Don’t Overlook the Little Details

We woke up this morning to a strange burnt oily smell in the basement.  Years ago we had some trouble with our oil fired water heater and this presented itself as the first possible explanation… though the smell didn’t seem quite right.

I checked the oil tank and saw that it was low.  Hmmm… perhaps the heater was trying to fire but couldn’t draw oil.  The gauge indicated 80 gallons in the tank.  Seems strange that the heater would be having trouble with that much oil in there. Hmmm.  My next thought was that the gauge was not functioning correctly.  We called and arranged an oil delivery.

I assumed that hot showers were out of the question if the heater could not draw oil.  I gave it a shot anyway and to my surprise everything functioned normally.

Later on I went out into the garage and found that the smell strangely seemed stronger out there.  Oh!  It’s the car, I thought.  A few weeks ago we had a power steering fluid leak that was repaired.  The power steering fluid was leaking again… in fact there was a puddle underneath the car.  I got a flash light, popped the hood, and did a little inspection.  Hmmm… the power steering fluid is full.  And the fluid line looks fine.  Ah ha!  There’s the dripping.  But wait, that just looks like water.  I wiggled my hand down to the source of the dripping and got some on my fingers.  It felt like water and smelled like nothing.  Ugh… it’s just air conditioner condensation.  No big deal.  The power steering fluid is fine.

Okay, it must be the water heater.  Another trip into the basement and I could smell the smell, but it strangely diminished near the water heater.  Argh.

I went back out into the garage to throw out some trash and the smell hit me again.  Okay fine, so where is it coming from?  I bloodhounded my way around the garage.  The smell is familiar and unpleasant.  I KNOW that smell.  Some sort of chemical that I use.  I started picking up cans and bottles until… BOOM!  I found it.  A metal spray can of Bombadier lubricant had rusted through and the noxious liquid had completely leaked out.

That was a welcome surprise!  Both the car and the water explanations would have costs $$$, but throwing out and cleaning up after a leaking lubricant can was easy and simple.  It’s funny how my mind went to the big expensive problems and lingered on them.  It surprised me that it took so long to narrow down and location the true source of the problem.