Water Heater Combustion Smell

[Dick]

We had a new GE Profile Performance gas water heater installed in April 2000. It works perfectly. However, for the last few months every time it comes on there is a putrid smell coming out of the burner. It's only bad because it is right next to the living room.

I had the gas company come out and check it for carbon monoxide, etc. The technician could find no evidence of CO or a clogged vent pipe. He did point out some debris that looks like chunks of ash on the bottom under the burner. He said that might be the source of the smell. Before I crawl on my belly like a reptile to try to clean it out, does this sound like the problem? Or could it be something else?

[Bob]

You need to call a qualified HVAC company. In my area, the gas company techs are told to get in and get out as fast as possible.

[Speedy Jim]

That "bad gas smell" can be a warning of a serious problem, even though the tech didn't find anything that day.

5 years is kind of early in the heater life, but I wouldn't rule out a heater failure.

Yes, get in there and try to find the source of the "ash". Might be rust from the tank flue or..who knows?

One cause of the bad smell we used to see frequently in older tanks was collapse of the tank flue. That's the center coaxial tube running from the burner straight up thru the middle of the tank. Near end of life, high water pressure can actually crush the central flue and choke off the combustion gases. The result is poor combustion and release of the gases into the room via the air inlet at the bottom of the heater.

The best way to see if this has happened in your case is to pull the flue pipe off the top of the heater. Look down the central flue in the heater. There may be a steel spiral strip inside the flue; ignore that and look at the round flue wall condition.

Could be other things like blocked chimney (see if cigarette smoke will be drawn up the chimney flue) or even that the "ash" was closing off part of the burner. Check everything; I think it's a dangerous condition.

Jim

[Bob]

[Speedy Jim]

That's a fair point indeed. I'll amend my advice to: "Shut off the gas line to the heater ... now. Jim

[Dick]

I appreciate everyone's concern, but this has been going on for at least six months. And we have CO detectors in the house which haven't picked up anything. One thing the technician and another person told us was that, if you feel the collar at the bottom of the flue pipe, and it isn't hot, the flue is not restricted. Ours does not get hot.

[Chub]

dead mouse?

[Bob]

[Pop]

Could it be a dead critter under there?

[George E. Cawthon]

How about a WAG-- the tank is leaking. How else do you get putrid smells? Or maybe something came down the chimney and fell into the burner.

Why would you have the furnace checked for CO? you have a smell, CO doesn't smell.

[George E. Cawthon]

And how would you feel if the person he calls comes to the door and shoots him dead? or the repairman answering his call has an auto accident and dies? or the repairman leaves his wife at alone to answer the call and she is raped? etc. etc.

All have about the same probability as someone in his family failing to wake up one morning.

No > I agree that it could be a dangerous situation, but I think he should call

[Bob]

Sorry, but I've never heard of the things you mention happening, but I have seen someone die because he was too cheap to call a service company.

[Bob]

[CBHVAC]

The advice given about the flue is BS, and if you are using Lowes, or HD boght CO detectors, they suck...I dont care what brand you got. They do NOT go off until your levels of CO are, and HAVE BEEN at high levels for a set period of time.

[CBHVAC]

Sure it does not...but the exhaust from NG or LPG does.

Scare tactics? I havent seen any. You want scare tactics, you really should have been with me in the Gas Code class a couple of days ago... Lets see...nice pics of what to look for on a dead body to see if it was CO posioning (why we needed that I dont know) and a few local stories about people that went for months, had complained in the past about odors, and lost a kid, or a husband..etc.. Or the one that got me... The AC tech that got killed while working on a unit...the homeowner had tried to fix his furnace, and at some point, unknown to the tech, broken the bond to the gas line, and when he ran the new electrical to it, had a staple that had hit the hot leg, and the staple was making contact with the gas line...the tech reached for it and was electrocuted.

Nope..havent seen scare tactic one said in here...gas appliances CAN and DO kill homeowners.

[Dick]

We are using Nighhawk detectors which were highly rated when we bought them. I can only assume that the gas company technician was using professionally calibrated equipment.

[Dick]

CO kills. Bad smells probably won't. I didn't ask to have the heater checked for CO. The gas company decided that.

[George E. Cawthon]

Not many die that way. Lots more die from being too dumb or too lazy to buckle a seatbelt. Of course lots die because they can't not drive when they are drunk. And lots of kids die, because their parents are too stupid or lazy to do the proper things such as know where the children are when they back out of the drive way, put the toxic stuff where kids can't get them, watch what their kids are doing, etc. Of course no one gets shot and no one is raped either. How many die because they are too cheap to call a service company? 1,

2, 3 a year? They may die of CO poisoning but it is usually stupidity and has nothing to do with calling a service company.

Bob wrote:

[George E. Cawthon]

[George E. Cawthon]

The collar getting hot depends on the heater. Mine certainly gets hot when the burner is on, but I don't have the highest efficiency water heater.