tldr the previous resident of this place was a heavy smoker and I have worked VERY HARD to scrub out the smell of stale tobacco

I thought I was done and then it got hot and 2 seconds after turning on the AC, the funk returned

I have tried baking soda and bleach and cleaning the filters

Lysol masked it for a minute and I thought I beat it but then the funk returned as soon as it blew out enough of the lysol particles

is this the choice

is this a window unit?

have all the windows open and the air purifier going or die a sweaty death from overheating?

yeah it's one of those units where its embedded into the wall below a window

so it's not as simple as "just pull it out and take it apart"

everything online is like "just clean the coils" and I'm like "but I can't GET to the coils D:"

I'm all like "oh no I'll die" when it's like 80 BUT I MEAN AUGUST EXISTS I need to have this figured out before then

part of me is going "the right combination of lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda will clean anything" but i don't know what the right combination is for this

my instinct is to let it run while airing out the apartment but that's not very cost effective or good for your lungs

I tried to use an old toothbrush to really scrub in the baking soda / bleach combo I made this morning, but the toothbrush was too bug to get into the little vent slots D:

yeah, I've seen the "let it run" suggestion a few times online too

I CAN TRY

maybe just the fan and not the cool, though if it's coming from the coils...

oh that's a good idea

actually though i am reading a bunch here about vinegar/water, is there a way to get the like...essence of that to run through the ac

/ten minutes of staring at the remote while I figure out how to make just the fan run

I could probably pour some of it on the exterior end of the unit? Maybe? idk that's where I did my scrubbiest scrubbings

ambiently concerned that this cigarette smell is going to decide to live in my couch next

"simmer vinegar in a saucepan on the stove" sounds air-distributable

it's not a rational concerned, just like "oh no I thought I fixed this before I moved all the soft things in. SOFT THINGS HOLD SMELLS"

oh shit that's a good idea

I can totally set a pan on fire I'm great at that lmao

house about to smell like vinegar but at least that will die

I mean sometimes you have to trade one thing for the other

for soft things, baking soda, let it sit, and vacuum it up

yeah soft things are easier to work out

you guys are amazing. Thank you for your help T_T

lmao I turned off the ac and put the air purifier back on and it was like "wtf is this only 70% of this air is breathable" and I'm just like "lol I know right? it's awful plz help fix it"

Vinegar.

Vinegar is good at cutting through smoke smells.

Oh. Someone else already mentioned it.

But the point remains. Vinegar.

Bumping this because I FINALLY GOT THE FUNK OUT

I was in the car stuff aisle because I finally decided to clean up the salt spill on my backseat that's been baking in since snow season

and it was like "get the smoke smell out of your used car!"

and I was like ".........SAME BASIC PRINCIPLE????" and it so fucking worked

it's been better with just the fan? There's still SOMETHING WEIRD when I turn on the AC element but that could just be the general "all the windows are closed" effect