Deordorizing, or trying to....

[k3zrf]

I recently bought a piece of gear at a hamfest about a month and a half ago. This thing had been stored in a very musty location. The odor takes one's breath away. I have tried baking soda, coffee beans and this baby is still 'hummin'. If I leave it open in the shop overnite you can smell it as soon as you open the door. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

When I run across a musty smelling rig or manual(s), I put them in a box or plastic bag. Add two or three fabric softener sheets (the kind you throw in the dryer) and I also add a handful of mothballs. Seal the box or bag for at least a week or two. Remove the unit. Generally, after this, the mothball and fabric softener sheet smell will dissipate quickly in an open-air environment and generally the musty smell dissipates too. A more drastic measure is to put the unit in a box, light up a parodi cigar, and blow as much smoke as you can into the box, and then seal it for a week or two. The musty smell is gone but this generally only works for people who don’t have an aversion to cigar smells

Generally, the results are pleasing.

.

[k3zrf]

Thanks for the suggestion Pete. Dryer doilies and large plastic bag are in stock. Entombed last night....will report.

By the way, didn't know you knew the family, portrait of ex-wife forwarded to my son in the sevice.

[The Slab Bacon]

Musty smell is bad enough to deal with, but other than soap and water scrubbing, I have never found anything that will remove the smell of cat piss. That is the great destroyer of old radio gear. I had one transmitter in particular, a heathkit Marauder, that would stink of essence of cat every time it got warm. I actually used this transmitter for 10 years and the smell was always there everytime it got good and warm. There are just somethings that you dont want to submerge and scrub (for obvious reasons). That seems to be the only way to eliminate it. Anyone out there got any suggestions??
                                                       The Slab Bacon

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Musty smell is bad enough to deal with, but other than soap and water scrubbing, I have never found anything that will remove the smell of cat piss. That is the great destroyer of old radio gear. I had one transmitter in particular, a heathkit Marauder, that would stink of essence of cat every time it got warm. I actually used this transmitter for 10 years and the smell was always there everytime it got good and warm. There are just somethings that you dont want to submerge and scrub (for obvious reasons). That seems to be the only way to eliminate it. Anyone out there got any suggestions??
                                                       The Slab Bacon

Had a Hallicrafters HT-32B, that when off, smelled fine. After being on for 1/2 or longer, the smell of cat urine drifted all over the house. Tried all sorts of things but the smell, when the HT-32B was on, was always there. How I eliminated it; I sold the rig to someone at Dayton who I disliked and had screwed me on a sale several years earlier. That was a "good" sale.

Hey Dave, your selection has improved a billion times over. The picture adds new meaning to arm pit and leg hair.

[KB2WIG]

Cat piss remover.... There is an urine cleanser (not made up of piss)  Natures Miracle, for one, that utilizes enzymes to remove the oder... yes, it will work on fabric, so it may work on the radio....   cat urine is "fixed" by various household cleansers which makes it almost impossible to remove the smell. Ie, household ammonia and some other stuff I can't remember..... If you have any friends who are law enforcement officers, they can direct you to the people who clean up after "incidents" ( stewers,floaters, and crusties)....

[Jim, W5JO]

The great purifier is sunlight.  If you have several days of good weather, then put it in the light following cleaning and it should be good to go.

[WBear2GCR]

The Febreze brand fabric deodorizers or the lower cost clones will do the trick in most cases.

I use a good cleaner - soap and water or detergent for light soil, Fantastic for heavier stuff, and a stronger alkaline based cleaner (Mean Green or similar "degreaser type") for the worst. (I've even used oven cleaner in some cases)Followed by several rinses, and then the Febreze and then a rinse after a while. Then dry. 

It might work to have the Febreze just in a sealed bag, I dunno. It's good stuff for killing odors.

A bit depends on the source of the smell. If it is mold, then it's a good idea to kill the mold first.
A chlorine wash will do that.

Most gear can be washed without any damage. There are some exceptions.
It may be necessary to go through the process of  removing paper things like frequency markings on the dial, if that's how the gear is made. Papaer coil forms seem fine, since they're usually varnish impregnated.

