Why Does My AC Have a Smell in Wake County, NC?

When you turn your Wake County, NC, air conditioner on, you expect pure, clean, cool, refreshing air to flow through your home. If strange odors come along with your use of your AC, there’s clearly something wrong with the system. If you notice strange odors coming from your air conditioner, there are a few probable causes for these odd odors.

AC Smells Like Car Exhaust

Since your air conditioner doesn’t rely on an internal combustion engine to operate, you should never notice a car exhaust-like odor coming from the system. Generally, this odor stems from a leak in your refrigerant line. When you have a leaky line, the chemical refrigerant may produce a strong odor that resembles the fumes from a car.

AC Smells Like Something Burning

There are multiple electrical components that make your air conditioner work correctly. With that information in mind, if you smell smoke or the scent of something burning, there’s a good possibility that something is burning inside the system. In these cases, you should immediately turn the air conditioner off and contact us for air conditioner repair.

AC Smells Like Dirty Socks

Dirty sock syndrome is a relatively common sign that something is wrong with your air conditioner. If your air conditioner smells like dirty socks, it generally means that you have dust, dirt or debris built up on your evaporator coils. If left untreated, this debris can lead to bacterial growth, which produces the dirty sock smell coming from your AC.

Air conditioner odors are always a sign that something is wrong with the system. If you notice any of these odors when you turn the AC in your home on, you should contact us for repair as quickly as possible. Call us today at Alford Mechanical for all of your AC repair needs, and be sure to find out about the rest of our HVAC services.

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