I have a smell in my house and it comes and goes what could it be?

Question

It is a smell that comes and goes at different times. It smells like a burning ash tray or burning cardboard. In our furnace room you can smell it faintly and we have changed the filters. we have checked under the fridge and stove to see if it was coming from somewhere else and its not. It is most pungent in the enterance way. From the furnace to the entry way there is a cubbie hole that the ducts run thru. Could there be something in there? If so why would it come and go and not be constant.

Answer 1

Buy a canary, if that doesn't work..Seek professional advice from a builder..

Answer 2

There are a couple of things that I can think of that might make this smell. Usually if something smells like something "burning" it either is something burning (obvious, I know) or something being heated. If there is no smoke, it's probably the latter.

One thing may be dust in your heating ducts. Does the appearance and subsequent disappearance of the smell correlate to the running cycle of your furnace? For instance, the smell might start a minute or so after the furnace blower kicks on and then go away a minute or so after the blower shuts off. You could prove of disprove this by cutting off the furnace for a period of time that is longer than the amount of time it takes for the smell to recur three or four times. This may not be possible right now if you live in a very cold climate. This can happen if you have dust in your duct work and the dust is impregnated with a smoke odor, such as a smoker having lived in the house for a significant time. If you decide that this may be the case, you may get rid of the smell by cleaning all the dust out of the duct work or, more realisticly, by masking the odor with a scented filter insert or one of those smoke absorbing candles (light it and set it near one of your return vents).

This is the most obvious cause. If you can eliminate this as the cause, then I'd suggest timing the appearance and disappearance of the smell. If it seems to fit a schedule, then there is probably something cutting on and off, such as the compressor in your refrigerator, producing the smell. You can, as practical, unplug these appliances and see if the odor disappears. One at a time, plug each one up and wait enough time to see which one causes the odor to reappear.

If the smell appears random, then you may be looking at an external factor, such as a neighbor buring wood and the odor being drawn into your house from outside. This is pretty easy to determine (and I'd imagine you already have done this) by just going outside when the odor start to see if you can smell it outside.

A very slim possibility is that you may have an electrical wire "short" somewhere in this area. This is unlikely because most of us can distinguish the smell of burning wood and burning plastic. If you think this could be the problem, shut off the breakers (or pull the fusses) to the part of th house where the odor seems to originate. Make sure that you disable power to the lights and to the electrical outlet as well as any high voltage appliances.

If none of this pans out, there is a very slim chance that you could have a dead rodent in the wall or vent and that, at random times, the animals corpse vents the gasses that build up inside it's decaying body. It's possible that if the smell of decay is faint enough that it could be mistaken for burning.

I hope you get your issue resolved and perhaps I've given you an idea or two.

Answer 3

Have a licensed person come and check out your furnace and clean your air ducts - Maybe something is in your ducts. Does it come and go with the heat cycle (when the heat is on, it smells?) If that is the case, you need to get it check ASAP.

Also - Get a carbon monoxide detector.

Answer 4

I would hire a professional to come at check the furnace. There could be some faulty wiring somewhere, which is why you're only smelling it intermittently.

Answer 5

check the ducts. My kids has accidently dropped a crayon down one and it would only smell when the furnace kicked on.

Answer 6

sounds to me like the ashtray ghost of christmas past take a candle and burn it for a few days and put an egg on your stomach whenyou go to sleep dont roll over though and say 3 hail marys in the morning till smell disapates

Answer 7

there may be an animal that died somewhere in the vent system and you can only smell it when the heat comes on. Call a professional and have them check for you.

Answer 8

your furnace exhaust may have a leak in it... get a carbon dioxide monitor to see if it is leaking...but call a furnace repair guy and get him to check

Answer 9

mr marbles is right.... or mabye its ur gym shoes

Answer 10

Stop farting. Or it could be your upper lip.