I've washed tons of gear with no problems.

You DO need to make sure that the thing is DRY DRY DRY before applying any voltage to it again.
If it fits in an oven, then ~150deg is good... otherwise a hot spring/summer day works. Winter time on the old radiator or similar. I have also blown copious quantities of air at it to speed the drying process.

      _-_- WBear2GCR

[k3zrf]

Interesting....

Well the unit is at ube tester. Got a paper scroll. Had dryer doilies for two weeks. needs more. Put couple handfulls "old fashioned" mothballs and couple more dryer doilies and resealed.

will report.............

[Jim, W5JO]

Be careful of the paper scorll.  Take it out and lay it under a heat lamp that emits UV.  You don't want it to stick together.

[k3zrf]

Before entombing this thing again I did remove the paper scroll.

Going to let it sit another couple weeks.

Man, this baby is hummin' but it doesn't know the tune.

[Ralph W3GL]

Hey Dave,

Back when I was in Public Safety, I remember when they came on a "dead" perp. or citizen that got a bit ripe in a closed area, a couple pounds of ground coffee beans helped "clear the air"... You could add that in the sealed box your using but don't try brewing the stuff afterwards...
Then again baking soda works in the fridg...
Good Luck.

Okay, I forgot, you did use coffee beans but you didn't say if they were GROUND or whole
beans...  The whole beans don't work, you gotta use the ground stuff... and the soda has to be taken out of the box not just ripping the top of it off.  Whatever, hope you hit the correct combo soon so you can commence testing those tubes...

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

There are other things that will work for absorbing the odors, like putting the rig into a large plastic bag with an open box of baking soda. Unfortunately, nothing will work completely until you remove the source of the stinkage. Sometimes bagging with dryer sheets works better if you can leave it in the sun and let it heat up.

Recently there was some kind of spray advertised on TV for this exact problem (pet piss in the wrong places) that guarantees it will get rid of it. Of course, the trick is to locate the exact spot and cleanse it thoroughly. The good thing about radio gear is there isn't a lot of stuff to absorb the smell like bedding or such. Someone mentioned this in another thread I think, but you can sometimes locate te spot using a 'black light' uv lamp.

I had very good luck using the dryer sheets in a closed bag with an old manual I got. Left it in there for a few weeks, smell still gone after almost 3 years.

[k3zrf]

Today I opened the unit up and let it air out on the back porch. Pleased to say that the moth balls + dryer doilies worked. It's going to get damp over the weekend so guess that'll be the final test.

Wonder why this is in technical now rather than restoration?

Oh well, I just post here, I don't own it

[N9NEO]

interesting thread.

The Jamminpower fella who does a lot of SP600 repairs says he washes em down with soapy water and a hose first thing.  His page is easy to find.

Hope your stink don't come back.  If smell comes back over the damp weekend then you should just get yourself some skunk scent.  Hunting shops sell it.  Just rub a bunch of it all over the tube tester and I guarantee you will not be bothered by that old musty humming ever again with this unit.

good luck!

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Wonder why this is in technical now rather than restoration?

The Restoration section is part of the Online Handbook. The idea for the Handbook was to post complete, ready to use information. So, in your case, if you found a really FB way to deodorize a radio, that info would be posted in the resto section of the Handbook. But if you had a question on how to deodorize a radio, that would be posted here.

I hope I made that clear. If not, keep beating on me until I spit out something intelligent.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

During the hot summer months, when attending a flea market, it’s a good idea to wear a necklace of moth balls to keep the evil smells away

[KB2WIG]

I wore a clove of garlic around my neck, and I still ended up married......

[k3zrf]

Wonder why this is in technical now rather than restoration?

The Restoration section is part of the Online Handbook. The idea for the Handbook was to post complete, ready to use information. So, in your case, if you found a really FB way to deodorize a radio, that info would be posted in the resto section of the Handbook. But if you had a question on how to deodorize a radio, that would be posted here.

I hope I made that clear. If not, keep beating on me until I spit out something intelligent.

