Now that we have been working hard at eliminating fiberglass from our lives I have an easier time pinpointing where it's coming from when I do feel it in the air.
After having the AC unit off for a few weeks my husband turned it on. When I walked in front of it I could immediately feel the thickness in the air. My eyes burned, face felt numb, nose started to stuff up and my right lung ached. Fiberglass. It's in that thing. I know it is. I had to break the news to my husband who was very proud of the new window heat pumps he had recently bought.
"I have bad news, I feel fiberglass coming from that thing." My husband opened up the front of the unit and looked at the filter. Sure enough, it was made from fiberglass. I have linked my reactions to styrene (Vinyl Benzene), which is used to make the fiberglass. When the air blows past the fiberglass screen it emits a styrene gas. That is what I react to.
A washable fiberglass screen like filter.
He placed an order for non-fiberglass filters and we kept the unit off until the replacement filters arrived in the mail.
When they came in he cut one to the size of the original filter and put it in the unit.
He turned the unit on. The typical fiberglass symptoms that I can feel when it's in the air did not happen. So far, so good.
