Smell from UPS is making me sick

[Timothy_apc]

We have an APC BE750G that is about 5 days old. When plugged-in it is giving off a noxious smell that is giving me a headache and making me nauseous.

I suffered through this for several days thinking that the smell would dissipate as the unit became 'broken in.'

This is ridiculous.

I have had this problem with other UPS units as well.

At this point I am inclined to believe that there is some common issue with the components or manufacturing process of the major UPS or battery brands.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Can you give me a description of the smell? electrical smell? sulfur?

[Timothy_apc · Accepted solution]

I would say plastic+glue is my best description of the smell... although I can't say that those are the actual source of the odor.

It does seem to be worse when the unit is powered on although I wouldn't describe the smell as hot or electrical.

What is it about UPS's?
I have had the same issue with other brands of UPS as well.
I though these things were RoHS which is supposed to limit the amount of VOC's that they are giving off...

I am taking this back for a refund and giving-up on UPS's.

I guess I will just have to suffer through power outages and likely data corruption of my drives.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Hi there!

I'm suffering from the same problems. Just got in a new replacement for my Back-Ups CS 500 here in Finland. As a replacement for the CS 500, I bought the APC Back-UPS RS Pro 1500VA (Model # BR1500GI) for home office use yesterday.

At first run, I was thinking to myself that the new UPS, being bigger in battery capacity as compared to my old one, was just highly electrically charged and had some "factory dust" in it. This is because it first had an aroma similiar to what some ionizer/ozoner equipment sometimes have. I would say it was definitely a smell of ozone + plastic compounds. Soon there was a faint odour all around the house that's usually associated with brand new electronics, but then the smell somehow started to be more and more irritating.

Now, being in this line of business for decades, I'm not easily spooked. But under 20 hours or so of running time, the UPS unit is really making me sick. Throat clogged, eyes burn, skin feels like it has a chemical coating, got a nice tobacco cough as well, even though I don't smoke. Then I started to Google search if there was any cases of strange odour from new UPS units and found some serious stuff. Especially with APC units. Oh man. Seriously, there's something wrong with the chemicals they put into these!

The unit isn't hot at all and there's no indication in any way that there's anything wrong with it. PowerChute says everything's OK and battery tests run just fine. I would think the culprit could be i.e. fire retardant chemicals, or some of the components on the unit's PCB. Perhaps it's been packed away for some while and there has been some sort of accumulation of chemical particles inside the sealed packaging.

I switched back to the old UPS today and I'm now running the new UPS on the patio now so that it doesn't contaminate my indoors any further. As an old business customer and working in the IT field, I've had APC and Powerware systems since the 90's but never experienced anything like this! I wonder what the Finnish Safety and Chemical Agency would say if they took a sample of that UPS unit ???? Would it even meet the EU regulations & standards or is APC cutting corners in safety regulations? Makes me wonder.

Message was edited by: monsignorpeligro

Message was edited by: monsignorpeligro

Message was edited by: monsignorpeligro

[Anonymous user]

Aren't these devices supposed to be environmentally friendly with an energy management setting to help reduce costs and CO2 emissions? How ironic. Save the planet (LOL) but make people sick.

[BillP]

I've never personally heard of this issue before, until now. Our UPS' do pass all required environmental test/compliance. Not that I doubt Timothy's claims , but it's awfully hard to confirm the cause of this smell purely by his description of it.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

I am also experiencing this smell with two brand new Back-UPS XS 1500 units... Coming out of the box, the smell was immediately noticeable on both units, very similar to ozone, with a metallic quality to it.  DEFINITELY NOT a sulfur smell.

I plugged the units in and the smell increased for a bit - during the first evening I could smell it clear at the other end of the hallway furthest from the office/bedroom where the units were installed.

Both mornings since the smell has been noticeable upon walking into my office, less strong than the first evening, but not really getting any better now.  Yesterday I got a headache sitting in my office.  I can't say for sure that it was caused by fumes, but I am not very prone to headaches so it is quite a coincidence.

