Heaters and furnaces may smell of burnt plastic when their parts are broken or worn out.
Burning plastic smell from furnace vents.
This is very normal and you will generally notice that the smell goes away within a few hours.
If something is overheating it can lead to more expensive damage.
Cleaning the plastic out can be a real pain as well.
There are 3 potential reasons you ve noticed a burning plastic smell coming out of your air conditioning vents.
Turn off your furnace and remove your registers so you can clean or remove any objects that don t belong.
Something in your ac is overheating.
If you smell something that smells a lot like gunpowder this is probably because there s a circuit board or other electronic component in your furnace that s burning up.
If you re just turning it on for the first time this winter chances are the furnace is actually burning away any dirt and dust that accumulates inside.
A plastic or rubber object burning will give off fumes and can be hazardous to breathe in.
Have an hvac specialist check for burning electrical components if you notice a burning electrical smell coming from your vents.
The smell of burning plastic could be a sign of an overheated household appliance a kitchen accident or a problem with the hvac system.
The melting of casings can also cause a burning rubber smell.
The smell of plastic burning could mean a foreign object has made its way into your heating unit.
There s a fire in your home somewhere and the ac is re circulating the smell it s just your heater burning off dust.
This could be anything from a plastic bottle cap to one of your children s plastic toys.
If your house smells of burning plastic take caution.
Parts that may need to be replaced include.
Usually this means a foreign object such as a toy has found its way into your heating system.
Turn off the heat and call a professional.
In most cases the dusty burning smell coming from your furnace is actually quite normal.
You see smoke coming from your vents.
Plastic coated wires that may have caused an electrical fault the fan belt.
One of the most common burning smells you ll experience with your furnace will happen when the unit is turned on for the first time of the cool weather season.
Over the warm months while the furnace is not used dust from the home will settle in the combustion chamber.
That means there s probably something in your furnace or heat pump that s overheating.
The most common reason you might experience a burning smell when you first turn on your heat for the season is that dust has settled on your furnace heat exchanger.
Sometimes a burning plastic smell can be the sign of an electrical failure.
After a while plastic shielding on wires can wear out crack and occasionally fall into the heating area of your furnace resulting in a nasty burning plastic smell.
The heat exchanger of your furnace gets extremely hot when it operates and this heat will burn any dust that has accumulated on the parts over the summer months.
It should go without stating that this is a serious problem.
Another smell coming from your heater could be that of burning plastic or rubber.
