Water Heaters - Natural Gas Water Heater Odor

I just moved into an apartment that has a natural gas water heater. It is located in a closet in between the bedroom and living room. This closet also contains the air handler. When the A/C isn't running, I'm getting a strong build up of combustion fumes in the closet coming from the pilot light area on the water heater. When the A/C turns on, they are pulled from the closet and not as noticeable. I had the maintenance crew look at it, but they were here when the A/C was running and the smell wasn't as strong. They said that it's normal to expect a slight smell when the water heater cycles on, but the smell I'm getting is accumulating even when the heater is not cycling on. They said the smell when it comes on could be resin from the pilot light or a smell from the burners, however, the smell I'm getting is regardless of the water heater cycling on and off. I've never had gas appliances before, so I don't know whats normal.

Hello and welcome to DIY,

First off, the heater and furnace should be receiving makeup air directly from a pipe form outside.

Makeup and combustion air should not be coming from inside the living space. So if there are louvered doors, they should be blocked with air coming from outside.

Secondly, it is normal to have a gas smell from a pilot driven device. And someone that is not familiar with this will notice it more than others.

To ensure your safety, Purchase a Carbon Monoxide detector.

Well, I had someone from the city gas utility come out and look at it. The said the flue was not installed to code and that there is no source of air for the water heater. Hopefully they will get it fixed now. I'm also going to get a CO detector. Thanks.

If you open the closet door and smell gas you have a leak!!!
I have worked thousands of leaks, yes thousands. And water heaters were always an easy one to find and repair. You can't look at it, you have to use a mild soap solution on the fittings. I see you called the gas co. Did they perform any leak investigation?

It's not a raw gas smell. It's a smell from the burning of the pilot light and burners. Two people have checked for gas leaks and haven't found any. They fixed the hood over the water heater vent for the flue, but it didn't help with the smell.

Well, as I said before, the way to get rid of the smell is to close off the louvered door AND get your fresh air from outside.

Don't forget to get a carbon CO detector.

Well, I had someone from the city gas utility come out and look at it. The said the flue was not installed to code and that there is no source of air for the water heater. Hopefully they will get it fixed now. I'm also going to get a CO detector. Thanks.

According to the national building code it's usually illegal to install any fuel burning water heater in a bedroom closet (or bathroom). Electric water heaters are usually OK, though. Direct Vent fuel burning water heaters, or Powered Direct Vent fuel burning water heaters can be installed in other types of closets that don't open into bedrooms (or are not in bathrooms). With electric, no vent is necessary.

When I say national building code, that is usually the minimum that a county or municipality will go by...in some cases they may have other addendums to it, but generally the uniform building code is widely used across the country...and then augmented as necessary (for example, in snow country, they may have certain building requirements for roof pitch or weight capability of ice/snow that wouldn't be necessary in Phoenix, nor would they need to build to hurricane specifications there either like they do in Florida, etc.)

According to the national building code it's usually illegal to install any fuel burning water heater in a bedroom closet (or bathroom).

The closet that houses the gas water heater and furnace is in a hallway outside the bedroom, not the bedroom. The city inspector said that was OK.

Well, as I said before, the way to get rid of the smell is to close off the louvered door AND get your fresh air from outside.

Don't forget to get a carbon CO detector.

Well, the door wasn't louvered until yesterday. It was solid. They came up with the bright idea of putting a louvered vent in the door, which made things worse. This is after I told them two days ago that the inspector from the gas utility said that you don't want any air to be drawn in from the apartment itself and that the door shouldn't have any airflow through it. As soon as I got off work and saw they did this I blocked it off. There is still no outside air source for the closet. I lit a candle, blew it out, and held it under the hood of the water heater flue and about half the smoke went up the vent and the other half drifted out of the hood and into the closet. They don't seem to want to call a plumber out and just seem content to have their maintenance crew look at it. The only time the plumber game out was when the city came out the first time and told them to get the hood rebuilt to code. Even my guests and parents commented on the smell in the apartment when they were up this weekend. :wall:

I hope you purchased a CO detector by now. Some areas that is code and the responsibility of the landlord. But I would get one anyway and if it goes off, get immediately out until it is fixed properly. You can DIE !!!

I forgot to mention in my previous post, but yes, I did get a CO detector. :D