I know a bit off topic for this group, but i know there are
knowledgeable people here.

Ok, so i neglect a vacant house all winter and guess what? The sumps
fail. So now i have many sterlite tubs full of clothes (that my wife
would prefer to salvage some of) that smell like stagnant water. I've
kept everything wet, still in the tubs, but even after regular washing
they still smell. (duh). What's gonna be a good procedure to salvage
some of the more important items without a smell?

thanks!
--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

On Jun 2, 9:56*am, Steve Barker wrote:
I know a bit off topic for this group, but i know there are
knowledgeable people here.

Ok, so i neglect a vacant house all winter and guess what? *The sumps
fail. *So now i have many sterlite tubs full of clothes (that my wife
would prefer to salvage some of) that smell like stagnant water. *I've
kept everything wet, still in the tubs, but even after regular washing
they still smell. (duh). *What's gonna be a good procedure to salvage
some of the more important items without a smell?

thanks!
--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

I had a buddy that used to do fire restorations. He swore by
Febreeze. Wash the clothes with a color protecting bleach, dry, hang
up and spray.

As a litmus test, I tried it with my clothes covered with cigar
smoke. It works!

Robert

On 6/2/2011 10:56 AM, Steve Barker wrote:
I know a bit off topic for this group, but i know there are
knowledgeable people here.

Ok, so i neglect a vacant house all winter and guess what? The sumps
fail. So now i have many sterlite tubs full of clothes (that my wife
would prefer to salvage some of) that smell like stagnant water. I've
kept everything wet, still in the tubs, but even after regular washing
they still smell. (duh). What's gonna be a good procedure to salvage
some of the more important items without a smell?

thanks!


Wash them with LOTS of LYSOL CONCENTRATE ... it will kill the
mold/mildew without bleaching out the color ... then, after drying,
leave them out in the sun for as long as possible, and finally, seal
them up with a good bit of FEBREEZE.

In article ,
Steve Barker wrote:
I know a bit off topic for this group, but i know there are
knowledgeable people here.

Ok, so i neglect a vacant house all winter and guess what? The sumps
fail. So now i have many sterlite tubs full of clothes (that my wife
would prefer to salvage some of) that smell like stagnant water. I've
kept everything wet, still in the tubs, but even after regular washing
they still smell. (duh). What's gonna be a good procedure to salvage
some of the more important items without a smell?


Perhaps a neurologist or surgeon can do something to your noses...


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation
with the average voter. (Winston Churchill)

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

I wonder if baking soda would do it.
Backing soda is a great cleaner.
Also vinegar is great.
The two together are very very powerful at cleaning. The baking soda
usually soaks up the smells (even when dissolved).

On 6/2/2011 10:56 AM, Steve Barker wrote:
I know a bit off topic for this group, but i know there are
knowledgeable people here.

Ok, so i neglect a vacant house all winter and guess what? The sumps
fail. So now i have many sterlite tubs full of clothes (that my wife
would prefer to salvage some of) that smell like stagnant water. I've
kept everything wet, still in the tubs, but even after regular washing
they still smell. (duh). What's gonna be a good procedure to salvage
some of the more important items without a smell?

thanks!

In article ,
tiredofspam nospam.nospam.com wrote:
On 6/2/2011 10:56 AM, Steve Barker wrote:
I know a bit off topic for this group, but i know there are
knowledgeable people here.

Ok, so i neglect a vacant house all winter and guess what? The sumps
fail. So now i have many sterlite tubs full of clothes (that my wife
would prefer to salvage some of) that smell like stagnant water. I've
kept everything wet, still in the tubs, but even after regular washing
they still smell. (duh). What's gonna be a good procedure to salvage
some of the more important items without a smell?

thanks!

I wonder if baking soda would do it.
Backing soda is a great cleaner.
Also vinegar is great.
The two together are very very powerful at cleaning. The baking soda
usually soaks up the smells (even when dissolved).

_WASHING_ soda works better for this kind of thing than baking soda.

On Jun 2, 3:56*pm, Steve Barker wrote:

Ok, so i neglect a vacant house all winter and guess what? *The sumps
fail. *So now i have many sterlite tubs full of clothes (that my wife
would prefer to salvage some of) that smell like stagnant water. *I've
kept everything wet, still in the tubs, but even after regular washing
they still smell. (duh). *What's gonna be a good procedure to salvage
some of the more important items without a smell?

