Old Floor Heaters in the Home

To start this off I will inform you that we live in a very old building that has one of those in floor heaters. About three weeks ago we had our carpets cleaned. That was a story in itself, but not the topic of this particular entry. The next day when we turned on the heater there was a bit of a funky smell coming out of it. My husband had told me the carpet cleaner sprayed something on the carpet to clean it so I figured some had gotten into the heater and was burning off. And that was the last I thought about it.

Two nights ago, since we had been doing so well keeping the thermostat down low, we decided to spoil ourselves and turn it up to 75 for an hour or so. We began to smell a horrible burning smell which I thought smelled just like the chemical that had been sprayed on the carpets. Since we hadn't really turned up the heater after that one day, I just thought there was more that needed to be burned off. After all what else could it possibly be? I seem to have forgotten we had a little boy running around.

The other night the smell seemed to get worse and I kept telling my husband it was starting to make me feel sick, how could it be so strong? I just could not comprehend how anything else could be causing such a smell. So I told him I'd just turn it up high the next day to help burn it off and air it out. That day was today.

Being a nice warm and sunny, California winter morning, I opened up all the doors and windows and turned up that thermostat. The smell began, and got stronger and stronger. I was opening mail and handed over a couple cards to my 18 month old. I just happened to glance over at him near the heater in time to see him pushing those cards into the heater slats. Ofcourse I freaked out and grabbed him away, told him no and immediately turned off the heater. Then I found the true surprise.

I took off the slatted cover to reveal both of those cards, one already scorched from the heat. Papers that had been burned, and the culprit of the horrible smell: one of his wooden puzzle pieces that I had turned into a magnet. The paint, plastic, and wood were all burning away and had been for a couple days now producing this rank and most likely dangerous chemical smell. How could I be so ignorant? At the very bottom of the heater lies one of the measuring spoons I gave him and an old credit card. Both of them are very melted and stuck to the bottom, not that I can reach them if I wanted to.

I learned today, just as I have mentioned in other blogs prior to this, that you cannot ever be certain your home is baby proofed. Babies and especially toddlers, find a way to get into trouble no matter how many locks you have, how many switches are blocked, and how many rooms are closed off. You have to be on constant lookout and even then, they can cause trouble.

I'm pretty good about keeping an eye on him but I never thought about the heater, and never caught him doing that until today, thank goddess. I'm now planning a much better way to protect this dangerous heater from my sons torment. He could have burned down our home and with it would go his Uncle's home in the back.

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