Furnace

sbb · 03-29-2011, 07:52 PM

I'm finally getting out next week, but not before another round of snow in good old NJ. I'm starting to get my 189 ready and went in to check the heat tonight. I have not run the heat since last October. There was an odor tonight, kinda a little oily, perhaps its been sitting type of smell. No alarms went off, so I'm pretty sure it's safe. It warmed up fast and toasty, the vent side was blowing hot air outside. Anyone know if this is just normal sitting around smell? I thought I'd go back out tomorrow night and run it again to see if there was any change. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. sbb

**LJAZ** · 03-31-2011, 06:32 PM

From your description it sounds like it was running as it's supposed to. Hard to say about the smell - they're so hard to describe accurately. Although 'oily' doesn't sound like a good thing. Makes me wonder about unburned or incompletely burned propane. But if that were the case the CO alarm should have gone off. On the other hand, sitting for 6 months could certainly accumulate some dust in the burner that could indeed be the source of the odor. If the smell goes away after a bit it's probably just due to sitting. If it persists then I'd recommend not using it until you can have it checked out.

TCP · 03-31-2011, 11:52 PM

sounds completely normal. If you haven't used it a lot there is still construction oils burning off the heat elements that will smell for a while. I just pulled the original 16k btu direct vent unit out of our new 189fds and replaced it with a 20k btu ducted model with the same form factor. The original smelled oily when it ran and the new one does the same. it will take quite a while to clear out. run it with the windows open and burn it off for a few hours. That will help.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbb

I'm finally getting out next week, but not before another round of snow in good old NJ. I'm starting to get my 189 ready and went in to check the heat tonight. I have not run the heat since last October. There was an odor tonight, kinda a little oily, perhaps its been sitting type of smell. No alarms went off, so I'm pretty sure it's safe. It warmed up fast and toasty, the vent side was blowing hot air outside. Anyone know if this is just normal sitting around smell? I thought I'd go back out tomorrow night and run it again to see if there was any change. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. sbb