Red Squirrel
No Lifer
Anything burning plastic smell related is probably not healthy either. Carcinogens etc.
Sounds like a terrible heater design.
Sounds like a terrible heater design.
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Do you take pride in keeping older tech around cause it still works
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I look at this from a broad view of "tech" - includes almost any products and tools we use now. I've been a do-it-yourself type all my life - home carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc., auto repairs, electronics and computers, etc. I have never bought a new car (I'm in my 70's), and I do repairs myself as much as possible, and get them done by a good pro when I can't, so I tend to run them until they can't be fixed at decent cost. That usually means taking them to scrap metal dealer at age 15 to 20 years. We replaced our kitchen stove with one inherited from my mother-in-law when she died a couple years ago. The old one was from about 1960 and we bought it used with our house in 1971. I maintained and repaired it as needed. It was donated to an agency that recovers good used appliances for needy families. So things get replaced when they cannot be repaired or no parts are available. For example, I plan to recover dining room chairs after Christmas, and will need to use a staple gun. I have one - bought in 1975 from Sears. But it uses a staple size nobody sells any more, so I have asked for a new gun on my Christmas wish list.
We have various electronics systems in the house which I fix if possible when needed. My son is a computer systems specialist and has us all on a Gigabit Ethernet wired LAN with a Gigabit optical fibre feed from our ISP. Our family TV is basically a computer-based DVR with 8 TB storage and no cable TV connection; it feeds a 1080p 32" Samsung display (biggest we could fit in the cabinet we had). The rest of us do not use computers for demanding activities like gaming. So this machine was gifted to me by the family a couple years ago. It replaced a 2006-era machine I'd built and was working on upgrading from Win XP to Win 10. It was getting bogged down with garbage data and software, needed a new clean OS install. So except for my son, we are not bleeding-edge users.
With that mindset, I and most of the family think in terms or maintaining and repairing items for long use, rather than buying new for latest features. In fact, one criteria when I buy new is to assess whether the item can be disassembled, and whether parts will continue to be available. We recently replaced out laundry set. In discussing quality and durability with a sales rep in one store I mentioned that the pieces we were replacing had lasted 35 to 45 years with my repair work. He pointed out that normal "lifetimes" for such current appliances is 10 to 15 years. Reality - what a concept!
We also think that the longer one can use a product well, the less resources we consume. Along that line, I often think that many of us have heard of the "Three R's" of waste reduction, but really are familiar only with and use the LAST of those: Recycle. But in priority order the Three R's are: REDUCE, RE-USE, RECYCLE. REDUCE consumption is the most important.
We have various electronics systems in the house which I fix if possible when needed. My son is a computer systems specialist and has us all on a Gigabit Ethernet wired LAN with a Gigabit optical fibre feed from our ISP. Our family TV is basically a computer-based DVR with 8 TB storage and no cable TV connection; it feeds a 1080p 32" Samsung display (biggest we could fit in the cabinet we had). The rest of us do not use computers for demanding activities like gaming. So this machine was gifted to me by the family a couple years ago. It replaced a 2006-era machine I'd built and was working on upgrading from Win XP to Win 10. It was getting bogged down with garbage data and software, needed a new clean OS install. So except for my son, we are not bleeding-edge users.
With that mindset, I and most of the family think in terms or maintaining and repairing items for long use, rather than buying new for latest features. In fact, one criteria when I buy new is to assess whether the item can be disassembled, and whether parts will continue to be available. We recently replaced out laundry set. In discussing quality and durability with a sales rep in one store I mentioned that the pieces we were replacing had lasted 35 to 45 years with my repair work. He pointed out that normal "lifetimes" for such current appliances is 10 to 15 years. Reality - what a concept!
We also think that the longer one can use a product well, the less resources we consume. Along that line, I often think that many of us have heard of the "Three R's" of waste reduction, but really are familiar only with and use the LAST of those: Recycle. But in priority order the Three R's are: REDUCE, RE-USE, RECYCLE. REDUCE consumption is the most important.
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IronWing
No Lifer
I have a seven year old toilet that I have to replace because the manufacturer no longer produces the flush and fill valves for it and nothing else fits. 🙁
Captante
Lifer
Reminded me that I have to replace the flush-valve in mine soon .... its not leaking constantly but has reached the point where the disturbance to the water in the tank from just walking around causes it to do so intermittently.
Fortunately even though my toilet is at least 75 years old (and is wall-mounted) it still takes industry-standard parts!
Who made the 7-year old one you have so I know to NEVER use them?
IronWing
No Lifer
Briggs
Stiff Clamp
Senior member
NOt really. I mean my Samsung flip phone from 2011 sucks. But it is relatively private. Some batteries never die.
