Fumes from oil filled radiator

[coldair]

Hiya all,I would appreciate any advice / thoughts. I have an electric oil filled radiator which is ten or more years old and obviously has been through many thousands of heating / cooling cycles in it's time.It has recently been giving off fumes on switch on and I need to close the door and open the windows for a while before the fumes appear to clear.Now I understand about the problems of bleed air and the effect that this can have on crew, is this radiator likely to have similar neurotoxicity effects ?I have noticed a recent weekness in my calfes when walking and climbing stairs, otherwise I am 100% fit.Any comments? Obviously, I have decided not to use the radiator for the time being but could these fumes prove to be toxic ?Cheers,coldair

[ShyTorque]

It probably contains mineral oil rather than organophosphates.

Word of warning though: Throw it away!

Earlier this year, the father of my daughter's boyfriend came back to find a round hole had been completely burned through his lounge ceiling. He dashed upstairs and discovered he'd forgotten to turn off his oil filled radiator in the bedroom. It had overheated and burned right through the floor beneath it, through to downstairs. He hadn't been out for long. He called out the fire brigade. The firemen said they had plenty of previous experience of houses being destroyed by faulty oil filled heaters and to consider himself lucky not to have had the same happen to him.

[onetrack]

Coldair - I have a Vulcan 1000W oil-filled heater that is probably 15 yrs old. It was sold by Southcorp Heating & Cooling who are based in South Australia; but the heater was made in Portugal.
Just recently I noticed an unpleasant odour being emitted from the heater. SWMBO, who is particularly sensitive to unpleasant odours complained about the smell permeating the rest of the house (I use in the home office).
An inspection shows dark staining around the vents and controls on the end of the heater. I believe it is probably leaking some oil when hot - although there's no sign of actual oiliness. I usually run it for 2-3 hrs of an evening, but not every evening.
I'm going to scrap it, they aren't expensive to purchase; and I believe the fumes with the unpleasant odour are probably mildly toxic - but I cannot find anyone who can verify that, or any research having been done in that area.
I've never felt unwell from the fumes, nor do I believe I've suffered any ill-effects from them - but I'm happy to scrap a domestic consumer device this age, because we all know they're aren't built to last any more, anyway.

[coldair]

Thanks guys, particularly onetrak.

It's going in the bin, I just can't risk the possibility of 'slightly' toxic fumes.

I appreciate your comments :)



coldair