Smoke smell in house with oil boiler

Hemlock · January 22

I have an appointment three days from now to get my oil boiler cleaned. It's about 15 years old. It hasn't been cleaned for two years (one of those years I heated with wood a lot) and there's a smoke smell in the house—smoke, not oil. When it was cleaned two years ago I reported the same problem and two technicians couldn't find any cause. The cleaning fixed the problem, until recently.

There is no visible smoke in the house. On a scale of 1 to 10, the strength of the smell is about a 4 to my nose, enough to be pretty irritating. The fire department did a carbon monoxide test and there was none.

Problem: the outside temperature is between 15 Fahrenheit during the day and minus 5 at night, so I can't really open a window for fresh air.

QUESTION: Is there anything I can do to improve air quality in the house while waiting for the technician?

What I already tried that didn't work: Turned on bathroom and kitchen fans (I assume that will pull more smoke up from the basement); sealed bottom of door at top of basement stairs (smoke smell seems to be seeping up around each radiator).

pecmsg · January 22

I highly recommend you order at least two low-level CO detectors. I assume you have detectors in they are not low level.

jesmed1 · January 22

Have a chimney sweep inspect your chimney. It may be partially obstructed with dead birds or critters. If you don't have a chimney cap to keep the birds out, you might want to have one installed.

Jamie Hall · January 22

You mention that you burn wood, at least sometimes. The smell from a wood fire, or one which has almost gone out, is distinctive. So, for that matter, is the smell of diesel exhaust from an oil burning boiler.

So…

Which is it that you are smelling? The two are really very different, although it is common enough to refer to both as "smoke". More to the point, the source of the two and the causes are completely different. So we really need to know.

Derheatmeister · January 22

Are you using the same chimney for wood and oil ?

By turning on the Bathroom and Kitchen fans you »»MAY «« be creating negative Pressure on your home which CAN create negative pressure on your exhaust….

Hemlock · January 22

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1837065#Comment_1837065

I'm sure the technician will check this. I'm asking how to improve air quality over the next couple of days while waiting for the technician.

Hemlock · January 22

No. They're two different chimneys.

Hemlock · January 22

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1837070#Comment_1837070

I haven't burned any wood this season, and the woodstove is clean. It's not woodsmoke I'm smelling. Nor is it oil. It's smoke, like the product of combustion. It's clearly rising from the basement. It collects most strongly at the top of the basement stairs and around the radiators.

Grallert · January 22

So there's likely nothing you can do short of turning the boiler off. That doesn't sound like a good option. It sounds like a combustion/Ignition issue which is not DIY. Or a venting issue and turning off the kitchen and bathroom exhausts might help with that. Can you get an emergency service?

Hemlock · January 22

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1837082#Comment_1837082

It's very difficult right now to get ANY type of service. I contacted the guy who's coming in two days way back in November! If it gets really bad I could turn off the boiler and heat with wood, but that would be labor intensive as the wood is outside . . . in the cold . . . only partially split. I'm not running the fans now. The last time this happened a regular annual cleaning solved it. I learned my lesson and will get that done in the summer from now on.

Smoke smell in house with oil boiler

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