Why Is My Aircon Releasing Odour?

After installing an aircon in your home or office, your indoor premises should have a crisp, fresh, and comfortable atmosphere. However, if your air conditioner starts emitting an odorous smell, then it’s important to trace its root cause to prevent further discomfort.

There are many reasons why an aircon would release a bad smell. In fact, the odor can be due to aircon-related problems, your environment, or certain household issues. So here’s how you can easily diagnose the cause of the odor in case you’re unable to obtain proper aircon servicing.

External Causes of a Bad Aircon Smell

A lot of air conditioners work by drawing air from outside, cooling the warm air on the evaporator coils, and releasing the conditioned cool air inside the premises. Thus, an odor may indicate that something is decaying outside your property and odorizing the area around your home. When this happens, your aircon may be drawing in the unwanted smells thereby preventing it from blowing out fresh cold air.

By doing a quick inspection first, you can avoid the need for any aircon servicing. So here is a list of external causes of a bad aircon smell:

Air Pollution:

A smell of burning oil can be due to air pollution caused by several vehicles passing around your home. An aircon repair isn’t necessary in this case. Instead, it’s best to simply shut all of your windows and doors.

Leaking Fuel Tank:

Petrol smell indicates that there is a leak in a vehicle’s fuel tank around your home. In that case, immediately keep your distance from the vehicle in question and wait until the leakage has been resolved.

Decaying Garbage:

If your aircon happens to be new or has just undergone quarterly aircon servicing, then the odor may be coming from decaying garbage around your property.  Should this be the case, have someone remove them to ensure a fresh environment.

Dead Animals:

It’s also possible that bad odor is coming from the decaying body of a dead animal. If this is confirmed, then there’s no need to worry about an aircon emergency. Instead, you should simply close all your windows and doors as you would do in case of a burning oil smell.

Internal Causes of a Bad Aircon Smell

If you’ve discounted any of the external causes listed previously, then you may have to troubleshoot an aircon issue within the unit since the odor may be caused by a malfunctioning component. In line with that, contact a professional to do an aircon repair should you experience the following:

Refrigerant Leak:

Air conditioners use electricity. As such, a fully-functioning AC should never produce an exhaust smell. This can occur only when there is a refrigerant leak within the AC unit. To resolve this, have the copper pipe or insulation repaired as soon as possible. If that doesn’t work, then a gas top up may be necessary.

Clogged AC Drain:

The aircon odor can also occur due to clogged AC drains. This may smell like smelly feet or old socks and usually entails the unclogging of your aircon drain pipes by an air conditioning service. It’s important that this be done immediately since clogged drain pipes can also lead to aircon leaking problems.

If your aircon is currently producing some odorous smells, then don’t hesitate to contact DW Aircon Servicing Singapore. We provide comprehensive support for people’s aircon repair and aircon maintenance needs to ensure that they have an odor-free experience. For more information, feel free to view our price list.

At DW Aircon Servicing Singapore, we pride ourselves on our affordable and quality aircon services to ensure all residential and commercial air conditioning units are always keeping you cool and comfortable.  We also supply and install aircon with excellent after-sales customer service to provide you a 1-stop convenience for all your aircon needs. Browse our previous aircon projects and read through our positive reviews.  Contact us to speak to our friendly customer service staff. Call us at +65 6653 2988, Whatsapp us at +65 8241 0032 or email us at enquiry@dwaircon.com. We operate from Mondays to Sundays (9am – 9pm) and in all Singapore locations.