The recent sudden temperature changes with the arrival of November has prompted many homeowners in the central Ohio area to turn their furnace on for the first time. If you did just turn it on, were you met with a strange musty or burning smell, or other unusual smell? Usually, the smell is nothing to be worried about, but in some cases you should call for emergency heating and cooling repair.
Read on to learn from our certified and licensed HVAC specialists what may be causing the smells and how regular preventative maintenance is the cure.
Furnace or Heater Is Giving Off A Burning Smell
If your smell something like burning plastic or rubber coming from your furnace or AC, you potentially have an electrical issue with your HVAC system. Weak electrical connections or exposed wires can cause the insulation on wires to melt, giving off a burning smell and potentially lead to equipment damage, electrocution or and electrical fire. If this is the kind of odor you’re experience, shut the system down and call an emergency HVAC technician.
When you first turn your system on at the beginning of the heating season, you may experience a musty burning smell. This smell originates from built-up dirt and dust in the furnace and ductwork from lack of use. The release of excess dust into the air can aggravate breathing issues like allergies and/or asthma, or simply release an unpleasant odor into the air. This is usually temporary and will dissipate after only a few minutes.
Damp, Musty Smell Coming from Your Heating and Cooling System
If your AC or heating system smells like a boy’s locker room, a musty old cellar, or an old tool shed that hasn’t been opened in a while, it’s a sign of excess moisture in your home.
That particular smell is the result of mold, mildew or bacteria growing and thriving in the darkest recesses of your home’s heating and cooling system. It could be as simple as excess humidity in your home (that can easily be solved with a dehumidifier).
If your furnace is releasing a musty, damp smell during the winter (and especially at the beginning of the heating system with the first use of your furnace), you may have a slightly different issue. Sometimes, after your furnace has been idle for a long time, turning it back on sends it into defrost mode and creating a very damp environment inside the system. The heat exchanger is actually a part of the AC system during the summer, removing cool air from the evaporator coil and blowing it into your home, before returning the liquid coolant back to your AC compressor to get cooled again.
During that down time between the last use of your AC and the first use of your furnace, moisture can collect in the heat exchanger and collect bacteria and mold.
Sour Smell Coming from Your Home’s AC or Heating System
If your heating and cooling equipment is giving off a rotten, sour or rancid smell, it might be caused by a dead animal inside the system. If a mouse, squirrel or other small creature crawled into your system and got trapped, their decaying body can really stink up the joint! If that’s the case, you’ll need to call a pest control company to remove the carcass before things become completely unbearable, then have your system thoroughly cleaned by a licensed and certified HVAC contractor.
Regular HVAC System Maintenance Can Prevent Most Undesirable Smells
Regardless of what type of smell your heat pump, air conditioner, furnace or heater gives off, the absolutely best method to keep your home’s air supply smelling clean year-round is with regular preventative maintenance on your system. It’s particularly important to get your system prepped for the upcoming heating or cooling system. Our routine maintenance programs schedule visits from our highly-trained HVAC technicians in the Spring (for preseason AC maintenance) and in the Fall (for preseason heating equipment maintenance). You can schedule the service on an individual basis (if you remember), or you can join our thousands of happy customers enrolled in our HVAC Maintenance Packages and sleep peacefully at night year-round, knowing that we’ll contact you to schedule your semi-annual system tune-up and safety check.
How We Can Help
Our team offers a wide array of routine maintenance services for your heating and cooling system, allowing your family to breathe fresh, safe, clean air year-round. We also offer a number of add-ons to your HVAC equipment that can improve your home’s IAQ, such as electrostatic air filters, whole-house humidifiers, duct cleaning, and more.
Schedule an appointment for your routine HVAC system maintenance with us today by using our online contact form, or call one of our seven neighborhood offices listed below. We pride ourselves on our customer-focused service, and our reviews show it.
NEWARK 740.345.6639 • COLUMBUS 614.238.6689 • DUBLIN 614.545.8939 • REYNOLDSBURG 614.365.1579 • WESTERVILLE 614.381.1540 • GROVE CITY 614.595.3098 • ZANESVILLE 740.454.2420
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