My phone case cost more than the phone . . . at the time. Phone cost $20 back then - case cost ~$24
My phone case cost more than the phone . . . at the time. Phone cost $20 back then - case cost ~$24
bbhaag
Diamond Member
I don't know if I take pride in it but I do keep a couple of 486 era PCs around just for fun and nostalgia. I restored one of them to its original state and the other one I went balls to wall upgrading.
This pic is several years old now but its my youngest son playing Duke Nukem on original hardware(Pentium Overdrive 83 mhz, 16mb of ram, Creative Sound Blaster 16, and a S3 Trio 64 with 2mb of vram). This is the one I went crazy upgrading. He's even using the original DEC keyboard that came with the PC. haha
This pic is several years old now but its my youngest son playing Duke Nukem on original hardware(Pentium Overdrive 83 mhz, 16mb of ram, Creative Sound Blaster 16, and a S3 Trio 64 with 2mb of vram). This is the one I went crazy upgrading. He's even using the original DEC keyboard that came with the PC. haha
Red Squirrel
No Lifer
I wish I had kept my sister's old college 486 computer. It was destined to be thrown out but it was around the time I got interested in computers so I took it so I can play around with it. I even modded it and added extra fans on the case.... not that it was needed, but I had gotten a dremel for Christmas and wanted to use it. 😛 I even got windows 98 on there. At one point I even wrote a really rudimentary DOS based OS for it. Well, it was more like a modified win98 rescue floppy that had my own software on it, nothing super fancy but it was something fun to play with at the time. Would be awesome to fire that bad boy up now days lol. Play some Wing Commander or Lemmings or something. I think those were like the only games I had for it.
lxskllr
No Lifer
I have a couple turntables and a shit ton of records, but I haven't used them in decades cause vinyl sucks.
Torn Mind
Lifer
The market is real hot for vinyl these days. Maybe you can make a buck pawning them off.
Vinyl Is Selling So Well That It’s Getting Hard to Sell Vinyl (Published 2021)
Left for dead in the 1980s, vinyl records are now the music industry’s most popular and highest-grossing physical format. Getting them manufactured, however, is increasingly a challenge.
Red Squirrel
No Lifer
On subject of older tech I just realized that my NAS was built in 2013, if I go by the OS install date. So about 8-9 years old now. Not OLD old, but not really that new I guess. Getting my money's worth out of it, that was an expensive build, a bit over 3 grand. I'm due to start upgrading some of the drives though and some are pushing 60k hours or more so I'm due to get failures more often.
I can't afford to spend money like that on servers/computers anymore these days though so going to keep making these last.
I can't afford to spend money like that on servers/computers anymore these days though so going to keep making these last.
Lost_in_the_HTTP
Lifer
It's a bit persnickety about line noise and phasing, but it usually works well. I currently have about 6 or 8 modules in place and programmed. They work even without internet too!!!! (Take that 'smart' devices!!!)
My cameras are IP based Pan-Tilt-Zoom powered by POE injectors.
Muse
Lifer
Did you use yours on high setting? The rooms I'm using them in are small and it doesn't get as cold around here as where you are. Interior temperatures will average 52F in the morning during the winter. I only need to bring up the temp maybe 10F for comfort. I won't be using high setting, probably not medium much. So far, low setting almost all the time. I'll see. If the smell bothers me I suppose I'll return it... it is Costco and their return policies are generally great. Electronics not as much but I don't think this qualifies as electronics.
So far I haven't been grossed out by the smell. I did notice it right away but I wasn't upset by it. I'd prefer no smell at all, but figured some smell is probably unavoidable.
Muse
Lifer
I bought an off the shelf NAS, a Synology DS214Play, so from 2014. It does what I need but the 2 mirrored 3TB HDs are now about 2/3 full. I figure I can replace them with larger HDs at some point. I do have an issue that comes up frequently in that the NAS, I think, gets "confused." Things suddenly don't work well and the only solution I know of is to go into its web interface and clear the SMB cache, a somewhat cumbersome process that takes usually at least a couple minutes. Once I do that, I can get quick reliable access to my data with my database system. I probably do that cache clearing on average a couple times a week.
That Synology NAS has a ton of features I know little about. Tons of software support. I can call them, and have from time to time, but mostly I'm so busy with other stuff I just haven't bothered to check out most of the tremendous feature set. I do use the "Hyper Backup" to make off site backups of all the data I care about.
Charmonium
Lifer
I had a couple of all-metal and ceramic space heaters. They were "barn heaters" and even that one smelled when you would turn it on. No plastic anywhere but the cord. The smell was from incinerating dust that had fallen on the coils.
