It’s summertime! After a hard day of work, you deserve to return home to your cool, refreshing, smelly house. Wait, what?

From time to time, your air conditioner may give off various stenches, causing it to smell funny—or bad, depending on your taste. When you find your AC unit giving off a pungent smell, it may require you to change the filter, give it a good cleaning, or need repair. Keep reading to learn why your air conditioner smells funny and how to rid your home of the smell.

Air Conditioner Smells Like Rotten Eggs

If you notice your air conditioner smelling like rotten eggs, a dead animal is the most likely cause. Often times a small rodent or sickly bird may have found its way inside your home’s air ducts and died, causing its decomposing body to give off a rotten eggs smell. To fix this, schedule duct cleaning from your local HVAC contractor and consider sealing your ductwork to prevent other animals from entering your home.

Air Conditioner Smells Like Skunk

Unlike rotten eggs, your air conditioner smelling like a skunk is most likely not caused by a dead skunk in your ductwork. Although this is possible, it’s highly unlikely. The culprit? Leaky gas. Methyl mercaptan from the gas leak smells a lot like skunk spray. When this happens, call your natural gas provider right away. You may have a gas leak, which could put you and your family in danger if left unfixed.

Air Conditioner Smells Like Mildew

One of the most common air conditioner smells our customers ask us about is mildew. If your air conditioner smells like mildew, there could be several causes—the most popular is poor drainage – Your air conditioner removes humidity from your home. When this occurs, moisture is removed from your indoor air. If not properly drained, mold and mildew can begin to grow in or on your cooling system where moisture has accumulated.

Air Conditioner Smells Like It’s Burning

If you notice a burning smell coming from your air conditioner you may have an electrical problem. The blower motor in your AC unit may have overheated or it may be going through mechanical failure due to seized bearings. When the plastic insulation covering the electrical wires heats up (caused by a malfunction), the plastic will melt and cause a burning smell to circulate throughout your cooling system.

Air Conditioner Repair in Maryland

GAC Services offers air conditioner repair throughout Montgomery County and Frederick County, Maryland. If you live in the Gaithersburg or Frederick areas—or any of their surrounding communities—contact us to schedule air conditioner repair!

We can remove the disgusting smell from your air conditioner so you can enjoy the comfort of your own home in no time—talk to one of our cooling specialists at {{dc:acf:option_field field=”contact_info_phone_text”}}.