Whenever you turn on your furnace, there will be times when you’ll get a whiff of something unpleasant in the air. These smells would most likely come from the furnace and could be caused by a lot of things. Here are some of the most common furnace smells and what you can do about them.
Electrical Smell
First of all, we’ve got the electrical smell. If you smell this stench of burning wires, then you have to turn off your furnace right away. This smell usually means that your furnace may be overheating. When this happens, check the furnace or call a technician. Also, watch out for the smoke when you check.
Burning Smell
When you smell something burning near your furnace, please follow your instinct and check immediately. The burning smell could be the part of your furnace being burnt due to the very high-heating temperature. If it is, then you have to call a professional technician in order not to cause further damaged. However, burning smells could also come from air filters that haven’t been cleaned in a long time. If this is the case, clean the air filter in the air duct, and you’ll be able to solve the problem.
Rotten Egg Smell
One of the foulest stenches that may come from the furnace would be the smell of a rotten egg. The most probable cause would be that there is a gas leak. You can clean the gas leak in the vent and eradicate the odor; however, it would be best to also shut off the gas tank and call a technician. Although you can take away the odor with a simple cleaning process, it is dangerous to leave a gas tank with a leak. Hence, a proper check-up and maintenance are highly advised.
Dead Animal Smell
If there is a smell of dead animal from your furnace, then there’s probably on in there. A rat or some other type of rodent may have crawled its way into the vent and eventually died there. The only way to fix this is to remove the dead animal’s remains and thoroughly clean the duct so that you can get rid of the foul smell.
Please avoid from using any scented solution when cleaning the thermocouple of your furnace in an attempt to cover the foul smell. Using non-recommended solutions may cause damage to the electrical devices inside the furnace. If the smell is already unbearable, contact a professional furnace cleaning service provider instead. They have the right tools and solutions to get your furnace back to its former glory sans the awful smells.
These are some of the most common furnace smells, but a thorough duct cleaning will be able to take away these smells. Moreover, there are some cases wherein the problem does not rely on simply cleaning but on some necessary repairs. So, clean your air duct regularly so that you can avoid having to inhale any of these smells. It also pays to check your furnace regularly since other things can also be the cause of the smell like the gas tank or the wiring.