I have to thank everyone for your suggestions and my results. I am pleased. I am keeping all your ideas in mind.

So Steve, since there has been a collective of solutions for 'deordorizing, or trying to', does this mean the thread returns to restoration?

[W1RKW]

I had a radio that stunk big time that I bought via the I'net.  I removed components that I felt were water sensitive and just douched the thing with soap and water.  It smelled like new when done. 

Another time I once had a 2m HT go over board into the ocean (about 8ft of water)  at a boat dock.  I went in after it.  Figuring I had nothing to lose I ran it and the battery pack under fresh water in a restroom for a few minutes.  Decided not to let it wreck a good day of fishing I put the radio into a bucket of freshwater for several hours.  Got it home and then flushed it out.  Put it into a container of isopropyl alcohol to absorb the water then let it bake in the hot sun. Lubed up contacts and pots with contact cleaner all was AOK.  To this day the HT works AOK.  That was about 8 years ago.

Radio gear for the most IMO part is pretty tough so I wouldn't worry about it to much and I'd do it again without any reservations if necessary.

[W2JBL]

radios and old cars have to have the right smell or it's boring. i have BC-342 i got from Timtron that smells like tugboat bilge water/jungle rot mildew when it's on. it's REALLY ripe, and has been for the few years i've had it. best part is it's marked "FUNGICIDE TREATED SEPT 1944". guess the stuff did not work. oh well- good luck Dave.     

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

o Steve, since there has been a collective of solutions for 'deordorizing, or trying to', does this mean the thread returns to restoration?

I suppose it could. But one looking for the info would still have to wade though all the posts. The handbook should be such that someone could get right to the desired data. But this is just my view. Since the handbook is a living thing, it can change and grow as the group desires. Gary has ask me to do the admin thing on it. So, that's what I'm doing. I'm open to suggestions.

[k3zrf]

radios and old cars have to have the right smell or it's boring. i have BC-342 i got from Timtron that smells like tugboat bilge water/jungle rot mildew when it's on. it's REALLY ripe, and has been for the few years i've had it. best part is it's marked "FUNGICIDE TREATED SEPT 1944". guess the stuff did not work. oh well- good luck Dave.     

I've had a couple rigs that resemble what you describe. This particular unit would take your breath away if you got downwind from it and only got worse when I left it on overnite allowing the unit to get hot. I hadn't considered the soapy water and isopropyl alcohol treatment as that sounds simple and effective. I am sure there will be a next time and I will report.

Steve, just jaggin' your chain.

[WBear2GCR]

My method is this:

In order of application vs. severity:

soap and water
detergent & water
Fantastic or 409 (not as good usually) and water
Mean Green or similar Alkaline houshold cleaner/degreaser & water

(Alcohol or other solvent  locally, if needed, by hand)

Rinse and repeat. rinse & repeat.

Selective application: oven cleaner, spray type (ceramic switches & aluminum chassis especially).
With multiple water rinses - may or may not require mild acid rinse (Vinegar or Lemon Juice diluted) depending on the specific situation and the ability of water to rinse thoroughly. Does not usually effect most components, assuming you don't leave it on very long at all!! Can dull paint. Test in an innoccuous location or sacrificial chassis first, if in doubt.

Rinse & rinse & rinse.

Final application: Febreze or brand X equivalent. Permit to soak. Not till dry (usually).
Rinse, rinse.

Smell when dry & warm.

Repeat as required.

Dry thoroughly. Strong fan helps, top of radiator or heat source in winter, fan & sun in summer... etc.
Must be thoroughly dry before applying power. Minimum 24Hrs where there is a heat source (hot sun or other), 48-72 without. Xfmr lams will hold water, etc...

The combination of cleaning and Febreze stuff will usually kill any odors very nicely. More often than not the cleaning steps are sufficient.

I've washed almost everything imaginable without any problems... including TVs...

Meters usually need to come off the chassis. Paper labels will not survive usually. Etc...

           _-_-WBear2GCR

[k3zrf]

That's a pretty dragged out affair, your procedure that is. I am sure it is very effective. Perhaps you should get onr of these for drying out your restoration projects