New AC making whole house smell like cat urine.
My husband and I just had a new AC system installed where there wasn't one before. We used the ducting from our forced air heating system. It's finally gotten warm enough for me to run the AC and this is probably the third or fourth day I've used the new AC. Yesterday, I started noticing that the entire house suddenly reeks of cat urine. We do have three cats and our litterboxes used to be right next to the HVAC/furnace unit. That corner of the basement collects a lot of moisture and I noticed that it was starting to amplify the cat smell, so I eventually moved the litterboxes to a much dryer area of the basement. Even so, now when it's rainy, the smell sometimes pops back up, but it's never overpowering or through the whole house. This new smell with the AC is. So I'm assuming that the smell has to do with that corner of the basement having historically had a problem with moisture and cat urine smell. I've done some research and read that although that spot historically has a problem, a new, properly-installed AC shouldn't amplify it like this. Is this true? If so, what could be wrong? And what can I look for or do to try to make things a bit better before calling someone out? We had a really bad experience with our HVAC contractor so I wouldn't put it past them to overlook something or do something wrong. I did check the filters - they are new and facing the right way. Is the slot that they go into supposed to be sealed up as much as possible? There's also a piece of PVC pipe sticking straight up, blowing air into the basement as well as a random piece of round ductwork blowing cool air into the basement as well. The air coming out of them is cool but doesn't smell. Could these still have something to do with it?
Please help - I'm due with our first baby in 3 weeks and the idea of bringing our baby home into a house that reeks of urine is causing me a lot of anxiety.