Air Conditioning Questions

[Nightowl11]

Has anyone experienced or noticed small particles/debris coming out of the air conditioner on the ceiling or just in the rooms?  There seems to be small specks of mostly black particles landing on everything. Some have blue or yellow in them too.  I’ve taken close up pictures to try and figure out what they are.  We’ve had maintenance come in to clean out the vent but it’s still happening.  What could these things be?  Was there a fire or other incident on the Crown where this could be coming from?  They are very small but can be seen on the chairs and tables. 

[Outerdog]

I don't know the answer but I can tell you that there are only two or three people who frequent this forum qualified to answer this. One of them is @chengkp75

[cr8tiv1]

I'd be pretty alarmed.  Please let us know.

[PacnGoNow]

6 hours ago, Nightowl11 said:

Has anyone experienced or noticed small particles/debris coming out of the air conditioner on the ceiling or just in the rooms?  There seems to be small specks of mostly black particles landing on everything. Some have blue or yellow in them too.  I’ve taken close up pictures to try and figure out what they are.  We’ve had maintenance come in to clean out the vent but it’s still happening.  What could these things be?  Was there a fire or other incident on the Crown where this could be coming from?  They are very small but can be seen on the chairs and tables. 

Did NOT notice anything like this in Nov/Dec OB 28 nights.  
 

Are in an Aft facing cabin?  Deck and location?

 

[TravelDan99]

one quick remedy is to go to service desk or report better yet thru medallion as there is a record and insist you get moved to another cabin immediately, and if there is ANY change in location or grade level, you will receive compensation for your inconvenience. I have direct experience last year where that situation aggravated and worsened my bacterial pneumonia i acquired on the Diamond Princess. You will receive future cruise credits. I received $300 per person for the inconvenience as that is what they offered, but, I later learned you can ask for more whatever your offer is if you feel it is unfair. There is no price where health could be compromised. Good Luck!!!

[MissP22]

Keep complaining until they move you. 

[chengkp75]

Can't really tell from the photos, but I would suspect that this is from the "fresh air" AC system, so moving to another room may not solve the problem, as that system supplies many cabins in common.  It looks to me like the air filter in the air handler has plugged up, and blown through, allowing particulate matter, like from the engine exhausts (and some looks like it was in the filter for a while, and got salt encrusted), to travel through the ductwork.  The "stringy" bits in the top right photo look like a piece of the air filter.

[Nightowl11]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did NOT notice anything like this in Nov/Dec OB 28 nights.  
 

Are in an Aft facing cabin?  Deck and location?

 

Yes we are in an aft cabin, Crown, D736 but this is happening when the door is closed. We purposely closed the doors, cleaned off the chair and table and did not open anything for a few hours.  We also cleaned the outside tables and chairs and these particles were not on them. 

[Nightowl11]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Can't really tell from the photos, but I would suspect that this is from the "fresh air" AC system, so moving to another room may not solve the problem, as that system supplies many cabins in common.  It looks to me like the air filter in the air handler has plugged up, and blown through, allowing particulate matter, like from the engine exhausts (and some looks like it was in the filter for a while, and got salt encrusted), to travel through the ductwork.  The "stringy" bits in the top right photo look like a piece of the air filter.

That kinda makes sense. We will check with our neighbors if they noticed this too.  And I will talk to maintenance again.   We are on this ship for 8 more days. There are no other comparable rooms to move us to since we are in a suite and only insides are left.  

[Nightowl11]

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Keep complaining until they move you. 

We will keep complaining for sure. This ship is full in all cabins except insides. Unfortunately we are in a suite. 

[PacnGoNow]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Can't really tell from the photos, but I would suspect that this is from the "fresh air" AC system, so moving to another room may not solve the problem, as that system supplies many cabins in common.  It looks to me like the air filter in the air handler has plugged up, and blown through, allowing particulate matter, like from the engine exhausts (and some looks like it was in the filter for a while, and got salt encrusted), to travel through the ductwork.  The "stringy" bits in the top right photo look like a piece of the air filter.

Some of those particles look like the exhaust soot, don’t they?

 

Is it possible to get through to the air handler to fix it?

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

46 minutes ago, Nightowl11 said:

We will keep complaining for sure. This ship is full in all cabins except insides. Unfortunately we are in a suite. 

D736 is such a nice cabin with a great balcony.  

 

I asked earlier about the Aft, because some of it, not all of it, looks like soot from the exhaust system outside. But, yours is coming from the inside.

 

Sure hope they can fix it for you. Let us know how they handle this.

 

 

 

 

[chengkp75]

26 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Is it possible to get through to the air handler to fix it?

Sure, they can replace the filter, but what has already traveled into the ductwork will just have to work itself out, or they could go with a duct cleaning service, but most of that is smoke and mirrors.  The air handler for the fresh air system is about the size of a "smart car", and they reside in those long white areas on the deck plans that run down the middle of the passenger decks between the inside cabins.

[Nightowl11]

On 6/15/2023 at 2:00 PM, PacnGoNow said:

D736 is such a nice cabin with a great balcony.  

 

I asked earlier about the Aft, because some of it, not all of it, looks like soot from the exhaust system outside. But, yours is coming from the inside.

 

Sure hope they can fix it for you. Let us know how they handle this.

 

 

 

 

They came twice to "fix" it.  We weren't there the first time and whatever he did, did not remedy the situation.  So, I took down the grill/grate myself and wet a cloth napkin and reached inside to figure out what it was.  I wiped the sides and inside as much as I could.  I took pictures of the inside to try and figure it out myself.  The napkin was black.  So when they came the 2nd time, we showed them the evidence and they brought in tarps, covered the furniture and did something while we were on the balcony for the Endicott Arm cruising.  After that, the particles were reduced tremendously.  Only a few specks showed up after on the chair.  We were going to ask our neighbors if they had this problem too, but we never saw them.  So, if you are in a cabin from now on, put a solid colored chair under the vent and see if particles drop.  We couldn't see them on the other furniture or carpet because they had patterns and blended colors.  We also suspect something happened in that room previously because the carpet was new and none of the rooms around us had that same carpet pattern. 

[PacnGoNow]

2 hours ago, Nightowl11 said:

They came twice to "fix" it.  We weren't there the first time and whatever he did, did not remedy the situation.  So, I took down the grill/grate myself and wet a cloth napkin and reached inside to figure out what it was.  I wiped the sides and inside as much as I could.  I took pictures of the inside to try and figure it out myself.  The napkin was black.  So when they came the 2nd time, we showed them the evidence and they brought in tarps, covered the furniture and did something while we were on the balcony for the Endicott Arm cruising.  After that, the particles were reduced tremendously.  Only a few specks showed up after on the chair.  We were going to ask our neighbors if they had this problem too, but we never saw them.  So, if you are in a cabin from now on, put a solid colored chair under the vent and see if particles drop.  We couldn't see them on the other furniture or carpet because they had patterns and blended colors.  We also suspect something happened in that room previously because the carpet was new and none of the rooms around us had that same carpet pattern. 

Wow!  So glad they fixed it.  Thanks for the update.