If your furnace smells while running, it’s attempting to tell you something’s up. We’ve compiled a list of the top six furnace smells so you can learn what causes them and how to repair them. These include:
- Burning smell from furnace
- Furnace smells like burning plastic
- Gas smell from furnace
- Furnace smells like sewer
- Furnace smells musty
1. Burning Smell from Furnace
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 home, 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 Burnt Rubber or Plastic
Cause: Electrical Problem
If your furnace smells like burning plastic or burning rubber, it might have an electrical issue. This smell of burning can be caused 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 641-628-3621 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 gets rid of carbon monoxide that’s naturally created 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 annual furnace maintenance and have functional carbon monoxide detectors.
Other signs of a cracked heat exchanger include:
- Soot on or inside the furnace
- Yellow burner flame, instead of blue
- Chemical smell from furnace, such as formaldehyde
- Water around your furnace, as long as the condensate drain isn’t blocked
- Flu-like symptoms
3. A Gas Smell Is Coming From the Furnace
It’s normal for your heating system to let off a small amount of gas when it starts up, so you might notice a gas smell from your furnace. But it’s not normal to be smelling natural gas or rotten eggs throughout your home on a daily 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 call the gas company and us for assistance.
4. Furnace Smells Like Sewer
If your furnace smells like sewer, or rotten eggs, you’ll want to make sure you aren’t dealing with 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 think your sewer trap is dry, you can try pouring 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 call a company that handles sewer line repair.
5. Furnace Smells Musty
If your furnace smells musty, mold and mildew have probably 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 as time goes on, particularly if you live in a humid climate. You can get rid of the mold by having an HVAC technician do air duct cleaning.
You Can Count on Us for Your Furnace Repair Needs
Troubleshooting your heating and cooling system by yourself is difficult. Your comfort is our number one goal at Van Haaften Plumbing & Heating, so our professionals are here to help you when you need us. When you need furnace repair in Pella that you can trust, contact us at 641-628-3621.
