Ozone generator to remove smells.

[Retro Treasures WV]

So I got some awesome shoes yesterday that should sell for $100+, but some of them have a cigarette smell. In the past I’ve just sat these shoes out for an extended time. On the old blog, there was someone who talked about an ozone generator and how amazing it worked. I’m thinking of getting one. Here are the two I’m looking at:

I was thinking about dedicating a large tub for this process and just mounting the ozonator to the side of the tub. That way I could do a handful of shirts and shoes and just close the lid.

The second one I could also use around the house or car as needed. It’s kind of too big to do the tote thing. I’d have to use a closet or dedicate a room to it and I really don’t want to do that.

Any thoughts? Anyone else use it? Anyone want to try it as well?

[Jay]

I remember those conversations as well. After research, the issue is simply safety. If a live person/animal is in the area where ozone generator is on, they will die. But they get sold so can be used safely. Just keep in an enclosed space as you suggest.

They’re used in houses after dead bodies are removed or floods.

[sonia]

I have been thinking of getting one too.
Mark S posts his experience and which machine he uses here:

http://www.scavengerlife.com/2015/07/open-q-ebays-advanced-transaction.html

[Retro Treasures WV]

Ah I think I’d have to use one of my wardrobes so everything has air circulation. A tub would work with shoes, but not clothes.

Knowing the hazards is critical on the safety front. A person who typically does not read instruction booklets NEED NOT APPLY.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Hey Retro Treasures WV – I do have some information for you but first I would like to use this reply as an example of why I think the “NEW FORUM” format will be such a great thing. For years I have flagged and color coded many of the SL posts. Blue for questions, yellow for answers and green for very note worthy.. I then have saved all of them in my MS Outlook program which is where I have all of my RSS Feeds directed to that come from SL. This way they are all searchable for my use. I have thousands of topics and replies flagged. Then whenever I need to research something that has been said here on SL I use the MS Search function and bingo up pops the information from past SL episodes and posts.
The topic of a “Forum” has been touched on for a long while and now thanks to J&R it is a reality. No longer will I have to flag thousands of things I find important just to be able to search for them
But here is the short comings for just the short term near future. We don’t have a large volume of data posted in the new forum format. So I still will keep my searchable folders just to be able to answer question such as this. The problem is I can tell you the Episode and date but the whole thread and discussions are on my rig. So you will have to go and search here at SL for the dates below and find the replies in those Episodes Comments.

Hope you can get to the information easily and quickly. If not, let me know and I can open up those episodes in a heart beat, copy and paste the discussions and threads back to here.
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

This is what popped up when I entered “ozone” as a search term. These are just the headings shown in my Outlook, but if I click on any one of them, I get the full conversation about removing smells from inventory items.

From Subject Received Size Categories In Folder
Mark S Well, you know my answer for this: Ozone generator… 10/25/2015 9 KB Scavengerlife Saved Tips
Mark S Wayne: It might work with books, but you would hav… 7/18/2015 10 KB Scavengerlife Saved Tips
Kate Here’s some more government information about … 7/18/2015 10 KB Scavengerlife Saved Tips
Kate The EPA notes that ozone reacts with (and gets rid… 7/18/2015 9 KB Scavengerlife Saved Tips
Mark S My link didn’t work. It is http://www.forevero… 7/17/2015 8 KB Scavengerlife Saved Tips

[Retro Treasures WV]

I pulled the trigger on the Enerzen 3500 unit. It will be here Monday and I’ll give a full report. I can’t wait! My nose is burning from the latent cigarette smell in some of these shoes I’m creating drafts for this evening.

[Retro Treasures WV]

I received this ozone generator last night and promptly did an experiment with 3 pair of shoes that were eye watering reeking of cigarette smoke. I used a cardboard box that was 3’x2’x1.5′. I put the generator and shoes in box and closed lid after setting the timer for 20 minutes. I set the box outside my garage while the machine was running. I let it sit for an hour and then opened the lid to air out over night. I moved the box back inside the garage after opening, so most of the ozone would have been released outdoors.

First off, “fresh rain” my butt! That is one serious chemical smell that lingers in the back of your throat for quite a while. Secondly, the cigarette smell is definitely gone. It has been replaced by a chemical smell that is still there the next morning. What is more is that the garage has the chemical odor now even though the machine never ran in there.

