Post #202,343
4/7/05 3:17:38 PM
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Question about removing smells
Okay, I'm about to tell you how stupid I was yesterday, (I've been a nervous wreck about these fleas so I'm not surprised), but I'm hoping someone will have some answers to solve the problem.
Somehow yesterday I hit too many numbers on the microwave oven and instead of hitting 40 seconds, I hit 4 minutes. This isn't even the worst of the problems though, because when I discovered the microwave pancake was smoldering and burning, and had yanked it out of the oven with oven mitts, I was unsure about whether tossing it in the trash that hot, so I set the plate (which it was securely stuck to) in the sink and ran water on the smoking black disk. This promptly cracked the plate in half, but oh well... I'm not always one who thinks before I act.
When the pancake was cool, I put it in the trashcan in the kitchen, which was my next big mistake. Here I was trying to open windows and air out the room and the smoky/burnt smell... instead, with the source of the smell in the trashcan, all I managed to do was spread the smell ALL throughout the house. I did realize this finally and remove the pancake to the garage trash but it was too late.
Last night I could barely sleep it smelled so bad, someone suggested spraying Febreeze on the curtains and bedclothes so I did and that room got a little better. So I've been trying to get the smell out of the house all morning, spraying furniture with Febreeze and even a number of my stuffed animals, carpet areas, etc. However, I still can't seem to get the smell out of the kitchen/family room which are connected by an open doorway.
Neither is carpeted, and the family room has white sheets over all the furniture to deal with the flea issue that cropped up last week, I'm wondering if those sheets took in the smell? I sprayed them with Febreeze, but maybe I should wash those sheets? Also, I've sprayed everything in the kitchen that's fabric... what else could be holding that smell in there? I cleaned out the microwave with lysol, and wiped the counter down... could the wallpaper hold the smell?
Would appreciate any other suggestions to clear the smell from these two rooms. The family room is the main room I stay in all day (i.e. my computer room, birdie is in here, etc). I've had the windows open and the attic fan running, but somewhere I must have missed something that is retaining the smell. The family room has a hardwood floor, so I can't imagine that being it.
Thanks in advance for any help...
Brenda
"The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr
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Post #202,344
4/7/05 3:30:09 PM
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Ozium is your friend
[link|http://www.keysan.com/ksuai10.htm|linky]
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"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican."
-- H. L. Mencken
Support our troops, Impeach Bush.
D. D. Richards
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Post #202,345
4/7/05 3:30:24 PM
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wipe the nuke down with bleach
start smoking heavily :-) actually the bleach will get the burnt smell off of surfaces but the miasma is probably imbedded in your forebrain. Have a neutral come in after the cleanup and ask them what they smell.
thanx,
bill
All tribal myths are true, for a given value of "true" Terry Pratchett
[link|http://boxleys.blogspot.com/|http://boxleys.blogspot.com/]
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 48 years. meep
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
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Post #202,347
4/7/05 3:40:17 PM
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Boil a big pot of vinegar for a few hours
You'll want to pass that time on your back deck, only going in every once in a while to replenish the pot of vinegar. NB - plain ol' white vinegar. You might also want to consider buying the industrial size box of baking soda, spreading it everywhere there's fabric, leaving it for a few hours, and then vacuuming it up and disposing of the bag. NBB - don't do these at the same time!!!
--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca] [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Post #202,373
4/7/05 9:26:57 PM
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Ozone generator.
Something like [link|#|these]. Motels use them. By ozone, I mean just O3, an active oxygen molecule, and not the word as used to mean a mix of pollutants including it. When I was doing contract programming and stayed in motels a lot, I got assigned a room that had one of these sitting in the room. This was a "Extended Stay America" room with a "kitchenette". It was not running at the time and I had then get it out of the room. I have no idea what the prior tenant did, but I sure couldn't tell. Call some equipment rental places to see if they have one you could rent. Do not stay (or leave animals in the house) in the house while the machine is in operation. [link|http://www.airinfonow.com/html/ed_ozone.html|Ozone and Your Health]
Why ozone can hurt.
The properties that make ozone a powerful cleaner, disinfectant, and bleaching agent also make ozone dangerous to living tissues.
When it comes in contact with living tissues, like our lungs, ozone attacks and damages cells lining the airways, this causes swelling and inflammation.
Some have compared ozone's effect to a sunburn ... inside your lungs. The smell of ozone is actually familiar. For one thing, some copiers generate it. Alex
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell
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Post #202,382
4/7/05 10:52:35 PM
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Update
First, thanks for all your suggestions. I wasn't online the rest of the day till about now, so I haven't tried any of those yet. I spent the entire day spraying stuffed animals, rugs, furniture, etc. and I got the smell out of the kitchen for the most part. John and I plan to try the vinegar or the bleach in the microwave if it still smells tomorrow, right now it just smells like Formula 409.
Oddly enough, the smell I couldn't find today in the kitchen, turned out to be in the dishwasher. John leaves it cracked open with something to hold it slightly open, and the smell must have gone into it. When he opened it tonight the smell was evident. As I had cleaned/deodorized almost every other surface in the kitchen, I'm hoping this is the source of the smell I missed. I never even thought about the odor getting trapped in there. He's running the dishwasher tonight so hopefully that would get rid of the odor?
The only other place the smell seems trapped now is in the T-shaped hallway, but there's nothing there to trap it other than linoleum and wall. I'm thinking maybe another airing out when it gets warm again, with fans on either end of the hall?
I do appreciate all your suggestions and will share them with John, but he definitely doesn't want to use Ozone, sorry Alex.
It appears that I have the majority de-odorized anyway, just gotta figure out how to deal with the hall. And that puzzles me, as the huge attic fan that I've been running to circulate the air in the house is in that hallway.
Ah well... enough trying for tonight, I'm worn out and done cleaning till another day.
Brenda
"The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr
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Post #202,383
4/7/05 10:59:15 PM
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Try cleaning the fan
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"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican."
-- H. L. Mencken
Support our troops, Impeach Bush.
D. D. Richards
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Post #202,401
4/8/05 1:31:00 AM
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Hmmm that's an idea
Not sure exactly how I would manage it, as it's flush into the ceiling, and I'm not going up into the attic... I wouldn't be able to breathe up there.
But maybe if I opened the slats manually in the hallway and wiped them down with something like lysol wipes, that might help.
John had another thought, that maybe the odor went up into the attic, (he told me the attic fan pulls air upward into the attic), and didn't get dispersed enough so that it's leaking back down into the hall.
If that is the case, how would I best "blow" the odorous air out of the house? I had tried two fans, one at each end of the hallway, but John thinks that simply trapped the air rather than moved it. If I wanted to pull the air from the hall and send it out a window or something, where should I position the fan in relation to the attic fan (which blows downward), at the end of the hall facing the bedroom, facing away from the bedroom, or in the middle somewhere?
Trying to figure out the dynamics of how fans pull and move air here.
On a happier note, the dishwasher must have been the final culprit in the kitchen, because the smell has all but dissipated in there. Yay!
Brenda
"The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr
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Post #202,485
4/8/05 2:13:20 PM
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Not sure if this is a physics question?? (new thread)
Created as new thread #202484 titled [link|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=202484|Not sure if this is a physics question??]
"The people of the world having once been deceived, suspect deceit in truth itself." -- Hitopadesa 600?-1100? AD, Sanskrit Fable From Panchatantr
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