Is heat supposed to smell like burned plastic?

[Slippery]

So I am in my new house, and right now the temperature dropped to 65, and the heater automatically turned itself on. Now, the house smells like burned plastic, like those glue guns. It is actually starting to bother me. Is it supposed to smell like that? or is it dangerous?

 

[Young_Warrior]

is the house brand new?

 

[MagpieRacer]

Burning plastic is toxic gas..

 

[Bahbo]

Now, the house smells like burned plastic, like those glue guns. It is actually starting to bother me. Is it supposed to smell like that? or is it dangerous?

Burning plastic is toxic gas..

I guess we'll find out for sure if he mysteriously stops posting.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

How strong is the smell?

I'm guessing it's insulation.

 

[Duke]

If it's a new house, give it a few days. There is probably all manner of oil coating on the inside of the ductwork (to prevent rust) not to mention in the furnace itself, plus newly-cured sealants, duct tape, etc...

As long as the heating system seems to be functioning OK and the smell isn't getting worse, I'd say it's to be expected for the first fire-up.

 

[livemusic]

Heaters. Yeah, we don´t have those around here.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Keep a canary handy for the next few days 👍

 

[Gil]

My house is only a year old, and when we fired up the heater for the first winter, it had a slightly unpleasant smell that went away after a few days.
I expect it will smell the same this winter when it first kicks on.

 

[Purple Platypus]

Most heaters will smell bad for the first few days of winter because dust that accumulated in the summer is burning off. I always noticed it in school when they started turning on the heaters after leaving the buildings empty for the entire summer.

 

[Omnis]

Heaters. Yeah, we don´t have those around here.

Word. 👍

 

[Pupik]

Word. 👍

Aw, maybe twice a year; getting out of the shower when the house temperature is below 55 degrees.

When I lived in Gainesville, it got a lot colder in the winters, so I'd set the heat to turn on for 2-3 minutes every hour so I could play GT2 during my winter breaks.

 

[Omnis]

We'd just turn the air off, no heat necessary.

You only need heat when the temp gets around 30 outside. That doesn't happen here, obviously.

But yeah, our heat smells funky for a little bit. It's like an "empty" smell, if you know what i'm talking about. It's hard to describe.

 

[G.T]

Well, air conditioning in a car when you turn the heater on smells doesn't it? I don't think it's really anything to worry about.

 

[CDailey]

Our heat does the same thing. We turn it on maybe a few times in the winter here in Jacksonville.