Advice on de-smoking an interior

[Accumulator]

Stokdgs- My AirZone Ozone machine, which does indeed need to be used in an uninhabited area when at its highest settings, definitely eliminates odors when used correctly. It also kills black mold. BTDT, first-hand experience. No, I don`t know the science behind it. Yes, I should

[Don]

Im still of the - however many are in this camp - that knows by experience that the best odor removal will always be removing the source of the odor/s first...

Don -- for all the work I ever did in this odor removal area, I had the best results with the old Meguiars APC+, which is of course, no longer available..

Meguiars DID come out not long ago with Meguiars D107 Citrus Power Cleaner Plus... I would absolutely try this product out first..
Dan F

I think - when it gets warmer or I get access to a heated garage - I`m going to use a spray bottle of hot/warm water with some liquid laundry detergent and my wet/dry vac and go over my upholstery and carpets a small section at a time. Until then, I will probably use some Febreze (heavily) on the seats & carpet.

[Accumulator]

Don- I`d pick up a bottle of the ValuGard stuff or somebody else`s equivalent. IME those work better than Febreze (not flaming it, just sayin` ).

[Don]

Don- I`d pick up a bottle of the ValuGard stuff or somebody else`s equivalent. IME those work better than Febreze (not flaming it, just sayin` ).

I get you, but I`m (the wife) is cheap LOL

[Accumulator]

Don- I`m a little surprised that she`s not all "whatever it takes!" about getting the smoke-smell gone.

[Don]

Don- I`m a little surprised that she`s not all "whatever it takes!" about getting the smoke-smell gone.

True, especially since she quit for almost a year, but started up in December when her dad started getting worse. She`s quit again, but since she doesn`t ride in my Camaro (it`s too low for her & her bad back), she doesn`t have to smell it.

[Stokdgs]

I think - when it gets warmer or I get access to a heated garage - I`m going to use a spray bottle of hot/warm water with some liquid laundry detergent and my wet/dry vac and go over my upholstery and carpets a small section at a time. Until then, I will probably use some Febreze (heavily) on the seats & carpet.

Don, the rinse of laundry detergent might be pretty hard, if its makes a lot of suds..
Just be careful to not put too much down, because then, you have to rinse it all back out which adds more water to the whole thing, which can then go down past the carpet into the pad.. Some carpet pads in vehicles are just a bunch of material that will hold the heck out of the water..
Good Luck !
Dan F

[Accumulator]

Don, the rinse of laundry detergent might be pretty hard, if its makes a lot of suds..

I always think that when the use of Laundry Detergent comes up, but look how many people use Woolite for this (not me).

[Dan]

I always think that when the use of Laundry Detergent comes up, but look how many people use Woolite for this (not me).

Woolite sure rinses a lot easier than regular laundry detergent!

[Accumulator]

Woolite sure rinses a lot easier than regular laundry detergent!

Maybe I just never noticed since I usually only launder my washmitts with it.

I could be wrong, but I don`t see it rinsing as easily as my Interior Cleaners; some like, uhm...maybe the ?Ultima? (think that`s the one..) don`t even require rinsing.

[Stokdgs]

I remember once I was Detailing a newer Bimmer, got to the trunk carpet, did my usual spray APC+, lightly, scrub it in, put the Mytee Extractor tool on it, rinse and extract.... Until I got to this one spot... And a zillion bubbles came out of it for a long time... Yeah, a bottle of liquid laundry detergent must have leaked out there...

Took awhile but I finally rinsed, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed, and rinsed a lot more times, and extracted it all out...
I should have saved that recovery tank water and done a couple loads of clothes...

Made the entire back of the car smell " Irish Spring Fresh" or something like that...
Dan F

[Civicclutch]

If you lived in Wisconsin ild invite you over to my shop and let you do majority of the work but ild help you out too. Lol

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Stokdgs]

If you lived in Wisconsin ild invite you over to my shop and let you do majority of the work but ild help you out too. Lol

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Mi Hermano !

I would be happy to help you too !
Always wanted to work with someone but could never find anyone who was committed enough to want to do superior work..
Dan F

[Lonnie]

I was under the impression that ozone generators were/are the ONLY way to get rid of tobacco smoke odors that are deep-seated/imbedded in fabrics and inaccessible areas in a vehicle, like HVAC vents. Glad Accumulator mentions the damage that excessive ozone can inflict on rubber compounds, like seals.

For what it is worth, another product used by restoration and disaster cleaning companies is Cigarette Smoke by Odorcide of the Thornell Corporation located in Smithville, MO. You can call them at 1-888-873-3442. " Odorcide is not an enzyme. Odorcide uses a chemistry called Zwaademaker Conjugates. This process bonds, absorbs and then counteracts the odor molecules ability to emit a vapor. The result is complete elimination of the odor" (from their website).
Think of it as a type of Febreze on steroids.

I have their original scent 210 that I bought for cleaning up cat urine in a house on a wooden window sill. Did not work all that well because of the deep seated urine in the wood, even after multiple applications. Probably should have used an enzyme of some sort. Live-and- learn! It does work for onion smells in garbage cans if used at a stronger ratio.

Congrats on trying to quit smoking. You are discovering some of the things in life that have been masked by your past habit, like the smell of your vehicle. You may also taste some things "better". I am not going to make light of trying to quit, BUT I think Mark Twain said, "It`s easy to quit smoking; I`ve done it thousands of times!" It is definitely a mind-set that you really WANT to quit for yourself and no one understands that unless they have been a former smoker, which I am not.

[Accumulator]

Glad Accumulator mentions the damage that excessive ozone can inflict on rubber compounds, like seals..

Note that such caveats might be CYA stuff. I deliberately left some rubber/latex items near the machine when doing a serious Ozone treatment (mold killing/"leave the area" level work) and it only caused a little oxidation on one of the pieces. When I did a similar treatment to a vehicle, I did *not* cover any rubber stuff and I got away with it. Still better safe than sorry though.

Oh, and thanks for suggesting the Odorcide, that`s intriguing. Not that I hope to need such stuff!