I had a similar problem with some clothes which were covered in lamb
fat. A regular wash at 60 degrees C without detergent, but 500ml or so
of white vinegar cut out all the remaining fat (and therefore smell),
followed by a blast on the 'Refresh' setting of the washer (basically
a 30 minute rinse-spin-rinse-spin) with about 100 grammes of sodium
bicarbonate removed all smells. I don't know how it would deal with
stagnant water smells, but given the cost, it's worth a try.

Good luck!

responding to
http://www.homeownershub.com/woodwor...es-515460-.htm
biguggy wrote:
In my opinion there is no panacea to the problem of foul odours from front
load washers.
I have seen posts where it was stated to have been traced to the discharge
pipe pushed to far down the drain pipe allowing water to siphon back into
the machine. Most machines I know of have a non-return valve to prevent
this, and prevent any water in the pipe draining back into the machine.
These, even if fitted, may have been defective.
I have seen posts where the smell has been stated to be traced to small
items of clothing, baby clothes, sock(s), ladies flimsies etc. that have
got stuck ‘somewhere in the works’ and are cheerfully rotting away.
Use of excess detergent and/or fabric softener very often coupled with use
of other than HOT water. This allows build-ups of these laundry aids to
form and then start turning foul. HOT water alone will sometimes get rid
of these build-ups. Sometimes the assistance cleaners such as ‘Affresh’
will help, sometimes not.

In my opinion there are two, normally overlooked, sources of these fouls
odours: -
1. The recesses in the hubs of the spiders fitted to many of these
machines will retain water even after the fastest spin. This ‘water’ will
contain, inter alia, unused laundry aids (detergent, bleach, fabric
softener etc), soil, the products of the interactions between the laundry
aids and the soil, the products of the interactions between the laundry
aids and the chemicals in the ‘tap’ water, and ‘unused’ chemicals in the
‘tap’ water. When left over time the water will turn foul smelling. A
photograph of such a build-up can be seen at: -
http://www.ripoffreport.com/applianc...n-am-4cd6d.htm
I removed that tub/spider from a machine owned by a relative.

2. The products of corrosion on the spiders retain small quantities of
water after the final spin giving the same result as above.

Many posts on many sites claim that the corrosion of the spiders is due to
galvanic action. I do not agree, I believe it is primarily chemical
corrosion.

Should the corrosion have been galvanic between the stainless steel drum
and the aluminium spider the majority of the corrosion would have been at
the junction of the two metals i.e. at the ends of the arms. I have seen
no photographs of spiders corroded in such a manner, nor read of any
similar descriptions.

Aluminium, and its alloys are corroded when immersed in an aqueous
solution with a pH value above about 8.0 or below about 4.0 (nitric acid
is a well known exception). All detergents have to be above about 8.0 or
they would not work. The Material Safety Data Sheets put out by Proctor
and Gamble state that the pH for one of the liquid ‘Tides’ is 8.0 and for
one of the ‘Tide’ powdered detergents as 11.0. Bleach, (sodium
hypochlorite) is also very corrosive to aluminium. I should add that for
corrosion of the spider to take place these levels are considerably above
the levels found in a washing machine during the wash/rinse phases of the
cycle.

Sodium carbonate (washing soda) and sodium percarbonate found in some
laundry aids (Affresh and Oxi-Clean [powder]) are also corrosive to
aluminium, as is borax, provided the required concentrations are reached.

I believe the mechanics of the corrosion are as follows.
Even after the fastest spin small quantities of water will remain on the
shaft and towards the centre of the spider. Any recesses in the spider
close to the centre will aggravate this situation. This water will contain
‘contaminants’ as detailed above. Should sufficient of these
‘contaminants’ be present the pH of the mixture can, as evaporation takes
place, rise to a level where corrosion will take place.

Corroded spiders can be seen at: -

http://fixitnow.com/wp/2009/10/28/fr...tallic-misery/

http://softsolder.wordpress.com/2010...-drum-the-rot/
for a LG spider
http://www.viewpoints.com/LG-TROMM-F...-review-33dc10

For information on galvanic corrosion there is a very good paper at: -
http://www.unene.ca/un1001/UN1001_Ga...0Corrosion.ppt

For information on chemical corrosion of aluminium (or ‘micro galvanic
corrosion as the author calls it, I grew up calling it ‘pitting corrosion)
there is an informative paper at:
-http://www.sintef.no/static/mt/norlight/seminars/norlight2003/Postere/Gaute%20Svenningsen.pdf

On Jun 18, 8:36*am, biguggy wrote:
responding tohttp://www.homeownershub.com/woodworking/Stinky-wet-clothes-515460-.htmbiguggy wrote:

