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I used to live in Europe, and I loved electronic oil radiators as well as central heating.

This year, I decided to buy an electronic oil radiator for my home in Delhi, India. But whenever I use it, my eyes feels very dry and irritated after 10 minutes.

What is the problem?

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    Is the humidity different between the two locations? – Nate S. Jan 29 at 17:54
  • @NateS. I am not excatly sure. A quick google search says 85% in Germany, and 75% in my region in India, so they seem similar. – CodePanda Jan 29 at 19:01
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Probably paint on the outside of it off-gassing something.

Set it outside and run it on high for a few hours, that might help burn the volatiles off.

Most are too convoluted to expect removing the paint to be practical.

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    Can you clarify what do you mean or how to solve it? – CodePanda Jan 29 at 17:22
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    I'd take a stab, @CodePanda, that he means that this is a new heater and that there may still be some chemicals from the manufacturing process that are off-gassing as it heats up. This would likely go away over a period of time. You didn't experience this with previous heaters because they weren't, likely, brand new. – FreeMan Jan 29 at 18:10
  • ...or they were made in/for a market with stricter controls on what sort of paints/coatings were considered acceptable for the application. – Ecnerwal Jan 29 at 18:35
  • @FreeMan Yes. It's a brand new. Maybe paint is the reason. It's also black for some reason, maybe that could be it too. Is it possible to clean the chemicals manually so it don't affect me for weeks? – CodePanda Jan 29 at 19:03
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    Did it start some other color and turn black, or was it black when you bought it? If it started some other color, either the paint is not suitable for the use, or it's overheating - in either case, the paint is burning. – Ecnerwal Jan 29 at 19:09
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Without sounding demeaning or condescending countries don't all have similar laws and standards that industry must abide by in which to protect their citizenry.

What one Eastern country's government dictates as "safe to use" for the consumer may differ radically from a similar company in the West. Indeed, industry standards may further differ in a country by state or prefecture. In one state environmental laws are more lenient than those in another (west coast) state.

Substances and chemicals used in any type of product are tested for toxicity. Depending on your governments policies and standards these chemicals may not be considered dangerous. Or their notion of testing for harmful substances may be wanting.

This link gives stats and rates for consumer products: stats and safety

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    How do I know it's toxic? Also what can be toxic in a radiator? – CodePanda Jan 29 at 19:02
  • @CodePanda I didn't mean for my answer to state it is toxic, but it may have irritating properties in it. The milling on the metal case is one area. Also the case could be coated with a protective layer that contains harmful VOC's. – ojait Jan 29 at 19:27
  • The other problem is unsafe goods being smuggled in, often on an industrial scale. For instance direct mail is a huge thing in my country. and the biggest mail order seller operates its own warehouses and shipping network, and allows any third party to use that apparatus. As such, most things sold mail order come through that channel, and imported goods coming into it somehow bypass our safety inspections. As a result most mail ordered goods are dangerous trash. Terrible! – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 29 at 19:57
  • I'm downvoting this because it is speculation with basically no evidence. The other answer says "try this and see", but this one feels like a definite conclusion, which it is not. – user253751 Jan 29 at 22:23

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