I cannot quite describe this smell that comes from my furnace vents and fills the house. Maybe sewer smell, but not quite as offensive as that, just a very unique smell. I am worried it is something serious, does anyone have any advice?
2007-02-02 00:48:01 · 8 answers · asked by Dr. A Elashi 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
First, lets check the serious things. if the unit is a gas and over eight years old. there may be a problem with the heat exchanger, may have a hole in it and letting burned gas and burned aluminum into the house, ask the family if there is any headaches or dizzyness. if so, turn the thing off NOW and call a pro. otherwise. dig into the thing, remove some panels and vacume the thing out, be sure to turn off power before doing anything with electricity. may be a mouse nest. or built up dust bunnies.take a look be sure to put things back the way you found them, some units wont work if the doors are not put on correctly.
2007-02-02 01:04:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it is the smell that you get when you turn your heat on for the first time of the year, kind of like something electrical is burning, then it could be the blower motor going bad or overheating.
First thing to do is check your filters, if they have not been changed lately and are dirty, change them, dirty filters put undue strain on the furnace. Then see if the smell persists, if it does, then call out an expert to take a look at it. Chances are that you will be changing a blower motor.
The serious thing would be if CO was leaking in you house, but that doesn't smell. The serious issue with this is that if a blower goes out, then you will not have much heat until you get that fixed. Happened to me and had to pay double time to get someone to come out afterhours over the weekend.
Good luck!
2007-02-04 03:18:35 · answer #2 · answered by Sabre78 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You might have a dead animal in one of the ducts. If that's the case, you need professional duct-cleaner to properly clean/disinfect the whole system. It cost around $300 depends on the size of your house. Recommended frequency of duct-cleaning is 2-3 years, so if you haven't done it for 3 years, might as well. They would attach a powerful suction near your furnace and go around to each vent in the house with a long instrument to loosen anything sticking to the inside of the vents (mainly dust). and the debris would be sucked to the bag besides the suction units. there you can check what was once inside your heating system. (things had been found: tons of dust, rats, toys, hat...etc)
However, I hope the smell doesn't come from dead animal, it's nasty and bad for your health.
Good luck.
2007-02-02 09:18:06 · answer #3 · answered by pathanChe 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You might have had a mouse living down there, maybe it's the wee? I have a gas oven I did not use it during the summer alot so, when I turned it on I found out the little bugger had made a nest down under the broiler pan, and when it started to heat up it smelled horrible.
2007-02-02 08:52:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can put fabric sheets in the duct work. Vacum your furnace filter, blow out your furnace with a shop vac and check your vents, to make sure nothing has fell into it.
2007-02-02 08:53:49 · answer #5 · answered by Rebecca M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You may have a drain(s) in your basement who's trap may have dried up. Try pooring some water down there.
edited:Also, sometimes when you get your ducts cleaned, they sometimes use chemicals that don't evaporate all the way and can cause mold.
2007-02-02 08:51:59 · answer #6 · answered by dexter 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light a match near the furnace. If you blow up, it was something bad. If not, then maybe not so bad.
2007-02-02 09:14:21 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
mouse droppings? try odoban after vaccumnig in as far as u can
2007-02-02 08:51:38 · answer #8 · answered by enord 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