Smell coming from outlet? A smell coming from an outlet can be caused by an electrical fault or even a dead rodent in the wall cavity.
This post will help you establish what smell is coming from your outlet and what you can do about it.
If you can smell something coming from the wall outlet, it’s important to fix the problem as soon as you can because it can be an indicator for a more serious issue like a fire.
What Type Of Smell?
There are a couple of reasons why you might have a smell coming from an outlet.
Sometimes an outlet can smell because it has burnt out.
This may or may not be a serious matter depending on whether or not the outlet is smoking or buzzing. If the outlet has burnt out, it most likely will have tripped a circuit breaker in your main switchboard. If it hasn’t tripped a breaker, it may still do so if you try to plug something in to it.
This smell tends to have a fishy, ammonia-like odor. This smell is both noxious and unpleasant. This happens when electrical wire insulation and the electrical outlet itself begins to melt, as a result of an electrical fault.
The next reason for why there is a smell coming from an outlet is that there is literally a dead rodent behind the outlet.
As an electrician, we commonly see rodents make their way into wall cavities and make homes behind light switches and power outlets before dying and then decomposing, producing a smell that may seem to come from the outlet.
If a rodent has died behind a power outlet it may or may not have tripped a circuit breaker.
Of course, the problem may be caused by both. For example, a rodent which has caused an electrical fault. This is commonly seen as well.
The following are the types of electrical fault that may be causing smell to come from an outlet.
Burnt Wire Smell Coming From Outlet? – Reason #1
Short Circuit In Outlet
A short circuit is caused by the live wire coming in contact with the phase wire.
When this happens a lot of heat is produced. This heat can cause plastic around the outlet and insulation around wires to melt, producing a distinctive smell.
This is commonly caused by a ‘short circuit’ and circuit breakers are designed to ‘trip’ when this happens. A sign that there might have been a short circuit will be a tripped breaker in the switch board. The short circuit might be caused by a dead rodent across the terminal contacts, moisture, loose wires or a range of other possible reasons.
The common fix for this is to replace the outlet and rectify any other issues in the circuit going back to the switchboard.
Burnt Wire Smell Coming From Outlet? – Reason #2
Overloaded Outlet
Typically, household electrical outlets are designed to handle 10A of current. If more than 10A is drawn it can cause the outlet to become too hot and begin to melt. This is common if you are using multi boards, where the appliances plugged in are drawing a lot of current.
Conclusion
Smell coming from outlet? In our experience the most likely reason is an electrical fault with your outlet. Although dead rodents are known to be found behind power outlets, a burnt out outlet due to a short circuit or overload is the main reason why there is smell coming from the outlet.
To fix these you can replace the outlet and be mindful about what you plug into it, to ensure that you don’t go over the maximum rated current for the electrical outlet.