Strong sulfur smell from furnace

Feb 04, 2005 32 Replies

Hi guys. I live in a large three-story Victorian house, on the first floor. The upstairs tenant just had a delivery of oil to his furnace, after leaving the oil tank empty for over a year (the first floor, where I am, is on a separate furnace). Now it is running, and besides hearing it run all the time, I smell a strong smell of sulfur in my first floor office, at least. I believe my office is directly above the basement area where the furnace is.



Is this normal, and what can be done about this?



Thanks!


UPDATE: the basement is full of smoke, and I had to breathe through my mouth to go down there. My eyes were watering. Smoke is coming form the furnace. I just shut off the furnace.

9 times out of 10, when you get a delivery, it stirs up sludge and trash in the tank and it clogs up the filters, strainers, and nozzles. Sounds like you need to call someone to come out and change them out and do a basic tune-up. I wouldn't turn it back on, either. It won't get any better.....

Sulphur or Hydrogen Sulfide? HS can/will kill you

Did you ever think that maybe it needs to be serviced? Bubba

Turn it back on and add more oil. They are supposed to smoke. Dont have someone come out and look at it. That would be a waste of money. See if your brothers sisters uncles half step sons retarted step child can come take a look at it for you. Im sure he will fix er up real good and you'll have saved a bunch of money and killed yourself and the rest of your family in the process while you sleep. Then all will be well again. Bubba

Hey asshole: here's some advice: learn to read. See ya later...

Thanks! I just spoke to the landlord, and they are going to fix it Sunday after they buy a new nozzle.

J.

I don't know; it smelled like rotten eggs, but the smell is gone ever since I turned off the furnace and aired everything out. Thanks for the warning!

I love cheap assed landlords...

A nozzle, by itself, WONT fix the problem. While the unit may fire for a while, they need to have it tuned, and as a hint to your landlords, you can inform them that every time the units got a nozzle change, the fire of the unit will change, and the unit MUST be correctly tuned....or it can waste oil, clog the chamber, or worse, burn through the chamber, and thats when the real fun starts.

Changing the nozzle alone, is like trying to hold a 10 inch rip in your leg shut with a bandaide.

Sounds like it's time to call a heating and AC guy.

Do you live in Louisiana?

It sounds like Turtle serviced your furnace, and one of his farts has come back for revenge.

"Steve@carolinabreezehvac" wrote in message news:YHFMd.40$ snipped-for-privacy@eagle.america.net...

Thanks Steve! I am going to give all of this info to my landlord, so hopefully she and her handyman can fix it correctly. She refuses to hire a contractor or professional oil/furnace tech, since she doesn't trust professional contractors and has to pay them.

Word of warning....handymen dont have the $1500 tool used to set the flame on oil units. In some states, what she is doing is illegal. In my area, it would be. Her refusal to do it correctly, could, and thats just COULD, not will, or would, or such...create a condition that may be harmful to the condition of the home, or occupants. Tell her to do it right or dont bother, at least you will be breathing, cold, but breathing.

hi, thanks for all of your posts. I have already told my landlord. They are going to try to fix it Sunday, after they go to the parts store to get some supplies like a nozzle and filter. In the meantime, we have the furnace for the second floor off. My furnace for the first floor works fine, so this should be enough to heat the second floor apartment as well for the time being.

Penn. That's good....Just anywhere but Illinois as that's where Dave the noted fundy hvac hack works outta (unlicensed...it is rumored)

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