Every year around the middle of October we get the same call. It is the first genuinely cold night, someone turns the heat on for the first time since March, and within a few minutes the house smells like something is burning.
Most of the time, nothing is wrong.
Your furnace has been sitting idle for seven months. In that time a fine layer of dust settles on the heat exchanger and the burners. When the system fires up, that dust burns off. The smell is dusty and slightly sharp, it fills the house for anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, and then it goes away and does not come back. Opening a window helps it clear faster.
That is the normal version. Here is when it is not normal, and this is the part worth remembering.
If it smells like burning plastic or hot electrical wiring, turn the system off at the thermostat and leave it off. That is not dust. It usually means something is overheating, and running it longer makes it worse.
If it smells like rotten eggs or sulfur, leave the house. Natural gas has no odor of its own, so utilities add that smell specifically so you notice a leak. Do not flip switches and do not open the garage door. Get outside first, then call your gas utility from there.
If the burning smell is still there after several hours, or if it comes back every time the system cycles, have someone look at it. Dust burns off once. It does not burn off over and over.
One more thing, and it is the most important sentence here. Carbon monoxide has no smell at all. You cannot find it by nose, and a furnace that smells perfectly fine can still be producing it. California requires carbon monoxide alarms in homes with gas appliances or an attached garage. October is a good month to press the test button on yours and put in fresh batteries, at the same time you are switching the house over for the season.
Three things before the cold really arrives. Put in a clean filter. Walk the house and make sure furniture and rugs are not blocking supply vents or return grilles.
Test your carbon monoxide alarms. That is about fifteen minutes of work, and it prevents most of the calls we take in November.
Stay warm, Southport.
Peter Bredikhin is the founder and owner of CABS Heating & Air Conditioning, serving West Sacramento and the greater Sacramento area since 2011. A BPI-certified professional with over 20 years in the HVAC and construction industries, Peter holds both a General B and C20 HVAC contractor license. CSLB #919746.
(916) 375-1800 | cabshvac.com | 950 Riverside Pkwy, Suite #70, West Sacramento, CA 95605
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