If your furnace smells while running, it’s trying to tell you something’s up. We’ve compiled a list of the top six furnace smells so you can know what causes them and how to fix them. These include:
- Burning smell from furnace
- Furnace smells like burning plastic
- Gas smell from furnace
- Furnace smells like sewer
- Furnace smells musty
1. The Furnace Smells Like It’s Burning
Cause: Dusty Furnace
If your furnace smells like burning, it’s probably happening when you turn on your furnace for the first time in the fall. Like anything else in your house, your furnace accumulates dust over time. This dust burns off when you turn on the heat, causing the burning dust smell from your furnace.
2. Furnace Smells Like Burning Plastic
Cause: Electrical Problem
If your furnace smells like burning plastic or burning rubber, it might have an electrical problem. This smell of burning can be created by melting plastic wire casing, which is a safety issue. If you’re experiencing a melted plastic smell, turn off your heating system right away and call us at (985) 764-2426 for furnace repair.
Cause: Overheated Motor or Cracked Furnace Exchanger
An electrical burning smell could also mean your furnace motor is too hot or the heat exchanger is cracked. The heat exchanger safely exhausts carbon monoxide that’s naturally produced during the combustion process.
If it cracks, carbon monoxide can seep into your house. This invisible gas is fatal in heavy concentrations. So, it’s important to have an HVAC professional do routine furnace maintenance and have working carbon monoxide detectors.
Other symptoms of a cracked heat exchanger include:
- Soot on or inside the furnace
- Yellow burner flame, instead of blue
- Chemical smell from furnace, like formaldehyde
- Water near your furnace, as long as the condensate drain isn’t plugged
- Flu-like symptoms
3. Gas Smell from Furnace
It’s normal for your heating system to let off a small amount of gas when it starts up, so you might get a gas smell from your furnace. But it’s not normal to be smelling natural gas or rotten eggs throughout your home on a regular basis.
Cause: Gas Leak
If your furnace smells like gas continuously, shut it down. If you know where your main gas supply valve is, turn that off too. Then contact the gas company and us for assistance.
4. The Furnace Smells Like Sewage
If your furnace smells like sewer, or rotten eggs, you’ll want to make sure you don’t have a gas leak. If you don’t, the issue could be with your sewer lines and not your furnace. This is especially true if it’s been very dry lately.
Cause: Dry Sewer Trap or Sewer Leak
If you suspect your sewer trap is dry, you can try putting some water down the floor drain in your basement. If that doesn’t solve the issue, you might have a sewer leak, so you’ll want to contact a company that handles sewer line repair.
5. The Furnace Smells Like Mold
If your furnace smells musty, mold and mildew have likely been growing in it for a while.
Cause: Dirty Ductwork
Your furnace works with air ducts to send warm air throughout your house. Mold can grow in the ductwork over time, particularly if you live in a humid climate. You can get rid of the mold by having an HVAC technician do air duct cleaning.
Trust Us with Your Furnace Repair Needs
Troubleshooting your heating and cooling system by yourself is difficult. Your comfort is our top goal at Mayeuxs AC & Heating, so our pros are here to help you when you need us. When you need furnace repair in Norco and surrounding parishes that you can trust, call us at (985) 764-2426.
