Why does my new appliance smell of burning the first time I use it?

Most new heating appliances leave the factory with residues on them — protective oils on metal, coating on a new element, packing dust, and cure products in insulation. The first time the element gets hot, those burn off, and that produces a smell. It is unpleasant, it is expected, and manufacturers usually mention it in the manual as a run-in or burn-off cycle. What matters is being able to tell it apart from the other thing that produces a burning smell in a new appliance, which is a fault — most often a wiring or packaging problem from installation rather than a manufacturing defect.

Safety

What you'll need

• Ventilation — a window and an extractor
• The manual, which usually describes the burn-off cycle

Step by step

1. Check the manual for a run-in or burn-off instruction.Most new ovens specify running empty at a high temperature for an hour or so before first use, with the room ventilated. Many heaters say the same in fewer words. If your appliance has this instruction, the smell is anticipated and the procedure is how you get it over with.
2. Categorise the smell.Hot, dusty, faintly oily or like a warm iron: normal burn-off. Sharp, acrid, chemical, like hot plastic or melting insulation: not normal. Fishy or like burnt electrical components: not normal. The distinction is worth pausing over because everything else follows from it.
3. Stop immediately for any of the fault signs.Smoke rather than a smell, a smell that strengthens rather than fades, a warm or discoloured plug, a tripping breaker or RCD, a visible scorch mark, or a smell of hot plastic. Switch off, unplug, and contact the retailer or manufacturer. Do not run it again to check.
4. Ventilate properly while it burns off.Window open, extractor on, doors open to the rest of the house closed. It reduces both the smell and how long it lingers in soft furnishings.
5. Remove everything that came with it before heating it.Polystyrene blocks, tape, cardboard inserts, protective film on stainless steel, plastic wrapping on shelves and trays, and the desiccant sachets. A large share of genuine burning smells in a new appliance are a piece of packaging nobody removed. Check inside, underneath and behind.
6. Expect it to fade within two or three uses.First use strongest, noticeably less the second time, essentially gone by the third. A smell that is the same on the fifth use as on the first is not a burn-off and should be raised with the manufacturer.
7. Know which appliances legitimately do this.Ovens and hobs, most strongly. Portable heaters and towel rails, from dust and coating on the element. Tumble dryers and dishwashers, from manufacturing residues on the heater. New extractor hoods, from the motor's protective coating. Washing machines rarely, and a burning smell from a new washing machine is more likely to be a transit issue or a jammed drum.
8. Keep birds out of the room when heating new coatings.Non-stick and self-clean coatings on new ovens, hobs and cookware release fumes when first heated that are harmful to pet birds at levels harmless to people. Move them to another part of the house with the door shut and ventilate well.
9. Check the installation if the appliance is built in.A built-in oven needs the ventilation gaps the manual specifies, and an appliance jammed into a tight aperture without them will overheat its surroundings. A burning smell from an integrated appliance is worth checking against the installation instructions before assuming the machine is at fault.
10. Raise it early if you are in any doubt.A new appliance is at its strongest point for a return or a replacement. Contact the retailer within the first thirty days if there is a genuine concern, keep it in writing, and do not spend weeks running something that worries you.

Tips

• Do the oven burn-off cycle deliberately, on a day you can open the windows, rather than discovering it during the first roast dinner.
• Check behind and underneath a new appliance for packing material as well as inside it. Polystyrene wedged behind an oven is a classic.
• If the smell is coming from a heater on the first cold day of the season rather than from a new machine, it is settled summer dust on the element and it is normal — but only for the first ten or fifteen minutes.
• Photograph the model and serial plate before you build it in, so any conversation with the manufacturer about the smell starts quickly.

Common mistakes

• Running an appliance repeatedly to see whether a sharp electrical smell clears — That smell is overheating insulation or wiring. Each run makes it worse, and a new appliance with that symptom should be stopped and reported, not tested.
• Heating an oven with packaging still inside or behind it — It is one of the most common causes of a genuine burning smell in a new appliance, and it produces smoke and melted residue that is then difficult to clean off.
• Cooking food during the first burn-off — The residues burning off taint food and the smell is worst on the first heat. Run it empty first, as the manual asks.

If it doesn't work

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