Mystery Fumes

[Ingwe]

Just spent a good night’s sleep in Boroughbridge. Not on hookup and van heated by gas. Was a bit chilly at 7:00 a.m. so turned Truma thermostat up from 1 to 2. Heard the gas click on and van warned up quickly.
I could smell what I’d describe as hot dusty smell which I often smell when heating’s on. SWMBO awoke for coffee and said dhe could smell undefined fumes. We are in a car park and cats were coming and going. I suggested may she was smelling those. Didn’t think so.
We have a new carbon monoxide meter checked at our recent hab check. The same found no issues with our gas system. Now we’re up to temperature, the ‘hot dust’ smell had stopped. I can’t smell anything but better half still convinced something amiss.
A long way of asking “any ideas of what this could be?” TIA

 

[Puddleduck]

If your heating system hasn't been used for a while I could be as simple as dust burning off.

Have you had a mouse or similar make a home near a heating pipe or burner / boiler?

You need someone with a sensitive nose to try to trace the smell to its origin.

 

[Ingwe]

If your heating system hasn't been used for a while I could be as simple as dust burning off.

Have you had a mouse or similar make a home near a heating pipe or burner / boiler?

You need someone with a sensitive nose to try to trace the smell to its origin.

No evidence of our little furry friends fortunately. I think it’s dust. My sense of smell is fine too.

 

[Bessy765]

May be worth during the day when you are up and about or going for a walk, to crank the heating up to max for and hour or so that should remove any buildup or soot or debris check for any dust on the internal parts. If after than the smell persists have an engineer look at it. We had intermittent smells in our 2012 Elddis Aspire that were more pronounced on windy days. It turned out the fridge was not room sealed and if the side of the van where the fridge was was facing the wind we would get fumes in the van but it did not set the detector off.
so don’t always rely on the detector

 

[Winger]

My old Truma can run without water and smells if started up without water. Any chance the temp was low during the night and the boiler has dumped the water?

 

[Pausim]

May be worth during the day when you are up and about or going for a walk, to crank the heating up to max for and hour or so that should remove any buildup or soot or debris check for any dust on the internal parts. If after than the smell persists have an engineer look at it. We had intermittent smells in our 2012 Elddis Aspire that were more pronounced on windy days. It turned out the fridge was not room sealed and if the side of the van where the fridge was was facing the wind we would get fumes in the van but it did not set the detector off.
so don’t always rely on the detector

It would only set the detector off if the fumes contained carbon monoxide. If the fridge was burning with a proper flame (blue) it should not be producing any carbon monoxide, so the fumes you were smelling were probably more unpleasant than dangerous. Smelly fumes are not necessarily dangerous because carbon monoxide has no smell, which is why carbon monoxide detectors are so vital. A detector is far more important than your nose when it comes to this particularly nasty gas.

 

[Pausim]

Just spent a good night’s sleep in Boroughbridge. Not on hookup and van heated by gas. Was a bit chilly at 7:00 a.m. so turned Truma thermostat up from 1 to 2. Heard the gas click on and van warned up quickly.
I could smell what I’d describe as hot dusty smell which I often smell when heating’s on. SWMBO awoke for coffee and said dhe could smell undefined fumes. We are in a car park and cats were coming and going. I suggested may she was smelling those. Didn’t think so.
We have a new carbon monoxide meter checked at our recent hab check. The same found no issues with our gas system. Now we’re up to temperature, the ‘hot dust’ smell had stopped. I can’t smell anything but better half still convinced something amiss.
A long way of asking “any ideas of what this could be?” TIA

I often get a hot dusty smell when my 6E Combi gets very hot. The nature of the beast is to suck in any dust in the air and recirculate it as hot dust.

 

[Ingwe]

My old Truma can run without water and smells if started up without water. Any chance the temp was low during the night and the boiler has dumped the water?

No, the boiler didn’t dump the water. Only my navigator could smell anything at all and I do have a sensitive nose. I could smell the hot boiler but only in that standard hot boiler smell. I think it was probably dust.

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[StephandJohn]

Is there anything touching a hot pipe and melting?
We had a leaking loo additive plastic bottle in a storage locker under a seat once and the fumes gradually got worse and worse before we discovered it.