I’m going to let them air out all day and see how they smell this evening. There is no way I’ll ever run this machine in my house, I can tell you that for a fact.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 6 months ago by Retro Treasures WV.

[DnA Thrifters]

We just put items in a large space bag, with baking soda and freeze them for a few days. Works on everything from books to album covers, clothing to plush, shoes etc. We even tried to put a small side table in my chest freezer once that was riddled with nicotine. The door wouldn’t shut, so that was that!

[sonia]

How do you get the baking soda off of clothing afterwards? I have a musty-smelling tweed coat that I’d like to deodorize. Maybe just vacuum it off?

I tried baking soda in a bag (but no freezing) on a musty-smelling vintage purse made of cloth and metal, and it didn’t work. I kept it in there for about a month, and it smelled okay afterwards, but only for a few hours. Then the same old smell came back. Had to throw out the purse.

[Retro Treasures WV]

So now that everything has aired out for a week, things are ok. Even my garage smells neutral now, which is nice. Before it had a musty, mildew smell that I knew wasn’t great to breath. The shoes I tested with are fine. The worst offending pair have no odor at all.

The ozone unit I got is likely way too powerful for what I need. Next time I use it I’ll just run it for 5 minutes or less.

[sonia]

I just ordered an ozone machine on Amazon. I’ve used the freezer and out-in-the-sun methods over the last 6-9 months, but the freezer method doesn’t seem to work every time (even if I keep the stuff in there for 1-2 months), and with the sun method, I’ve gotten sick of having to put stuff out in the morning and take it in at night for many days at a time for items with extra-pesky odors. There are a couple of pairs of high end boots that I really want to list soon, but after being out in the sun for many many days, some of the musty odor remains. I think it’s because with boots, there’s a whole lotta nooks and crannies where the sun can’t shine. 🙂

Thanks for sharing your experience, Retro WV. I’m going to try putting it on for just a few minutes the first time. Are you still continuing to use your ozone machine for reselling purposes?

[Retro Treasures WV]

I haven’t used the machine in a long time. I’ve been setting smoky items aside for “rainy days” and focusing on other items.

[Inglewood]

Smoky items aren’t a deal killer I find – just be honest in the listing and say that the item has a smoke, or faint smoke smell and people still will buy it.

You won’t get top dollar, but you will get 80-90% of the value. Anyways, a lot of people still smoke themselves and they may be smoking around the item and not care!

[Retro Treasures WV]

I had a pair of tennis shoes that I sold the other day that I did not notice had a faint smoke odor until I was shipping them. I crossed my fingers and threw them in the poly mailer. Buyer left glowing feedback. So yeah, not everyone notices and/or they plan on throwing them in the washer anyways.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

We take dryer sheets and cut them into 1″ wide strips and include them in any thing that we bag up. That seems to at least mask the odor. Also sometimes we will also throw a strip into the box that contains the sealed bag when shipping. Cheap enough, just fractions of a penny per strip.

mike in Atlanta

[Retro Treasures WV]

That is a great idea! I’ll have to start doing that.

[Inglewood]

The only problem is you may run into a customer that has allergies to dryer sheets or perfumes.

I use to just wash my clothes I sell using Gain detergent, and a few people complained about the smell of the detergent, so I switched to using just baking soda.

You’ll never please everyone I find!

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Amen to that. Let’s see, you have a two choices. A nice, floral smell or 18 year old sweat smell. Hard to wash shoes, so just “send ’em the stink” 🙂 🙂

Some people will always find something to complain about. We all know that.

mike in Atlanta

[sonia]

Some people are genuinely sensitive to artificial smells like dryer sheets and standard laundry detergent and air fresheners (and many other things). I am one of them. Just being within 25 feet of the local laundromat is truly unpleasant for me and I avoid it as much as possible. I hope to never receive a pair of shoes with a dryer sheet enclosed, though I’m sure I could air it out fairly easily. All this just to say that it’s not very helpful or nice to bunch chemically sensitive people into a general “complainers” bucket. Especially when, by doing so, one is complaining about them! If you have made a business decision not to cater to their needs, that’s obviously your right, and perhaps is the best thing for your business. No need to bash these customers, though.

Back to the original topic. I tried the ozone machine on the musty/moldy-smelling items I had (shoes), and it works great! So much easier for me than putting things out in the sun outdoors and then bringing them in at night and back out again in the morning, which only gets harder (and sometimes impossible) in the winter.

[Author]

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