On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 12:46:00 +0000, Rob wrote:

I bought a treadmill on ebay. It's exactly what the seller said it was and
is in great shape except.......... the seller must have stored all his
sweaty dirty laundry on the thing. The tread stinks like BO. I've tried
lysol and fabreeze and it's done nothing. Any thoughts on how to get rid of
this, it's stinking up the house!!! Thanks.

Actually Fabreeze works well and is a breakthrough in
chemically neutralizing odors. Since you said you used it
and it didn't work, it could be on the reverse side of the
belt or embedded and/or caused by decomposing rubber.
The best way may be to take the belt off, change it with
a new belt from the mfgr, and thoroughly clean all surfaces
that sweat would drip onto.
That said, you can try band-aid solutions.
Load http://www.ackits.com and click on Evaporator Core Treatment.
That foaming stuff should help neutralize organic odors.
You must rinse with water afterwards.

You could also try contacting a company specializing in cleanups
after fires. They may have some equipment that would work.
I understand that ozone is a powerful oxidizing agent that may
convert the smelly molecules into less odorous reaction products.

Here's a link about how to get rid of skunk-smell.
Maybe the formulae work for B.O. also:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/webpag...1/gen01615.htm

Regards, Scott