This will most likely diagnose a leaking furnace heat exchanger.
Gas furnace attic smell.
So before you call for hvac service look around and make sure you don t have a dead rodent in the attic somewhere.
Even gas furnaces work there when you have the proper venting and alarm systems available to ensure any leaks are detected quickly.
The first time your furnace is used in the winter when furnaces sit idle for months dust and debris build up.
You can prevent this smell by dusting off the furnace before switching it on.
This odor is intended to alert homeowners to potential gas leaks as soon as possible.
After a few seconds i could not smell it anymore and thought that maybe i was just being paranoid.
If your furnace smells like gas and you have ruled out the other more obvious options ensure that the smell is coming from your air vents called registers.
When the furnace is turned on the dust gets burned off.
Natural gas used for heating is treated with sulphur to give it its distinct rotten egg smell.
This is normal but you can cut down on the duration of this unpleasant smell by opening some windows to allow for cross ventilation to dissipate the smell quickly.
Our natural gas heater is in our attic.
When you turn on the furnace for the first time you might notice a slight gas smell while the furnace burns off the accumulated debris.
Sometimes when you first turn on the heater it can smell like gas is burning.
A few days ago when i went up to the attic to take some stuff up to storage i noticed a faint natural gas odor at the top of my attic steps which are very close to the furnace.
If you have a furnace in your attic then you can install almost any type of equipment in that space without compromising your safety.
Ensure that the gas smell is coming from your air vents.
The smell of natural gas or propane gas around your gas furnace is not good.
It likely means you have a gas leak.
If the smell isn t coming from the vents it s most likely a leak at a pipe fitting or within the equipment.
Kicking on each cycle it s possible to detect a faint odor every time your furnace kicks on.
If your heat has been running and you realize there is an unusual burning smell coming from the furnace the smell can be quite disconcerting.
A burning smell is something many folks readily associate with fire and a fire in your home is something no one wants to discover.
It s normal to lose a bit of heat though if it s going through an attic duct.
It could also mean you have a dead rodent in the attic somewhere.
Run the furnace fan and check the temperature of the air going into the return air grills and in the return air duct just before the furnace.
The first time you turn it on you might detect a bit of gas odor as it clears out the cobwebs and burns up the dust.
A very significant difference indicates a large return leak.
The furnace has been working fine mostly just coming on at night as it is.