In my opinion there is no panacea to the problem of foul odours from front
load washers.
I have seen posts where it was stated to have been traced to the discharge
pipe pushed to far down the drain pipe allowing water to siphon back into
the machine. Most machines I know of have a non-return valve to prevent
this, and prevent any water in the pipe draining back into the machine.
These, even if fitted, may have been defective.
I have seen posts where the smell has been stated to be traced to small
items of clothing, baby clothes, sock(s), ladies flimsies etc. that have
got stuck somewhere in the works and are cheerfully rotting away.
Use of excess detergent and/or fabric softener very often coupled with use
of other than HOT water. This allows build-ups of these laundry aids to
form and then start turning foul. HOT water alone will sometimes get rid
of these build-ups. Sometimes the assistance cleaners such as Affresh
will help, sometimes not.

In my opinion there are two, normally overlooked, sources of these fouls
odours: -
1. * * *The recesses in the hubs of the spiders fitted to many of these
machines will retain water even after the fastest spin. This water will
contain, inter alia, unused laundry aids (detergent, bleach, fabric
softener etc), soil, the products of the interactions between the laundry
aids and the soil, the products of the interactions between the laundry
aids and the chemicals in the tap water, and unused chemicals in the
tap water. When left over time the water will turn foul smelling. A
photograph of such a build-up can be seen at: -http://www.ripoffreport.com/appliances/electrolux-home-prod/electrolu...
I removed that tub/spider from a machine owned by a relative.

2. * * *The products of corrosion on the spiders retain small quantities of
water after the final spin giving the same result as above.

Many posts on many sites claim that the corrosion of the spiders is due to
galvanic action. I do not agree, I believe it is primarily chemical
corrosion.

Should the corrosion have been galvanic between the stainless steel drum
and the aluminium spider the majority of the corrosion would have been at
the junction of the two metals i.e. at the ends of the arms. I have seen
no photographs of spiders corroded in such a manner, nor read of any
similar descriptions.

Aluminium, and its alloys are corroded when immersed in an aqueous
solution with a pH value above about 8.0 or below about 4.0 (nitric acid
is a well known exception). All detergents have to be above about 8.0 or
they would not work. The Material Safety Data Sheets put out by Proctor
and Gamble state that the pH for one of the liquid Tides is 8.0 and for
one of the Tide powdered detergents as 11.0. Bleach, (sodium
hypochlorite) is also very corrosive to aluminium. I should add that for
corrosion of the spider to take place these levels are considerably above
the levels found in a washing machine during the wash/rinse phases of the
cycle.

Sodium carbonate (washing soda) and sodium percarbonate found in some
laundry aids (Affresh and Oxi-Clean [powder]) are also corrosive to
aluminium, as is borax, provided the required concentrations are reached.

I believe the mechanics of the corrosion are as follows.
Even after the fastest spin small quantities of water will remain on the
shaft and towards the centre of the spider. Any recesses in the spider
close to the centre will aggravate this situation. This water will contain
contaminants as detailed above. Should sufficient of these
contaminants be present the pH of the mixture can, as evaporation takes
place, rise to a level where corrosion will take place.

Corroded spiders can be seen at: -

http://fixitnow.com/wp/2009/10/28/fr...corrosion-cont...

http://softsolder.wordpress.com/2010...e-he3-washer-d...
for a LG spiderhttp://www.viewpoints.com/LG-TROMM-Front-Load-Washers-review-33dc10

For information on galvanic corrosion there is a very good paper at: -http://www.unene.ca/un1001/UN1001_Galvanic%20Corrosion.ppt

For information on chemical corrosion of aluminium (or micro galvanic
corrosion as the author calls it, I grew up calling it pitting corrosion)
there is an informative paper at:
-http://www.sintef.no/static/mt/norlight/seminars/norlight2003/Postere...

Very nice! Thanks so much for posting this. Very informative and
compels me to investigate further. The odd time I catch a whiff of
that sour smell. (Maytag Neptune 2nd generation). Just every once in
Blue Moon does that happen. Then next time through, the same offending
Tshirt comes out just fine...except one I bought at Montreal Jazz
Festival a couple of years back.. no matter what you do to wash it, it
smells bad. Did after wash#1. Has to be a weird fibre..made in China.
That 'sour' smell is one I am extremely sensitive to ever since my
granma wiped my face with a facecloth which had been lying in a heap,
wet, for godknowshowlong.
I absolutely abhor that smell even though those around me are going:
"WTH are you talking about???"