My house smells like burning Clorox any ideas?

[lovinmyboys]

My house smells like burning Clorox. Any ideas what it could be or who should come look at it? We have no idea. Nothing seems to be burning.

[Katy]

Do you have compact fluorescent bulbs? Sometimes they get really hot and stink when burning out.  

You should probably call 911.  The fire department will probably want to bring a heat camera out and make sure there isn’t a fire in the walls or the attic.  But my bet is a bad bulb. 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

You should call 911. There could be an electrical fire smoldering in the walls.  The fire department will come out and look for hot spots.

[Ailaena]

Do you have a cat that peed on the stove and then you turned on the burner without realizing there was dried pee on the stove?  #thingsihopenobodyeverhastosmell

Is your air conditioning running?  Maybe something got into the system somewhere?

I would be likely to call fire dept if I smelled something burning but couldn’t find it. 

 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Ailaena

[Ailaena]

Dp; can’t function 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Ailaena

[prairiewindmomma]

I am also thinking that smells like an electrical fire....  I'd cut power to the house at the breaker while you investigate.

Ozone and certain refrigerants (in your HVAC system) also have a similar smell. ETA: It was an issue with our evaporator coil when it happened to us.

Edited July 19, 2021 by prairiewindmomma

[Terabith]

I would be alarmed about the potential for electrical fire.  

Unless, of course, someone HAS, in fact, been burning Clorox.  But that seems unlikely.  

[lovinmyboys]

5 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I would be alarmed about the potential for electrical fire.  

Unless, of course, someone HAS, in fact, been burning Clorox.  But that seems unlikely.  

Would that cause our smoke alarms to go off? I’m sure we have working smoke alarms.

[Terabith]

1 minute ago, lovinmyboys said:

Would that cause our smoke alarms to go off? I’m sure we have working smoke alarms.

Honestly, I'm not sure.  Probably?  Could also possibly just create toxic fumes.  It seems like a bad idea all around.  

[prairiewindmomma]

14 minutes ago, lovinmyboys said:

Would that cause our smoke alarms to go off? I’m sure we have working smoke alarms.

No, not necessarily.  Of my friends who have had electrical fires that were confined to small spaces, only one of them had alarms go off.  The others all ended in the fire department running heat cameras and finding stuff either in a side wall or in an attic....still smoldering, not huge flames yet.

[lovinmyboys]

43 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

You should call 911. There could be an electrical fire smoldering in the walls.  The fire department will come out and look for hot spots.

I have already called 911 twice in the last month. Once for a car accident I witnessed and once when my son got hit with a baseball and passed out. Do they keep a list of people who call a lot? Before this summer I don’t think I have ever called. I don’t want to be on a list, but I think I am going to have to call because we can’t find anything.

Edited July 19, 2021 by lovinmyboys

[alisoncooks]

We once had mice make a nest in the insulation of our stove. It smelled like an electrical fire...but it obviously was coming from the stove area...

[lovinmyboys]

We called 911 and they couldn’t figure it out but there is no fire so that’s good.

Edited July 20, 2021 by lovinmyboys

[Pawz4me]

2 minutes ago, Plum said:

Since you have ruled out fire, is there any chance you have covid? People don’t always lose their smell but have weird burning smells in their nose called phantosmia. 
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322698

That was also one of my symptoms before being diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I kept smelling (or thinking I was smelling) smoke. There were numerous times that I searched the house top to bottom trying to find the source. After I was appropriately medicated and my numbers were getting close to normal the phantosmia stopped.

[AmandaVT]

2 hours ago, Ailaena said:

Do you have a cat that peed on the stove and then you turned on the burner without realizing there was dried pee on the stove?  #thingsihopenobodyeverhastosmell

Is your air conditioning running?  Maybe something got into the system somewhere?

I would be likely to call fire dept if I smelled something burning but couldn’t find it. 

 

worst.smell.ever.

[kristin0713]

This happened to us and it was an electrical fire smoldering in our ceiling fan. After the fire company came out, we were all convinced it must be the dishwasher. Then as we were looking up dishwashers online, the fire became visible in the ceiling fan. We were literally minutes away from leaving the house to go buy a new dishwasher. And if we had actually left before we saw the fire, we would have come home to our house burning down. 

[Carrie12345]

11 hours ago, lovinmyboys said:

I have already called 911 twice in the last month. Once for a car accident I witnessed and once when my son got hit with a baseball and passed out. Do they keep a list of people who call a lot? Before this summer I don’t think I have ever called. I don’t want to be on a list, but I think I am going to have to call because we can’t find anything.

A call history will likely come up. But, given that they were genuine emergencies, nobody’s going to care.  Please don’t ever hesitate.  I mean, don’t be Joe McCain and call 911 to complain about traffic, or a Karen calling about a burger not being made right, lol. But always get potential emergencies checked out!