Mystery smell: Electrical fire?

[Kevin509]

So today in the shop at work there was a strong smell that I kid you not smelled exactly like roasted marshmallows. This is in a car dealership shop, there's nothing remotely marshmallowy around that would normally cause such a smell. My boss and I spent most of the afternoon trying to trace it down. We've got two reznor heaters on the ceiling but neither of them seems to be the cause of it. Other than that, there's four ceiling fans, and a bunch of florescent lights. One of the pairs of florescent lights was acting oddly today. I noticed it wasn't on at all, then about 30 minutes later only one bulb of the pair was on. However, nobody noticed anything wrong with the lights until 45 minutes before close so I don't know how long that's been going on or if it's related to my mystery smell. All the bulbs are new in all the lights, I just replaced them last month.

Other than the lights, nothing was out of the ordinary today. Has anybody experienced a smell like this before and have any idea what might be causing it?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[dave67fd]

Burning electrical smells more like burning brake pads/shoes so if it smells like that it's most likely electrical or one of your mechanics or customers brought in a car with the brakes hanging up.

Could be the transformer in the suspected fixture. Pull the cover off the fixture and look/feel the transformer with the fixture on. Replace the bulb and see if it lights. If not it was prob. a quick transformer burnout.

 

[MBfreak]

To be a bit proactive , get an electrician to upgrade your install with GFCI .
Brings great peace of mind.
"At least, it is not electrical "

But , won´t do much for toasted brake pads


Ola

 

[Thruxton]

Do you have a refrigerator anywhere around? Check out the compressor. They get toasty, like marshmallows, and even smell sorta like...

 

[SGKent]

I vote on overhead lights. You lost a ballast. Look at the light that is out.

 

[Falcon67]

I vote on overhead lights. You lost a ballast. Look at the light that is out.

This. When we had mag ballasts in our building, we got sweet smells regularly when those things died. However, beats the heck out of burned popcorn.