that part. I have no idea how much that is going to cost. Do you think it would be cheaper to have someone come out and clean it or replace it. We are going to have to get it fixed because in the next few weeks we are going to need to be turning it on. Good thing we like it cool in the house. I thought about using lyme on it. I have read that nothing will get rid of it unless it has an enzyme in it. Then I read if you dont take care of it it will rust through the duct work.

Shawna

Been there, done that. Had a feral cat come in one year, sneaking in by the cat door and spray our heater- YUCK! I had to call the repairman out to dismantle the thing, then I took the plate and grid and soaked them in www.zero-urine.com Then I wiped that off, and let it air dry for 24 hours before putting it back together.

When we had a freezer go bad, the maintance man told use to use coffee grounds to get rid of the smell. I used the kind that looks like tea bags.Took care of the smell.Other than that, I would try baking soda and leave it in the vent.Good luck!!!

I went across the street and talked to guy who hopefully would help. He told me to put baking powder down to get rid of the odor and he said to use DAWN dish soap. He said it would neutralize the acid in the urine. Also he said to get a glad plug in and hang it inside the vent and it would send out that smell instead. He promised me the dawn or the BS wouldn't do anything except dry and maybe blow a puff of white in the air. We dont drink coffee or else I would be putting coffee grounds down there right now. He told me to make the BS into a paste. He said worse come to worse and he would crawl under the house with my husband and all they would have to do is pull the duct work apart, maybe a few screws and clean it from there so we could get up into it. So I am glad to hear that. Except I just used the last of by BS the night before last. Go figure. The vent is next to the front door where my cat sees others cats so he said too that was probably a territorial thing. Thanks for your help. I will let you know if it helps.

Well I tried tge dawn soap and scrubbed as well as I could. Then made a baking soda paste and poured it all over the vent and down inside. I also bought a car freshner one of those thin cardboard types. I tied it to the vent cover. I dont have a smell anymore, but haven't turned on the heater yet. The baking soda seemed to really neutralize the smell.

This happened to me when one of my cats started going into heat! She used FOUR of my return vents! It was AWFUL. I scrubbed them with a bleach spray. I still smell it when the heat comes on in winter for a few weeks, hubby says it is my imagination...
I feel for ya...
PS-The cat went immediately to the vet for a spay when I figured it out!!!! NEver did it again..