nRiTeCh
Skilled
IT was a rotting egg or even some creature burning smell. But seems the bacteria and wire burning went hand in hand or if the burn happened just few days ago, no clue!
Rotten smell from electric geyser
- Thread starter nRiTeCh
- Start date
blr_p
Skilled
Once the tank is flushed whatever residue is in there will go along with any smells. May not happen immediately but eventually.
You did it for a few days and said there was no difference and then went on to dismantle it.
How would someone with a similar problem tackle it? What would you advise.
You did it for a few days and said there was no difference and then went on to dismantle it.
How would someone with a similar problem tackle it? What would you advise.
nRiTeCh
Skilled
I'm clueless as I have updated every encounter here.
Thorough cleanup with flushing. Let the hot water run/flow for few buckets yet nothing.
But once I found this burning issue it automatically countered the rotting smell albeit after 2-3 days.
Now, as if its a brand new geyser, no smoke no smell ever happened. everything working perfectly fine!
But will advise to go for the above checks which again me and wife observed in intervals and almost took a month to rule out everything and kept doing something or the other.
Last edited:
So this rotten smell occurs in wires, plugs, plug converters heat up, due to loose contact which causes arcing.
I had 2 instances of this, once it occured near the APC ups, I thought it might be a battery being EOL, this happened only when the electric load of the house was high or when the gaming PC was running with 100% GPU load. It took several days to figure out where the smell is coming from. It was finally found to be coming from a CONA 15A to 5A converter plug insulation.
Second time the arcing occured it melted the neutral distributor bus bar.
The fact that you say it occurs only when geyser is On is evident of this. The burn marks further solidifies this theory.
I had 2 instances of this, once it occured near the APC ups, I thought it might be a battery being EOL, this happened only when the electric load of the house was high or when the gaming PC was running with 100% GPU load. It took several days to figure out where the smell is coming from. It was finally found to be coming from a CONA 15A to 5A converter plug insulation.
Second time the arcing occured it melted the neutral distributor bus bar.
The fact that you say it occurs only when geyser is On is evident of this. The burn marks further solidifies this theory.
nRiTeCh
Skilled
Seems like a new discovery in both of our situations... Burns causing rotten smell! We should get this patent filed
Found something and its a fishy smell (officially)..
This Weird Smell Means Your Home May Be in Danger of an Electrical Fire
The smell: A “fishy” odor in your home. We'll explain what you should do if and when you ever come across it.
6pack
ex-Mod
How did the water smell though? Is the burnt wire inside the tank? If it was then you would get a shock if it lost insulation. Even with the wire outside the heating coil, I wonder how the noxious gas went inside the water.
That fishy smell claim is a bit dubious. Most of my neighbours fry fish or have fish curry everyday. Morning, afternoon, night, someone is cooking fish. I smell fishy smell everyday.
That fishy smell claim is a bit dubious. Most of my neighbours fry fish or have fish curry everyday. Morning, afternoon, night, someone is cooking fish. I smell fishy smell everyday.
You would be suprised how are brains are easily tricked. In my case I assumed its the battery, who would ever think its going to be coming from burnt insulation. If I was in OP position, without knowing about how a burnt insulation would smell, I too would have suspected the water and even the overhead tank because our brain wants to find the most believable explanation.
Some of the people in my house took a sniff of the battery and 100% falsely concluded that it was the cause of the smell. But since I myself maintain the battery I was a bit skeptical, since it occured only when the load was high.
One would get a shock in the geyser only if the coil has ruptured and a ELCB/RCCB would have tripped.
Some of the people in my house took a sniff of the battery and 100% falsely concluded that it was the cause of the smell. But since I myself maintain the battery I was a bit skeptical, since it occured only when the load was high.
One would get a shock in the geyser only if the coil has ruptured and a ELCB/RCCB would have tripped.
blr_p
Skilled
Apparently, that is the smell of ozone. Arcing or enough of it in air can produce small quantities of ozone. Not experienced it.
He did not mention any fishy smell though.
Burnt insulation should not be hard to figure though. It's like burnt plastic. I have neighbours that sometimes burn their garbage and unfortunately living down wind i get that smell and it always freaks me out as if there is a short circuit about to happen in the house.
Rotten eggs vs burnt insulation are quite distinct smells for me
nRiTeCh
Skilled
No shock or anything of that sort.
Fishy smell is the smell referred to for such scenarios as found on internet (posted the link in earlier post) but it was purely rotting smell & bit fishy too.
The water wasnt smelly as we know water has no such properties but it was the flow or period which resulted into such emission (which was evenually just a burnt wire yet still unbelievable)
I'm very well aware how electrical burns smell but this was totally beyond it. Wife sensed it first though.
And as @adder too. exp. similar thing in his case.
Also, we encountered such similar smelly incident back in the yr 2020 when a lizard was stuck to the wires inside the geysers main switch-box and when we used to power-on the geyser, the emission of smell used to start getting more toxic to bear. So, we suspected the same thing this time as well but when I inspected, there was no opening in the box to let-in any insect, not even an ant whereas in earlier case the box had a good opening to make way for any big insect.
Thus, when we used to switch-on the geyser, the smell used to start slowly and the shoot up to the level that the smell used to get unbearable. This went for 10 days or so.
Time for some inspection so dialed my electrician, and when he opened the box it was all horror! A huge full-sized lizard was stuck to all the wires (she might had died due to the current) and her body half burnt and alive small black worms coming out of her stomach and many were wandering inside the box freely! 40-45worm overall. Freaking erry scene!
Somehow, collected all the shit in a polythene using broom and disposed it off in garbage!
Luckily, there was no shortening of wires nor even a burn mark anywhere.
End of rotting smell!
Ozone smells different I have a Ozone generator. Ozone smells like a power tool motor or a the smell you get from the motor of a air blower or even from a DC motor found in a toy car the the brushed motors in them are arcing.
Burnt insulation smell soley depends on the material its made up of. Not all wires have the same insulation material.
The typical burnt insulation which smells like a varnish from a transformer or coil is different from the rotten smell of certain type of insulation.
nRiTeCh
Skilled
I did mentioned there was a gap aka opening in the earlier incident..
The pvc casing carrying wires goes inside the box for which the electrician cuts off a sizable piece of wood which was a bit larger one making it easy for cockroaches or even lizards to enter. It was a rented house so wasn't my lookout but then it lead to this incident.
Then in my own house all such leanings from rented homes helped me avoid such gaps.
Last edited:
nRiTeCh
Skilled
You seem to be getting confused man..
Lizard issue occurred in the yr 2020. And it caused no smell in running hot water but just when we power-on geyser switch it used to emit the smell due to the lizards body burning inside the electric point + those maggot black worms..I even doubt she was pregnant and hence those worms formed off her eggs in her stomach.