I've used UPSs in my home before, including APC, but have never experienced this.

I'm very concerned about what this smell could be.  It does not smell like something that is particularly healthy to be inhaling on a long-term basis.

If I can't find a satisfactory answer and the smell continues to persist through the weekend, I'm going to have to return these units and get something else.  These products SHOULD NOT be outgassing like this in a home setting.

EDIT:

I should add that when I am walking into the office in the morning and smelling these units, they have been at near zero load for at least 6 hours prior, with no power events occurring.

Duke

[BillP]

Brian,

You should call local support for assistance. Your profile show you are in the United States so support is available at 1-800-890-4272 Monday through Friday 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern time.

[Anonymous user]

Called support, they were not familiar with the issue so they are sending replacements and will inspect the original units when returned.  We'll see if the new units are any better.

[Anonymous user]

Late update on this, the new units arrived very quickly, and I was able to get to replacing them on 5/31.  At that time there was still a noticeable ozone/metallic smell when first walking into the room.

I opened the new units and set them up charging and did not notice any odors other than that new electronics smell.  The ozone/metallic smell was not present on the new units.  I replaced and shipped back the old units, and I haven't noticed the ozone/metallic odor since.

So it seems there may have been something up with the original units after all, so I'm glad they were replaced so quickly even though we still don't know exactly what the problem was.

[Anonymous user]

Here's an even later "update" that might be useful.  This just happened to me starting last night after several power blips in my house.  Because we have frequent power blips in my county (due I think to overloaded grid and a lot of older systems with above ground lines), so I have UPS' all over the house mostly to avoid the inconvenience of restarting everything after a few seconds of blackout.  Many of my UPS' are older APC Back-UPS towers.  They have been so reliable over the years that all I do is wait until a battery dies and replace it and go on happy.  Last night after several hard blips there was an increasingly strong plastic-like smell coming from somewhere and the only reasonable source was the UPS' in my basement where the smell was definitely strongest.  Over night I turned off all of the basement UPS' save the one that keeps my Internet connection going.  In the morning most of the house had the smell, so then I turned off and unplugged the remaining UPS and started airing the house.  It appears that was the culprit - most of the smell has dissipated.  I had a similar UPS "die" recently but had not yet replaced the battery.  Since I have had these units for a long time (easily 10 years) it seems the problem must be the batteries and not the unit's themselves (I am hoping).  So I am going to replace all of the batteries in these same units and put them all back online in hopes that does the trick.  I will follow-up when I know for sure.

--- FOLLOW-UP:

I have removed the batteries from all of the dead/dying/stinky APC UPS'.  Turns out the stinky one has the unique battery - resold by APC but it's one branded RU (backward R) - exide battery made in India.  The others are CB (or something like that) made in China.  Both must have lasted many years because I don't recall last time I replaced, but the one that went stinky on the power blip was the RU battery, and unfortunately I see that is the brand that is Amazon's Choice for replacement.  I won't be buying that one.  Guess I'm on the hunt.

[hlucid_apc]

I'm having the exact same problem. I just bought a Backup-UPS XS 950U and this thing stinks really bad of some kind of plastic/chemical. The odor doesn't have anything to do with sulfur. I am really concerned about long term health issues. I have had many UPSs over the years of various brands including APC. I 've never had a problem like this before with any of them. This is really really bad. Is there anything that can be done? I don't want to spend any more on this since it was quite expensive. This is a horrible experience.

[Anonymous user]

you should return for replacement - the smell will only get worse as far as i can tell - after spending some time trying to diagnose this problem i’ve determined it is in the UPS itself - replacing battery does not fix it

[hlucid_apc · Accepted solution]

Thank your for replying Craig. Your answer motivated me to go ahead and ask for a replacement. The retail shop from which I made the original purchase promptly provided me with a replacement a couple of hours ago. Indeed the new one does not stink as much and while not completely stink free, it is a very very noticeable improvement. Thanks.