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What Causes That Burning Smell in My Furnace?

If you detect the smell of burning in your furnace, you need to shut it off and call in a repair service right away. That’s common sense and we suspect that everyone reading this blog is smart enough to do it. The good news is that there are services in the Boston, MA area that you can count on to get to the bottom of that burning smell. The better news is that a burning smell is hard to ignore when it wafts through your ducts, so you can probably get a pretty good idea that something is wrong and call in support.  But what causes that burning smell in the first place? The answer to that can tell you a great deal about the source of the problem.

Overheating Components

The biggest concern with a burning smell is a component inside the system that’s overheating. It’s usually a symptom of another problem. A faulty fan motor working against a blockage in the fan, for example, it apt to overheat, as is a component experiencing unexpected amount of friction and similar issues. Electrical components can also overheat, especially if there’s been a power surge or some similar malfunction causing them to take on too much electricity. The longer the faulty component runs, the more damage it will do.

Burning Dust

It sounds fantastical, but dust usually contains organic components and other materials that will burn. If a component hasn’t been cleaned or services in a while and it heats up, it will create that burning smell as the dust on it burns. This is particularly problematic in the case of the burners themselves, which can develop clogs if they aren’t cleaned properly. You can avoid this state by scheduling regular service sessions for your heater.

The friendly pros at Cooling Unlimited can put a stop that that burning smell in your furnace!

 

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