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Get the smoke smell out

7K views 28 replies 19 participants last post by  25 Ford TT 
#1 ·
I just acquired an original 1930 Ford that had a small fire inside the car. I have cleaned the car but I'm still smelling the burn. Not sure what burned. All the wiring was removed along with the door panels and headliner. A friend told me he heard that "an ion treatment" will remove the smell. What is an ion treatment? Any ideas or suggestions?
 
#3 ·
It is done with an "Ion generator". I have one that I used to use regularly back in the seventies..

It is a unit about the size of a battery charger. It emits an odor similar to the smell of a high voltage electric dyno.

Back in the day, I used to buy lightly burned or dead body smell cars. Remember the old tale of nothing removing dead body/corpse smells? It's a load of B S and this unit, along with a thorough cleaning with Tri-sodium phosphate (TSP), will remove all traces of odors.

The unit is heII on rubber parts. So they have to be removed/protected.

At the time I was the only one in northern Michigan with a unit. You may try an established, well equiped automotive trim shop or detail shop.
 
#6 ·
It is done with an "Ion generator". I have one that I used to use regularly back in the seventies..

It is a unit about the size of a battery charger. It emits an odor similar to the smell of a high voltage electric dyno.

Back in the day, I used to buy lightly burned or dead body smell cars. Remember the old tale of nothing removing dead body/corpse smells? It's a load of B S and this unit, along with a thorough cleaning with Tri-sodium phosphate (TSP), will remove all traces of odors.

The unit is heII on rubber parts. So they have to be removed/protected.

At the time I was the only one in northern Michigan with a unit. You may try an established, well equiped automotive trim shop or detail shop.
We use an Ionizer also in our highway tractors (some driver's can smell a truck up real good) They're expensive, but work like a charm. Check out a local detailing shop. They may rent one to you.:thumbup:
 
#7 ·
A search of Ionizers bring up everything for $11 to 109, can't believe any of these at that price are any good.

Do you guys have a model number? Also we have a section at work where I allow the guys to smoke and the stuff creeps everywhere and was wondering if these units would work out in an open area by the smoking table??

Thanks
 
#9 ·
Thank you Bob, I just ordered the Pro-4, looks like that will work great in the smoking area.
We use the best HEPTA air and heat filters we can buy and we change them once a week throughout the plant but sometimes you walk in the offices in the morning and it smells like a bar and that may only happen once or twice a month, why I have no clue, as the areas are all on separate heating and air systems.

Hopefully, this will take care of the problem at the source as we will park it by the table and leave it running all the time.

Thanks again Bob!
 
#11 ·
This unit is set for delivery Tomorrow, will let you know how it works.

Another note, My mom in FL has a 2001 PT Cruiser with 27,000 miles and is perfect she is selling, One of my employees is going to buy it for his wife and like I told him, the only thing wrong with this car is the windows have never been down and it smells like a smoke factory.
So I'm thinking this unit will fix this problem, when we get the car here.
 
#13 ·
I used to work as a porter on a car lot for four years and we would run our used units accross to the new side of the dealership and have an ozone machine ran inside for a while to remove bad cigarette odors out of the vehicles. The ac fan was turned on also to circulate the ionized air in the vehicle. The machine produced an odor similar to that of bleach. The odor of smoke left the vehicle and so did the smell from ionized air.
 
#15 ·
This unit came in after I left yesterday, so set it up this morning, the unit is suppose to do about 3400 square feet and it is set up in a section that is about 8000.
With in 60 minutes and 3-6 guys puffing away on and off at the table you could not smell any smoke at all.
Even the worst critic walled out there and for the first time sat at the table with the guys to BS.

I'm impressed!!!
 
#17 ·
There is also what they call a car bomb. The cap locks down on the can and you just leave it in the car to sit over night. Simply go out the next day and wipe your plastics and vinil off and the spray off of the headliner and you are good to go. Just let it air before you get in to wipe the plastics from any spray cause the smell will stay in your sinuses for a while if you dont.
 
#18 ·
When you use these various products be sure to leave the key on and run the defroster/heater fan while the product is working. Many times the smell is not just in the cabin, but in the heater and ducts, so every time you start up the heater, defroster, or AC you'll get the smell all over again.
You only need to run it for the first few minutes, then shut the key off and close the car up overnight.
 
#20 ·
The Ozone generator i have is very simple and I believe one could be easily made. It has a transformer like a neon sign has and is connected to 4"X4" SS wire screens separated by a glass plate. Electricity arcs through the glass plate, producing ozone. It also has a small fan to blow air through it. It will completely rid a home of cigarette or cigar smoke in an hour or two.
 
#23 ·
years ago i worked on a car where the driver died in it, and it sat with the carcass in it for months. obviously everything in the car was permeated with human death smell. the only way i was able to cure it, was to clean it out as best i could, and then take a pan of water on a hot plate with mothballs in it. it'll usually clear up any odors that might be present. it's an old trick, but it should still work. mothballs in a pan of boiling water will eliminate just about any obnoxious smell from a car's interior. i've used it during remodeling old homes too and it works for that application too.
 
#24 ·
The first one I ordered a month ago just works perfect.
I just got my second one by UPS yesterday, it’s for the home and here is why.
In 1999 we bought this house and it was six months old and what was funny is when I get home after about 30 minutes I get the sniffles, minor but not like me as guess I’m lucky from standpoint nothing bothers me physically, I think the body is immune because of playing in solvents all day. LOL

I kind of blamed the problem on an airtight house and we have four inside cats but we have always had dogs, cats and they never have bothered me before.
In the basement we have a kid’s swimming pool filled with kitty litter and I though maybe that was my problem.
So I took the generator home one weekend and set it up in the workout room downstairs, meanwhile upstairs about an hour later, I never noticed but wife said your not sniffling.

Now I’m thinking it may have been a slight mold problem, in basement that happened in the building process, so with the new unit I bout a timer and will set it up where it kicks on for an hour a day as, I found that is really all it takes.
 
#25 ·
I am an insurance restoration contractor, very experienced. I know that just a tiny, tiny amount of smoke residue missed inside a wall cavaty can sneak out through the small openings in, say an electrical outlet, and smell up the whole room. When there has been, even a small fire in a home, all drywall is demo'd, framing cleaned, and then sprayed with a special sealer paint to lock in any odor. You probably are picking up an odor from way up inside somewhere.
 
#27 ·
That was my thoughts, I have an employee that was a contractor in FL and he was telling me about a hospital they built and because the heat ducts were dumped in the parking lot for a month before using they had a slight mold problem in the first floor heat ducting, they had to rip out and replace.
Or could be a simple as when the house was framed, it rained and had a small amount of mold.
 
#26 ·
A cheap fix is to cut up 2 or 3 red apples into slices and put them on small plates around the floor of the vehicle and on the seats etc. Also pour baking soda (powder) around the apples on the plate. Close the windows to the car and put the car in your garage for 3 days. Remove the plates of apples aftrer 3 days and they will have absorbed the odor. Also works great for cigar smoke/cigarette smoke in the interior of a car. I hope this is helpful.
 
#29 ·
Smells

Try putting a hucap with charcol bricketts in the cab when not in use,,,,,DO NOT LIGHT !

My son in law bought a brand new Tahoe that the owner died in the day he drove it home...Poor guy drove to a State Park and passed....was 110 outside.....He had to replace the wires and all....still smelt when it was sold into Mexico at auction.
 
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