Now have a couple all plastic ones and while I've smelled them while in operation, they may have when I first bought them but knew it would go away - and I'm someone who takes cancer risk way more seriously than I should.
So I would follow the advice above and see if the smell doesn't go away after a few hours or maybe days.
Think about it. If the air coming out doesn't scald you, it's highly unlikely that there's any burning plastic. The nichrome wire should be sitting on ceramic posts - either that or something else that isn't going to burn very readily - like in your toaster. In the unlikely event those standoffs ARE plastic, then definitely toss that POS out.
Now have a couple all plastic ones and while I've smelled them while in operation, they may have when I first bought them but knew it would go away - and I'm someone who takes cancer risk way more seriously than I should.
So I would follow the advice above and see if the smell doesn't go away after a few hours or maybe days.
Think about it. If the air coming out doesn't scald you, it's highly unlikely that there's any burning plastic. The nichrome wire should be sitting on ceramic posts - either that or something else that isn't going to burn very readily - like in your toaster. In the unlikely event those standoffs ARE plastic, then definitely toss that POS out.
Muse
Lifer
Yes, I just did a search on the issue. Evidently the rub on ceramic heaters isn't toxic fumes unless it's CO.
Actually, I'm not noticing the smell like I did at first. Possibly I've gotten used to it but I think it's likely that it's lessening, i.e. that it's burned off.
Looks like really good info here, and the specifically address Lasko heaters, too:
Generally, you will need to plug the ceramic heater into a wall outlet and position it away from the wall. Do not place it in or around a natural walkway, in front of a door or near anything flammable, including drapery and upholstered furniture. Ceramic heaters become hot to the touch once turned on.
Turn the heater on and set it to the highest temperature. Usually the instructions will tell you to let the heater run on this setting for 30 minutes, or until the initial odor wears off. Open windows and doors, if desired, while the heater is running to air out the smell from your home and reduce the room's temperature. Once the scent diminishes, turn the heater down to your desired temperature or turn it off to let the room cool.
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Captante
Lifer
Not really.... smell got pretty bad at anything but the lowest settings and it was still pretty obvious even then. (it didn't fade either and yes I tried all the tips to de-stink it)
Again if it were me I'd exchange it for one that doesn't off-gas potentially toxic/cancer-causing fumes when it gets hot. (also "radiant" type heaters produce usable warmth MUCH faster then ceramic forced-air)
I got one of these cheap ($25 on sale) and it blows the Lasko away for stuff like cold after a shower or early AM chills. Also NO bad smells.
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nakedfrog
No Lifer
I think the oldest tech I have in continuous use is my Asus Eee 1018P netbook, it acts as my NAS. Consumes about 14W, I decided it was a worthwhile trade-off over the lackluster performance of plugging a USB HDD straight into my router. I have a couple laptops of similar vintage, they mostly get booted up for specific purposes, or to get updated so they don't fall too far behind. I ditched a lot of stuff when I moved across the country last year.
Stiff Clamp
Senior member
I have six of those. 4 are warming it up right now. I think the newer models don't make this constant drone I'm hearing. Sounds like a fan running.
Muse
Lifer
I still see a lot of interest in the Thinkpad T60 and T61 and I have two of the former one of the latter but they are awful (slow as molasses in January) compared to my Thinkpad P1's (version 1 and 3). Best upgrades I can think of, and obtained at seemingly unbeatable prices. Got 32GB RAM in both, as well as 1TB main SSDs and 2nd SSDs. I run them on AC, but I can pull the cord any moment and go mobile. They access my centrally located data on my NAS. I never get slowdowns unless the NAS is acting up, but that isn't the laptops' fault.
OTOH, I still use an MIT MyHD PCI HDTV card and the company's DVR software using a midtower XP system. It's my best, most reliable OTA DVR. I figure I can get an external tuner and DVR add-on for one of my 43" 4K TCL Roku TVs for a superior experience (the MyHD system has some bugs). The TCL/Roku DVR system sucks bigtime, but it's the one I use most of the time because the MyHD system requires more effort (but is more satisfying).
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purbeast0
No Lifer
The one recent thing I have noticed that my MacBook can't handle though is the videos I recorded at 4k 120fps on my new gopro camera. It stutters like shit.
But other than that it's been fine and I used to do a lot of dev on it too running servers, ides, graphics programs, etc, and it was just fine.
Muse
Lifer
When I got my first laptop, a Lenovo T60, I thought I had the shit, the best of the best and maybe it was (2006) but it sure as hell became legacy and obsolete. People still buy them, upgrade them, I use a couple occasionally, one to run legacy 16bit software on 32bit Windows 10, the other running XP to make scheduled audio recordings off FM. But for day to day computing, they're awful.
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