How do I get the diesel smell out?

[Puba]

Kevin came home with diesel on his clothes, long story short, he washed them in my washer and dryer. Now my wash machine stinks like diesel... How do I get the smell out?!

Oh, and I've tried running it on extra hot - empty, full of towels, wash machine cleaner. Running it on cold - empty and full. Left it air out. I'm running out of ideas!!

Buy a new set.... After he ruined them.

It'll take a month to a month and a half before the smell comes out, trust me on this..... I heard my lovely wife of 23 years bitch about it for that long.....

 

[kimrick]

To be enviromentally friendly some peeps would say use simple green. This will cause to many suds.

Rig wash (Citron) would work but the best answer I have found for jet fuel (a cut above diesel, kerosene) is to pour a cup of spray nine in a medium filled washer with WARM water and let it buck through the cyle.

After doing that, never ever wash soiledéfueléoil contaminated clothing in your home washer. Send them to the cleaners or throw them out.

......

 

[Uturn]

2.
Wash your clothes in Listerine if they have diesel on them. This is what firemen use to get the smoke smell out of their clothing. If the diesel was spilled on a floor or car mat, you may want try rubbing some Listerine in it. Then use a carpet shampooer to wash it clean.

This must be out of the 60's. No one would do that with todays high tech gear.

 

[femme.fatale.]

To be enviromentally friendly some peeps would say use simple green. This will cause to many suds.

Rig wash (Citron) would work but the best answer I have found for jet fuel (a cut above diesel, kerosene) is to pour a cup of spray nine in a medium filled washer with WARM water and let it buck through the cyle.

After doing that, never ever wash soiledéfueléoil contaminated clothing in your home washer. Send them to the cleaners or throw them out.

It actually is jet fuel. I just didn't want to get into it! Lol Kevin was running a job at Cold Lake CFB, they were changing all the piping for the jet fueling station. I will see if I can get my hands on some of that stuff.

I was pretty miffed. Lol. I don't want to buy new, as our set was brand new when Kevin built his house 4 years ago. They are still like new.

 

[rknight111]

Putting them out side in the sun makes a big difference. Hang them over the fence or if you have a clothes line hang them from there. You would be surprised on the power of the sun

Then secondly wash with an orange cleaner. Most likely in a bucket to start, not in a wash machine.

 

[magnet]

ya good luck with that it takes a while to getthat out, usually three or four hundred good washes then they are good to go.

 

[Riverjet]

take the cap off the bottle and throw the fawker in close the the door :d:d:d

You live in Dease Lake. How would you know how to operate a washer? I thought you people did your laundry in the river up there still.:d

 

[Mike270412]

Putting them out side in the sun makes a big difference. Hang them over the fence or if you have a clothes line hang them from there. You would be surprised on the power of the sun

Then secondly wash with an orange cleaner. Most likely in a bucket to start, not in a wash machine.

You want her to hang the washing machine on the fence Ron?????

 

[Modman]

Putting them out side in the sun makes a big difference. Hang them over the fence or if you have a clothes line hang them from there. You would be surprised on the power of the sun

Then secondly wash with an orange cleaner. Most likely in a bucket to start, not in a wash machine.

thanks Ron? LOL she's got the smell out of the coveralls, problem is the washing machine stinks now.....

FF, the diesel/jet fuel/kerosene fraction (what we call F3) of hydrocarbons is the most difficult to break down and remove (sucks to be you - sorry). A refined version is even more difficult because of the specific carbon chains created in the refining process and the lack of light end fractions means there is no volatile component ("solvent" portion) to effectively dilute and wash it away. You might have more residual smell in the machine if your water is hard or the buffering capacity is reduced.

Since it takes a while to biodegrade (as Dale suggested, a month or two seems about right....), you'll either need something to emulsify the oil into solution or something that will break the hydrogen and carbon bonds into shorter chains, which will make them more water soluble. Dry cleaners used to use TCE which is a light end chlorinated solvent (bad for baby, you, daddy and the environment) and now use some slightly better but still harmful mixes.

As emulsifers, things like acetic acid like Orange Glo or Vinegar will lower the pH and help emulsify oil, also not harmful to the family. Typically these range around a pH of 2.5-4. Coca-cola as it also has a very low pH.

