Okay…I’m in my office. I have a modem, a router, two computers, two printers, a phone a scanner, a lamp, a set of speakers and two surge suppressors plugged in. This is a very old house…over 100 years old.
There is the strangest odor while I sit here. The desk is new, the carpeting is new, and I took a bath a few hours ago.
It doesn’t smell like the smell of an electric train puffing smoke, but it smells like SOMETHING. I don’t know what. Could it be electricity? Could it be I’m headed toward electrical disaster? It’s annoying the hell out of me.
It sounds like you’re describing an ozone smell. (How does ozone smell? It smells like ozone.)
If you are smelling ozone, then you may have an electrical arc somewhere. Ventilate the room for an hour, and see whether the smell returns. If the smell returns, you may want to check in with an electrician.
Check and be sure none of your cords are hot, and see if you can pinpoint where the smell is coming from. Feel the length of the cords, and if any are hot, unplug them right away and replace them/check the outlet. The casing on electrical cords and other plastics covers can smell the way you describe if they are getting hot for some reason. It’s better to be safe than sorry in this case, so check into it to be sure it’s just an anamoly. It might be something like new plastic warming in the sunlight in the windowsill and giving off vapors, it might be something else. Good luck, I hope you figure out what it is so you can be at ease.
I’ve got the window wide open. I had no idea there was such as thing as ozone arc. Can you explain what that is? And has anyone here ever experienced it before? Thanks!
Ozone smells (I think) like cotton under a hot iron, but pungent 'electrical smells are more often caused by:
–burning dust; either just because some dust accumulated on something that is quite alright to be hot, or (more worryingly) something dusty just started to get hot - either because it’s about to go pop, or because a fan stopped working, or both.
–Burning plastic or resin - could be plastic encapsulation of some electronic component, or wire insulation, or soldering flux etc - again, usually a bad omen if it emanates from somewhere it didn’t before.
The plastics used in many electronic devices offgass volatiles when heated. Some of this is quite normal for new devices. When aging devices start to do it, it could mean it’s nearing the end of its lifespan.
But- Dust buildup inside things can increase the heat and thus increase the offgassing. Cleaning out most devices is fairly simple if you do it right. Some rules: Always unplug. Always. Never try this with TVs, CRTs and microwave ovens. They’re dangerous even unplugged. Use standard “canned air” to blow the dust out.
It would be a good idea to find first which device smells the most. If it smells despite being clean, schedule replacing it in the near future. If you let it go to failure, Bad Things can happen.
They are saying that when there is an electrical arc, ozone is produced which smells similar to the way you describe. I second the idea of getting an electrician to look things over if the smell persists, that’s a dangerous situation.
Thanks, Zabali. I felt the cords. All are cool, although the transformer thingies are warm – not hot (of which I have a half dozen). I also have a woofer thingy for the speakers and a shredder. And I actually have three surge supressors.
An electrical arc is basically the electrical current traveling outside the wire. It usually is caused by insufficient insulation. This would be a Bad Thing ™. The electrical arc converts the oxygen in the air into ozone. As someone else mentioned, you would probably smell the burning insulation[1] or dust[2] before you smell the ozone.
You mentioned you have three surge suppressors. How many power strips do you have in your office? Is your house wired with fuses or has it been upgraded with circuit breakers?
[1] Think of burning plastic or rubber.
[2] Think of the wonderful smell you get when you first turn on the heat for the winter.
100 year old house? I got one of those. Odd smells seem to come with the territory. If it’s an “electric” smell, then I’d suspect dust settling on a power supply or a light bulb. Otherwise, I’d suspect something crawled under the wainscotting and died.
Or been around a high output laser printer or copier in a closed area…that’s ozone.
Really close to a lightning strike…ie, close enought to smell it? That was ozone too.
The power strips have surge suppressors in them. I just get them at OfficeMax. We had circuit breakers installed about 15 years ago. I know that most of the wiring in the house is the old cloth-covered kind. This particular room is the oldest room in the house.
Just wanting to be clear: You have three power strips powering all you equipment in the one room. You have the original (or retro-fitted) wiring, but a newer breaker box
Try running an extension cord from another room (on the far side of the house) to one of the power strips, and see if the smell diminishes.
