Why is there a burning smell coming from one of my electrical outlets?

A burning smell from an electrical outlet is a serious fire hazard that requires immediate action — stop using the outlet, turn off the breaker feeding it, and call a licensed electrician right away. This is not something to monitor or wait on. A burning smell means something is overheating inside the wall, and electrical fires can ignite within wall cavities where you cannot see or reach them.

The most common cause is a loose wire connection inside the outlet box. When a wire is not tightly secured to the screw terminal — or when backstabbed push-in connections have loosened over time — the electricity arcs across the gap between the wire and the terminal. This arcing generates intense localized heat, enough to melt the plastic outlet body and eventually ignite the wood framing or insulation inside the wall. You may notice the outlet faceplate is warm to the touch, discoloured, or slightly melted. The smell is often described as burning plastic or a hot metallic odour.

In older GTA homes, particularly those built between 1965 and 1975 in suburbs like Mississauga, Brampton, and parts of Etobicoke, aluminum branch circuit wiring adds another layer of risk. Aluminum wiring expands and contracts more than copper with each heating and cooling cycle, and over decades this loosens connections at outlets and switches. The oxide that forms on exposed aluminum is also resistive, creating additional heat at the connection point. If your home has aluminum wiring and you smell burning at an outlet, the urgency is even greater — aluminum wiring fires are a well-documented hazard, and many Ontario insurance companies now require remediation using approved COPALUM or AlumiConn connectors as a condition of coverage.

Overloaded circuits can also produce a burning smell. If you have multiple high-draw devices plugged into a single outlet — space heaters, portable air conditioners, hair dryers — the wiring and outlet can overheat even with tight connections. A standard 15A outlet on 14-gauge wire is rated for a maximum continuous load of 1,440 watts. Exceeding this rating causes the wire insulation and outlet plastic to heat up, producing that distinctive burning smell. This is a common winter problem in older Toronto homes where residents use space heaters to supplement inadequate heating systems.

Your immediate steps should be: First, unplug everything from the outlet. Second, go to your breaker panel and turn off the breaker for that circuit — if you are not sure which breaker, it is better to turn off the main breaker temporarily than to leave a potentially overheating circuit energized. Third, do not use the outlet again until a licensed electrician has inspected and repaired it. If you see smoke, scorch marks on the wall, or the smell intensifies even after turning off the breaker, call 911 — there may be a fire smouldering inside the wall cavity.

An electrician will open the outlet box, inspect all connections, check the wire condition, and determine whether the outlet needs replacement or whether a more extensive problem exists further back on the circuit. In the GTA, an emergency service call for this type of issue runs $200-$500, and the repair itself — replacing the outlet and securing all connections — is typically $150-$350 on top of the service call if the wiring is in good condition. If the inspection reveals deteriorated wiring, aluminum wiring issues, or damage inside the wall, the scope and cost will increase accordingly. Get matched with a licensed electrician through Toronto Electrical Repair for a prompt assessment — this is one situation where waiting is not an option.