Baking soda is also a natural odour absorbent and could be effective. If you could get it (but not sold in retail), is zeolite, also very good for odours, not sure how it would like the washing machine though.

One way to remediate diesel or jet fuel contamination is typically by bio-degredation using oxygen. In the past we have used things like hydrogen peroxide (H202) which breaks down organic molecules and degrades quickly into H20 (water) and 02 (oxygen), harmful components and you can buy it at the pharmacy (for putting on cuts). The effective percentage of the pharmaceutical grade HP is very low, like 3% in most cases, compared to the the commercial grade HP that we use that is like 30-40% (very powerful stuff), but if it was only for odour removal in a washing machine, it might be plausible to use the weaker stuff. Also UV light or ozone (03) are effective because they are powerful oxidizers but have short half lives. Ozone is generated using high voltage current and is used a lot in water treatment, the rapid degradation of ozone to oxygen and the loss of the free radical make it a very effective odour neutralizer. Ozone is used a lot in pig barn operations for injection into the exhaust air stream to kill the organic odours, you need an ozone generator though (or a lightning storm).

For UV light you can try and put the washing machine outside on a sunny day (as Ron suggested with the covies) if its easy to get it out of the house, if not I wouldn't worry about it. Not advocating it in any way, but worse comes to worse the washing machine tub could be cleaned with something on a more lighter solvent scale like WD40 that would become water soluble faster and the smell would probably leave the machine quicker.

 

[what_next]

go get sprayed by a skunk.... that'll do the trick

 

[rknight111]

Oh, I seen the original post and then seen people talking about the laundry so I commented there. I'm an environmental consultant / hygienist so I know about the above thanks modman.
Putting ammonia in your machine will not help nor will most cleaners. You could try TSP but you would need a considerable amount to break that down. TSP may break the oils down but it will be tough to get them off everywhere.
Sorry to tell you, it may find it easier to buy a new machine.

Some of the products below work well with other problems in washers. With front loads you will have the rubber around the door opening that will have an odor after a while. And if you use liquid fabric softener your machine will smell as well, it leaves a brown film that lines the complete drum, and the only way to remove is take it all apart.


Affresh.com | Stop Washer Odor with affresh Washer Cleaner

A Cleaner, Better Smelling Washing Machine with Washer Magic

I can ship you some of the above cleaners or you may find them at your local appliance store. My friend owns Sherwood Appliance and this is he suggested. But more off the replacement. Did I mention he can sell you a nice spanky new set

 

[arff]

They sell new washing machine's everyday....

Or I can make you a deal on this model,,,used to wash quad cloths

 

[kbrunlees]

They sell new washing machine's everyday....

Or I can make you a deal on this model,,,used to wash quad cloths

How much? My wife would love it!! ( yeah right)

 

[teamgreen]

They sell new washing machine's everyday....

Or I can make you a deal on this model,,,used to wash quad cloths

I have a similar one, two tubs and all copper. Its out at the cottage.

 

[Snow Angel]

I hear that salt and baking soda are really good to use in washing machines to get rid of the smell of gasoline... I wonder if that would be the same for diesel?

 

[arff]

How much? My wife would love it!! ( yeah right)

Bring some beer over and try it..
Works great for dirty quad cloths

 

[TROLLCAT]

You live in Dease Lake. How would you know how to operate a washer? I thought you people did your laundry in the river up there still.:d

The river is covered with ice or it stinks like salmon with GRIZZLY BEARS I don't go to the river much LOL

 

[femme.fatale.]

Wow. Who knew this would be so hard!!

FML.

Sounds like were going appliance shopping. LOL - no just kidding. But once the garage is built this set it going out there. Kevy can wash his work clothes out there!!

 

[pipes]

Wow. Who knew this would be so hard!!

FML.

Sounds like were going appliance shopping. LOL - no just kidding. But once the garage is built this set it going out there. Kevy can wash his work clothes out there!!

Shelley says that ordinary bleach will work. Heavy dose of bleach. Make sure your next load is whites.

 

[femme.fatale.]

Shelley says that ordinary bleach will work. Heavy dose of bleach. Make sure your next load is whites.

Hey maybe I'll do that. I have to strip femmebot's cloth diapers, I can do them after and the bleach won't hurt them.

I need a wife to take care of all this crap! Lol