Verizon Modem is Smelling Up the House

April 22, 2013 by Debra Lynn Dadd

Question from duffy1121

I just received a new Actiontec Modem from Verizon a few days ago. It has been outside and wiped w/vinegar, soap, etc and still has strong odor. We had to plug it in b/c my husband needs wireless for his work. We now have it in the back of our home running and the entire room smells like the plastic. Is there a brand of modem that does not off-gas these harmful fumes? I cannot believe this. We have never had this issue before. We now have it in a brown bag, but it still has the entire room full of this toxic odor. I'm afraid the walls, etc., are going to smell like this and we'll never get it out. 

Debra's Answer

Here is an answer from David Abbot
healthy.environment@frontier.com

There are several possible issues, but by far the most likely is that the circuit board- like virtually all circuit boards in routers, tv’s, radios, CD players, (etc.), is outgasing toxic phenols, which are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can cause various problems, including but not limited to headaches and nerve irritation in the sinuses and face.

You can’t remove the phenols from the router without damaging the circuit board.

A charcoal air filter that has at least ten pounds of activated charcoal in it, will help remove the phenols from the air in the room, but it will not stop the circuit boards from outgasing, especially when the circuit board gets warm. Put the router as far as possible from you, and put the air cleaner as close to the router as possible, to get as much of the fumes into the air cleaner before the fumes can get into the air that you breathe.

Do not get one of those $10, $20, $30, or even $200 air cleaners. They are a waste of money. As far as I know, all of them have a soft, flexible black mesh “charcoal” filter. The thermoplastic mesh outgases toxic phthalates into the air. That’s right: these are air cleaners that do a cruddy job of cleaning your air, and in some ways they make your air quality worse. At most they contain only a fraction of an ounce of charcoal and because the charcoal is embedded in the thermoplastic mesh, it doesn’t really adsorb any toxins to speak of. If you want a real air cleaner, expect to pay $350 to $1,200 or more.

Do not use any ionic air cleaner for this purpose. It will not work, and most ionic air cleaners outgas phenols. Many people who use ionic air cleaners find they get more sick.

Never put a router in the sunlight, near a heat duct, near a light bulb, or near any other source of heat, because that will make it outgas even more.

Do not expose the router to heat on purpose with the goal being to make it outgas all of the phenols, because it has more phenols than you have time.

Keeping a window or door to the outside open while the router is on, is a fairly good solution.

Here is the best solution:
1. Drill a make a box that fits over the router, that has a 4-inch diameter hole in one side.
2. Attach and seal a 4″ diameter aluminum dryer vent pipe to the hole.
3. Using a hole saw, drill a 4.25″ or 4.5″ diameter hole through an exterior wall of the house, and stick the 4″ diameter aluminum dryer vent pipe through to the outside air.
4. Put an exterior dryer vent pipe fitting on the outside of the house, that the vent pipe goes into.
5. Seal all around the inside and outside of the hole through the wall, with 100% silicone seal.

This will seal off the router from your indoor air, and vent the router’s toxic fumes outside of the house. If you need to be able to access the router to turn it on and off, make the box with a little door that seals, or instead of nailing, glueing, or screwing on one of the sides, tape it on. Then you can cut the tape with a knife to “open” the box and turn the router on and off, then re-tape that side onto the box.