Printable View
I just bought a new free standing fan by Lasko. I turned it on and right away it smells like burning plastic. Uh, you shouldn't eat from a plastic bowl that smells like burning plastic, should I be breathing from a fan that smells like burning plastic? Isn't the smell of burning plastic, toxic?
And do you know any brands that don't smell? :(
Some electric motors produce weird smells when running a high RPM. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. If the smell is very strong and if there's smoke coming out (and if you can smell it further than a meter away), I suggest you replace the fan.
The smell could be ozone, which is also a sign of a very broken fan.
Is it burning plastic, or is it kind of that electrical burning smell? If the plastic itself is melting and burning, then yeah, that's toxic and get a new fan. Otherwise, that's ozone, which is slightly less toxic, and you should get a new fan anyway. I found a cute little fan that does the job without any smell. No idea what the brand is, but it's white, about a foot and a half high, rotates, and has four large white rectangular buttons on the base.
Don't know the brand? Now you're teasing me! The smell of plastic or ozone? It definitely has a plastic smell to it. This sucks! The whole reason why I wanted a new fan was to get rid of the stink of oil paints. Now it's just adding to the stink.
Should I try running it to see if the smell goes away?
Yeah, that could work. It may just be that the manufacturer left in some plastic bit where there shouldn't be one. Burning it off may do the trick. I recommend opening a window, though.