Winter is in full swing, and now you notice an uncommon smell wafting from your furnace. Do you need the fire department, an emergency repair or just a good cleaning? Here are five common furnace odors and what you need to do about them in Chambersburg, PA.
Rotten Eggs
If you have a natural gas-powered furnace, then the smell of rotten eggs is an emergency. Natural gas is an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas, and utility companies add a chemical called mercaptan to give it that distinctive smell. You must exit your home immediately without touching a light switch or telephone, call 911 and your local utility company from a safe location and then schedule an emergency repair appointment.
Burning Odor or Smoke
Within the first few cycles of the season, it is normal to smell a slight odor of something burning. This happens as the dust and dirt that collected on the heating element during the off-season burns off. If this smell persists, then you should schedule a service call to investigate the cause.
Musty Odor
If you notice that your furnace smells like a gym sock, your first stop is the furnace filter. Clean or replace the filter, and if that does not alleviate the odor, then you should schedule a professional inspection and cleaning of your system.
Oil Burning or Diesel Fuel
An oil furnace that smells of diesel fuel or burning oil requires immediate investigation. If a spill occurred during a recent refueling, there is not much cause for alarm. However, another cause is that your furnace may not be burning all the oil passing through the burner; this results in a flammable fog that can ignite, and you need to schedule service immediately.
Don’t let that mystery odor fester. At Leckron’s Comfort Solutions, we offer 24/7 emergency repair services and preventive maintenance plans in Chambersburg, PA.
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