How to Minimize Smoke Odor in a Furnace

Clean your duct work. Remove duct work vented covers using a screwdriver. Vacuum out dust and particles as far as you can reach using a vacuum cleaner hose and attachments. Do this in every room that has a duct vent. Eliminating dust in the duct work will minimize the dust particles that can singe and create smoke when the furnace is in use.

Clean your duct work with an ammonia-based or glycol-based solvent cleaner. These products work best to remove smoke particles and other particles from your duct work Apply your gloves and reach as far back into your duct work as possible with your hand and wipe the duct work with a cloth soaked with your chosen cleaning product. Repeat this process in all reachable duct work vents.

Clean the furnace piping. Clean your furnace piping as you did previously when cleaning the vents. Reach as far into the piping as possible with your hand and vacuum any dust and particles out of the piping. Then clean the piping using your chosen cleaning product with a rag and reach as much of the piping as possible by placing your arm into the piping. Wipe all sides of the duct work to remove dust and smoke particles that cling to the duct work material.

Remove your furnace filter and replace the filter with a high efficiency particle arrestor (HEPA) filter. HEPA filters remove 99 percent of pollutants, including smoke particles. While these filters are a bit more costly, they can be cleaned several times and will last a long time. Clean your HEPA filter every two months for maximum performance. Replace the HEPA filter according to the suggested life span to reduce furnace malfunction and prolong the life of your furnace.