Bad smelling air means a bad smelling home. Gross smells can make your home uncomfortable and also make it difficult to host guests. Unpleasant smells from your HVAC system often point to a larger issue in your Fort Pierce, Florida, home. Here are the five most common icky HVAC smells that can signal an issue with your system.
Gas
Often smelling like sulfur or straight up gasoline, this is one of the most dangerous smells you may come across. If the air coming out of your vents smells like gas, you may have a gas leak. This can massively affect the health of your family, as well as pose a fire hazard. This is more common in homes that run off of natural gas. Gas is fed into your system via a hose, which can spring leaks thanks to a number of different reasons.
If you smell sulfur or gas, contact a professional immediately. Keep your family safe and don’t wait. In addition, make sure you check the gas connections on a semi-regular basis to help catch any issues early.
Burning
A burning smell is most common during the changing seasons. If you have a separate heating and cooling system, the unused component will gather dust as it sits unused. When it’s turned back on, those dust particles may scorch, leading to an unpleasant burning smell. This happens mostly when you start your heater up after a long time.
Most of the time, the burning smell should go away within a few hours of using your system. All of the accumulated debris should be taken care of in a short time frame. However, if the smell persists, you may want to contact a professional to get it checked out.
Dirty Socks
Most of the time, the dirty socks smell is caused by a buildup of bacteria on your system’s coils. This bacteria can be caused by many different reasons, but the result tends to be the same. As the coils are turned on, that bacteria will release odors which will be swept through your air circulation system and into your home.
This is an issue that can be caught during routine maintenance. Your technician will clean these coils, keeping them free of any bacterial buildup and, therefore, keep your home from smelling like a laundry hamper.
Cigarettes
This issue is tricky and will mostly arise in rentals or homes that you’ve just moved into. If where you’re staying was previously occupied by someone who was smoking, you may notice that the air-conditioned air smells like cigarettes. As smoke enters the HVAC system, the chemicals inside build up, leaving behind a film of contaminants. This can be anywhere from the mechanical components to the filter.
A good way to approach this is to change out your filter as soon as possible. This should help reduce the air’s exposure to the smell. In addition, you can have your system cleaned to hopefully reduce any lingering pollution more quickly.
Musty
If the air coming out of your system smells musty or stale, there are a couple of common reasons why. If water gets into your system and sits there for a while, biological growth can take root there. As the temperature controlled air is pushed through these areas, it leads to bad smelling airflow.
This is a rare issue and is commonly connected to roof leaks or other issues. If you have experienced any of these problems near your ductwork, be sure to get them checked out to ensure that your ductwork hasn’t been damaged and is accumulating water. This can make a huge difference in reducing the chance of dealing with this smell, as well as potentially improve energy efficiency if there are holes in your ductwork that have to be patched.
If your HVAC system is producing unwelcome smells, Grimes Heating & Air Conditioning may be able to help. Call us at (772) 800-6416 to set up an appointment today.
Image provided by Bigstock
