If a bear craps in the woods does it smell...

[Trekker4747]

... like turning your heat on for the first time for the year?

It's getting pretty cool tonight with a low expected in the 30s or 40s so I turned the heat on in the apartment after a few moments it kicks on because I suppose whatever it's set to doesn't match whatever temperature it is in the apartment and, of course, I get that burned smell common to the first activation of the furnace during the year.

Why does it smell? What is smelling so bad? I could, maybe, see why in a house where there's a furnace and an air-conditioner and both use different components, ducts, etc. and somewhere in there there's months old dust "cooking" but in my apartment I've a heat-pump which means, I believe, it uses the exact same parts the A/C uses, just "in reverse."

What the heck smells?!

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

But, if a bear craps in the woods and noone is around to smell it, does it make a sound?

On topic, I had the same thing with my apartment's 2 AC/heaters. I figure dust settles on the heating coils in the 6 months since I last had the heaters on. And I know when I used the A/C, there was some moisture buildup, so there was probably a lot more dust stuck to the coils than there normally would be.

Stunk (pretty much) like $hit the first use.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

^^^ That's it exactly. Dust and dirt builds up on the heat exchanger over the summer and the smell is from the dust and dirt being burned when it warms up.

 

[Capn Flukie]

I turned my heat on for the first time in months today too. Yeeeuck.