Why does my central heating smell

[usn90]

Whenever we have the heating on there s a smell which sort of smells of paint, 8 of the 10 radiators in our house are new, the other 2 have been painted by previous owners, can those 2 make the majority of the house smell?

Admittedly It s not a disgusting smell, but it s not something I like either

[davek_964]

If you think it's the radiators, turn them all off then turn them on one by one and see which ones cause it.

[louiebaby]

Does it only smell the first few times you use it after the summer?

I always thought this was the summer dust wafting off in the up-draft?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

I’d try turning the boiler’s flow temperature up high, turn the thermostat to max, and let the heating run full blast for an hour or two to see if that drives off whatever is causing the smell. Get the rads as hot as you can.

[AyBee]

louiebaby said:

Does it only smell the first few times you use it after the summer?

I always thought this was the summer dust wafting off in the up-draft?

This.

[Lotobear]

You often get this if the rads are new IME - off gassing from the paint finish