Have you ever had a burning smell coming from your home AC vents? If so, you can relate to how alarming this type of situation can be, and can easily understand the panic it can cause. Let’s go over a few reasons that this could happen.

First and foremost, anytime you smell something burning, you’ll need to check to ensure there isn’t a fire anywhere in your home causing smoke to travel through the heating and cooling vents. If you do see a fire, smoke, or smoldering wires, get everyone out of the house and call 911.

A Burning Smell When the AC Is On

It’s not normal to have a burning smell coming from the cooling system. A burning smell from an HVAC vent is more likely to happen when you turn on your furnace the first few times at the start of the heating season. However, burning smells can happen to your AC system too, but this would mean you have a problem. Often due to something overheating inside your air conditioning system.

For example, a dirty air filter will block the amount of air the system needs to pull in and that can cause a lot of strain on your HVAC system. A burning smell from an AC vent, can be a sign that the blower motor is working too hard and is possibly about to fail.

Another reason for burning smells from the HVAC vents while you’re running the AC could be worn-out electrical parts. In either of these cases, turn off the cooling system and contact your Heating and Air professional.

If you have questions about how to handle a burning smell from an AC vent, contact the professionals at Jackson & Sons. We’re always available to help with HVAC issues in your Eastern North Carolina home.