1300-ODOURS

Air conditioning in bin rooms: why it spreads odour

Air conditioning has the benefit of keeping a garbage room cooler, but air conditioning often creates more odours, sometimes significantly. The extra airflow across the bins creates increased odour: air moving over an odour source, even cool air, makes the odours airborne, and spreads them around the room and up the chute.

The short answer

Air blowing over the bins picks up odour from the garbage as the air passes.

A bin room with an air conditioner on the wallIn still air, a little odour rises and stays close to the bins. When the air conditioner blows air across the bins, far more odour is lifted off the garbage and carried across the room.Bin roomThe air conditioneris offIn still air, the odourstays close to the binsAir blows across thebinsMoving air lifts farmore odour off thegarbage and carriesthe odour across theroom
Still air

With the air still, most of the odour stays close to the bins.

Cold air blows across the bin, picks up odour as the air passes, and carries the odour off into the room.

What air conditioning does

  • Air conditioning keeps the room cooler, which can slow down how quickly garbage starts to smell in hot weather.
  • Air conditioning makes the room more comfortable for the people who work there.
  • Air conditioning is often already there, so costs nothing extra to use.

Why the odour comes back

  • Air blowing over the bins picks up odour from the garbage as the air passes.
  • That air carries the odour around the room, and into the chute if there is one.
  • Cooling slows the odour down, but doesn't remove the odour.

Why does moving air make bin room odour worse?

Garbage gives off odour all the time. In still air, most of the odour stays close to the bins. Air moving across the bins lifts far more odour off the garbage and carries the odour around the room, out through the door and up the chute. It doesn't matter what moves the air: air conditioning, an extraction fan, an open door or a draught all have the same effect. The faster the air moves over the bins, the more odour the air carries.

What works instead

The Garbage Doctor® neutralises the odour at the source, without masking the odour. UV lamps inside the machine turn a little of the air's oxygen into ozone, and PVC conduit targets the ozone as close as possible to the odour sources, such as the bins and the inside of the chute, 24/7. There's nothing to refill, and the ongoing maintenance is very low.

Using both together. We recommend trying the air conditioning both on and off, so you can compare for yourself. Where you can, point the air conditioner's airflow away from the bins. Our technicians can recommend the best settings for your room when they set up the Garbage Doctor, or you are welcome to send us photos showing the air conditioning and the bins.
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Questions

Should we turn the air conditioning off?

It's best to experiment: turn the air conditioning on, check the bin room after 2 hours, then turn it off and check again after 2 hours. In most cases, with the Garbage Doctor set up correctly, you'll find fewer odours with the air conditioning off. If you keep the air conditioning on, we recommend the lowest fan setting and the lowest temperature, with the louvres pointed at the ceiling or away from the bins.

Where should the airflow point?

Away from the bins and the chute opening, where possible, as air moving over the bins, even cool air, makes the odours airborne.

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