Why is my electric wall oven suddenly causing strong hot chemical odor?

1

Friday solar panel company was in attic crawl space doing wiring for panels. Solar not yet energized. Sunday used electric wall oven, had very strong hot wire/chemical odor, never had this before. Could the Solar work somehow have disturbed or loosened the wall oven wiring in the attic?

por arenoso 18.03.2019 / 09:39

2 respostas

When a new smell emerges immediately after electrical work, and the smell has any chance of being electrical related, that is an emergency.

Fire inside the walls of a building is the most insidious type of fire, because it can smolder for hours and become fully engaged before it is obvious the building is on fire. A homeowner can't really fight a fire inside a wall (and sprinklers won't work on it)... but worse, it can spread to the whole house rather quickly, and that can catch you off guard.

It's possible they damaged a cable, or more likely, pulled a wire out of its terminations. If your range wiring is 3-wire and they damaged neutral, that creates an electrocution risk to boot!

But most likely we are dealing with series arcing from a damaged wire or connection. Find it, and kill it with fire (figuratively)... Before it kills you with fire (literally)...

18.03.2019 / 17:41

If you have had electrical work performed recently, it might be related but not likely. However, it is going to take more than a mere answer on a website to find out.

Out of an abundance of caution, I would turn off the breaker to that oven and call a different electrical contractor to your home. Don't take a risk if you smell what might be an electrical fire. This may cost you a hundred bucks or so but it might save your home and most importantly, your life!

18.03.2019 / 13:58