Winter will force you to turn your furnace right on. Unless you want to sit there and shiver the whole day or night, you might not need one. When you turn your furnace on for the first time, it might produce a specific smell that disappears after a while. Therefore, we should be alert about the chemical smell from the furnace.
Production of odour smells from your furnace might end up resulting in a health hazard since the furnace kind of interacts with your family directly. What should you do if you notice a chemical smell from the furnace? As stated above, when kicking starts on your furnace for the first time, a dusty/musty smell will be in the air, then disappear after 30 minutes.
If the smell sticks astound for a more extended period, make sure you contact HVAC professionals to save the situation. Let’s get to it!
Rotten Egg/Gas Smell
The presence of this odour in your house from the furnace can signify a gas leak from your heating system. Upon realizing a natural gas leakage in your home space, you should react instantly.
Make an emergency call and exit the room immediately to avoid breathing this natural air. Smelling and breathing this air can introduce respiratory complications to your family. Thus, bringing even bigger trouble on top of the situation.
It would be best to install gas detectors at cost-effective prices to help you notice gas leaks in your surroundings. Noticing odd smells and weird noises from your heating and cooling system is the first primary step of maintaining your system. Contact the HVAC experts immediately to solve the problem as soon as possible.
Chemical Smell
If you notice a chemical smell coming from your furnace, you might want to contact the professionals hastily. The chemical smells signify a broken or cracked heat exchanger in your furnace.
This case can lead to carbon monoxide leakage from the furnace into our home space, thus putting your family at risk. We recommend you install gas/carbon monoxide detectors to help us keep an eye on leakage cases.
You should install the detector near the furnace since some gases, including CO, can be odourless and hard to notice. If you detect a chemical smell from the furnace, make a call to the professionals instantly to curb this emergency.
Burning Electrical Odor
Noticing an electrical burning odour that smells like an overheating motor or burning cables might be signifying a broken blower motor. This smell indicates worn-out components on your furnace. Wearing out certain parts of your heater can cause some components to malfunction and heat the furnace.
The heat produced upon overheating can end up melting rubber materials in the furnace or even creating sparks. If you detect an electrical burning smell coming from your furnace, you’ll have to turn the system off to prevent unnecessary fire because if you leave it that way, there’s probably going to be one.
Contact the HVAC experts to send you trained individuals who will inspect the furnace, repair it, and ensure it’s safe for use again.
Dusty/Musty Smell
Experiencing a dusty smell coming straight from your furnace is normal, especially if you haven’t run the system after quite some time. Dirt and dust can be accumulated in your furnace during the warmer part of the year when it’s dormant.
Therefore, this dust gets heated up as soon as you turn the furnace up. If the furnace keeps producing the smell a few hours after kicking start, you can turn your system off and try changing your filters. Call the repair agents for instant repair services if the smell persists even after switching your filters since your furnace might be undergoing a deeper mechanical problem.
Burning Oil Smell
You cannot experience an oil-burning smell unless you’re using an oil furnace to heat your home. It can result from items falling next to your oil furnace’s pilot, thus catching a fire. It is most likely to happen if the furnace stays in the basement.
Ensure that you keep away dirt and debris to prevent such unnecessary fires. The smell might also be produced as a resulting issue from your oil and burner. The smell of oil can also be a sign of a blocked furnace oil filter. Always remember that you should replace the air filter at least once every two to three months, depending on your home. Check to see if the furnace filter is what’s causing the smell.
If your burner tends to miss some oil during the combustion process, it might create an oil fog that can start a fire and even produce smoke. Burning oil odour can also be brought about by spilling some oil when refilling the fuel tank, thus leaving the smell behind for a couple of days.
Plastic, Rubber, or Metal Smells
Production of these smells from your furnace will most probably mean that something is either burning or even melting somewhere inside your furnace. Noticing such a chemical smell from the furnace is a sign of an overheating component in your heating system.
Upon malfunctioning, your furnace might overheat and burn up some parts like wires that make contact with the heat. Burning rubber and metallic smells from your furnace might be an indicator for a worn blower motor or another mechanical component in your furnace.
Instantly reach out to the professionals upon noticing rubber or plastic smells to control further malfunctioning. If it endures for a more extended period, you’ll have to reach out to the closet HVAC professional to troubleshoot and repair the furnace immediately.
Chemical Smell from Furnace – Conclusion
Lastly, we recommend all home furnace owners create maintenance schedules with professionals. It will help keep their heating systems efficient for a longer time. Regularly maintaining your furnace will probably lengthen its life cycle and steadily improve its performance levels.
It should also help you control the malfunctioning of some parts in your furnace, which might lead to a chemical smell from the furnace.
Don’t forget to contact the HVAC professionals anytime your furnace misbehaves to ensure it doesn’t break down further and even stop running. Calling the repair experts as soon as possible helps you save on further repair costs as well.
