I feel kinda paranoid right now, but a few minutes ago I went into my kitchen and smelled this weird odor–it was kind of like what a brand new oven smells like when being used for the first time? Just this weird, chemical smell. I was afraid of gas leaks or something, but I’d be able to detect that, right? It wasn’t really a “rotten eggs” smell, I don’t think. I don’t even know if I have any gas in my apartment. :dubious: It was pretty strong, but it seems to have gone away now, after I opened the windows… and it was definitely localized, I couldn’t smell it in my room. But I couldn’t detect where it was coming from. The oven definitely wasn’t on, but it kinda smelled like a really hot oven.
Anyways, I just wanted some reassurance that I will not die from weird chemical poisoning or be blown up in the next few hours… anyone have any ideas what it could be? Hopefully this is the right forum for random paranoia!
Ahah! You are smart. I had been doing the dishes right then! And upon checking, it seems some plastic lids got melted. Never even occurred to me that there are heating elements in a dishwasher… I bet that’s what it was! Thanks for relieving my mind.
That would have been my first guess too. For future reference, my second would be that your fridge might have leaked refrigerant. When my parents’ fridge packed up it made a very weird chemical sort of smell that I was told was the refrigerant gas.
Probably not. Most refrigerants used in domestic appliances are oderless. * The oil has a very faint odor. But when the motor burns up, the varnish used for insulation has a strong smell, and if refidgerant so contaminated leaked after a burnout, THEN you’d smell it.
