Burning smoke smell when dryer is running, but not near dryer

[SluggerB]

This is an odd one.

I have a Samsung Dryer, in a laundry room. The laundry room shares a wall with an adjoining family room. When the dryer is running, I smell a smokey smell, like burning paper. However, the smell is not near the dryer. The smell is in the adjoining room, and about 4 feet away from the wall, in front of a fireplace. The dryer itself has no odor, the areas right by the adjoining wall between the laundry room and family room have no odor, but if you walk about 4 feet from the wall to the front of the fireplace, you smell it.

The lint trap in the dryer itself is clean. The dryer vent tube is brand new I replaced it last week. The exterior vent is not stuck and when running exhaust comes out of it just fine

I checked the basement below the area I was smelling the odor, thinking maybe it was an electrical connection that has been damaged and was scorching a floor joist or something, but all the wires look fine, and there is no black scorching or smoke, and no odor in the basement. I also have smoke detectors in the laundry room, the family room, and the basement and none have gone off (they are all connected if 1 goes off all 12 in the house go off)

I am mystified. An ideas?

[Vance R]

Turn off the breaker for the dryer. Remove the receptacle cover plate the remove the outlet and inspect the outlet and wires.  Smell the outlet box for the burning smell. 

[SluggerB]

4 minutes ago, Vance R said:

Turn off the breaker for the dryer. Remove the receptacle cover plate the remove the outlet and inspect the outlet and wires.  Smell the outlet box for the burning smell. 

I can work on that, it's a hassle because the stupid dryer has a water line going to it for some steam function so it's not as simple as just unplugging it and moving it I need to shut the water off and get the line disconnected to get it out of the way

[SluggerB]

OK, I did a load of laundry in the wash. I put it in the dryer. I checked, there was no odor.

 

I turned the dryer ON, but did not start it. Checked for odor, there was none

 

I started the dryer. I checked for odors right away and there was none (so far). I did a tissue test around the fireplace, there is absolutely NO air leakage coming in that fireplace. I checked with a tissue around every opening three times and nothing. So it would appear to not be a negative pressure situation

 

I went into the basement and examined all the electrical cables while the dryer continues to run. Nothing out of the ordinary, no sparks, no smokes, and no odors

 

The dryer has been running for about 5 min now, still no odor, I am going to wait and check back in 20 min (we run 40 min cycles)

 

[SluggerB]

Well I checked back at 20 min in and smelled nothing. I checked again at 30 min in, nothing. I had my wife check, she smelled nothing. When they cycle was done I think I might have gotten a slight whiff of the scent, but it also could have been in my head. The cooling cycle runs at the end so I will check again next loa during the cooling cycle and see if the smell returns. Real mystery

[evaappliance]

Has there been any painting inside your house recently ?   If so that can make a weird smell till the paint cures 

[SluggerB]

4 minutes ago, evaappliance said:

Has there been any painting inside your house recently ?   If so that can make a weird smell till the paint cures 

Nope, no paint. No changes at all 

[evaappliance]

4 hours ago, Vance R said:

Turn off the breaker for the dryer. Remove the receptacle cover plate the remove the outlet and inspect the outlet and wires.  Smell the outlet box for the burning smell

Also where the cord hooks to the terminal block on the dryer,  really need to pull the wall receptacle and put eyes on it like Vance was saying 

[SluggerB]

1 hour ago, evaappliance said:

Also where the cord hooks to the terminal block on the dryer,  really need to pull the wall receptacle and put eyes on it like Vance was saying 

 

I will be. Also while it is out I figure I might as well take the back cover off and clean up any lint on the inside. 

[SluggerB]

Update, it seems it is not the dryer at all. The dryer is currently unplugged, and now we are getting the scent in a different part of the family room. So I guess the odor is coming from somewhere else and the dryer agitating the air just made it more noticeable. 

I triple checked the area in the basement under where the odor was, every electrical line is fine, none are damaged, there are no scorch or burn marks. The fireplace itself is brick so nothing in there. Also worth nothing the fireplace is unused we have been here 4 years and never used it ever so I don't think it would give off a smokey smell even if air was going through it. 

Also in my experience electrical burning has a distinct plastic-y smell, this is NOT that. It smells like paper being set on fire. The house has blown in insulation so no paper facing anywhere behind the walls. None of the walls or ceiling show any signs of distress. And still no smoke detector has gone off anywhere in the home (if one goes off they all go off so I would have noticed) It's a true mystery

I also uncovered another mystery: I cannot find the breaker for the dryer outlet. It's a standard 240V outlet, but I went to my breaker panel (unmarked of course, I have slowly been identifying them as time goes on) and flipped every single double pole breaker, and the dryer was STILL on. I cannot find any wire running through the basement up into the wall so the electric must be run through the first floor walls. There is no sub panel anywhere. So I have no idea how this thing is even getting power now. 

I did replace my furnace filter in the off chance that had some trapped wildfire smoke in it, it was dirty but I smelled it and it didn't smell like smoke. I replaced it anyway. 

So the mystery continues....

[SluggerB]

Just to close up the thread... 

 

I found the breaker, it was mislabeled as my AC which is the only one I didn't turn off. 

 

I killed the breaker, and checked the plug. I t seemed fine, no signs of damage or melting. I pulled the breaker out of the box, again seemed fine, no signs of damage on the box or bus bar. I did a resistance test across the wires and it Ohm'd out OK. 

 

I plugged it all back in, and mysteriously, it works fine now. My wife did three loads of laundry through the dryer, zero odor, dries fine. 

 

One of those random mysteries I guess. Thanks for the suggestions