S.O.S. Room stinks of chemicals and can't ventilate due to storm

[Nizan]

Hi everyone,

I got a box of aromachemicals last night, and I think because a cap or two
fell on the floor, it was absorbed in the tiles or something, and now my room
smells like sickening floral chems, which keeps me up at night.. Can't
ventilate the room because there's a huge storm outside that will last for
days.. I tried rubbing the floor with alcohol, but no luck..
I think it's even worse, as the bottles are also emitting scent..
Any advice?

Thanks!

[lpp]

There was a thread, whether it's here or in Huddlerville is another matter!

Will look.

[lpp]

Here - not much better really - can u put them in an airtight box while you're sorting out the mess?
http://www.basenotes.net/huddlerarchive/380080

Good luck

[lpp]

p.s. - no air conditioning?

[Nizan]

I think AC just recycles air.. I'll read that thread. It's even sipping through nylon bags!
On the other hand, at least I'm not stuck in the snow for 12 hours, like some other people..

[lpp]

Or stuck in the snow with leaking bottles....

Do you have plastic kitchen storage boxes?

Good luck !

[Nizan]

Yep... I think I got the bottles issue worked out. Now I'm confused about that thread.
I guess I can try to get some baking soda and vinegar, but mixing them like the thread
suggests doesn't sound reasonable (though I'm no chemist).
Maybe I could use vegetable oil and then soap and water? Hmm..

[lpp]

It looked like alcohol was the best for your situation - hopefully someone can chime in soon.

See this post....
Chris Bartlett said:


There are some fascinating suggestions here already, but to me the key to understanding what to do in these situations is to think about solubility.

Civet isn't the only thing you can have a problem like this with, but it is one of the worst, like virtually all perfumery materials though it is oil soluble, so water based solutions are at best sub-optimal.

I keep a lot of isopropyl alcohol on hand for cleaning glassware and spills: it's useful because it's miscible with water as well as most oil-soluble materials. That's what I'd use to clean up the bottle (which should then go inside another container). Plain ethanol is just as good, but isopropyl is cheaper.

The greasy meal solution is by far the best for cleaning hands. For a quicker version coat the hands in lots of cooking oil, clean it off with paper towels and repeat at least twice. Finally wash with lots of hot soapy water.

The sink is more difficult because you really shouldn't put a lot of oil down the sink (it clogs up sewers), so boiling water with plenty of surfactant (any good drain cleaner) is probably the best.

As a covering scent, I'd really recommend something floral: a synthetic like jasmine-cis is better than full-on jasmine, which is going to add indole and other heady materials to it. If you have a synthetic rose recreation like rose givco, which isn't too expensive, that might be a good idea too.

Good luck!

[Pears]

Baking soda is indeed good for deodorizing but whether or not it works in your situation will depend on which chemicals have been spilt. If they're acidic or basic then it probably will. This gives a good explanation of the chemistry involved:

http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/q...dorizing-agent

If that doesn't work, then washing the floor with a solution of hydrogen peroxide may work because hydrogen peroxide reacts with many compounds by donating an oxygen atom. Although there's a storm outside, if you can open the window just a crack, the air will be drawn out of the room effectively over time.

[Nizan]

I'll try to find some baking soda.. It seems those toilet liquids have sodium carbonate
(though I thought it's supposed to be bi carbonate).. No chance of getting H2O2 now..
They close almost everything on Saturdays, and I got a flat tire (combined with this
storm..).

Thanks for the read.
I think my attempts so far have improved the situation slightly.

[Pears]

If you have bleach then that may work because most bleaches are strong oxidizing agents. Hydrogen peroxide is just one type of bleach, the most common form contains sodium hypochlorite.

[Nizan]

I'll try my mom. Women use this stuff for something
Thanks!

[pkiler]

You could try to soak the tiles with 92% isopropyl Alcohol, here, it is commonly available in drug stores. soak the tiles, and then after a couple of minutes, sop up the alcohol, followed by baking soda in the still moist cracks, and then place the cloths outside. Let the baking soda dry, rinse with water to get up the baking soda, and see where you are with that...

In the past when I've had major odorous accidents, (I had a glass 2 kilo bottle explode on a wooden shelf, and not learn of it for an hour or so,) I placed the offended shelves outside in the sun to air and dry, in our very hot summer dry sun, and now a year later, I can still smell the odor of this chemical when I place my nose on the wood... Fortunately, It's not a bad scent... But I did get sick and tired of that odor for quite awhile.

PK

[Nizan]

Luckily there were no carpets.. But somehow it was absorbed in the tiles.
I think I got most of it out.. Rubbed it with whatever I could find now - oil,
alcohol, laundry detergent (ecological.. ) and some cleaning material with
baking soda. I think the bulk of it is gone. I also got rid of the empty boxes
which held most of the scent.
But now I'm really put off by chemicals..

[lpp]

Hope you have some fresh air in there soon...

[DrSmellThis]

I used the best standing air filter I could find at the local store. I think it helps, and is good anyway if shut in.

[Graphite]

...
But now I'm really put off by chemicals..

I can totally understand this. Maybe you can see it as a kind of discomforting initiation. The first time I diluted aroma chemicals I had chosen indole and the aldehydes and I was in hell. After that even castoreum replacer smelled like honey to me. Ok civet is another thing again.
I took Chris' advice to work on glass surface. I am using an old glass picture frame and am very happy with that. But I had no big disaster till now (knock on wood).

[edshepp]

But now I'm really put off by chemicals..

Maybe you should stick to appreciating pre-made perfumes. Of course, those also break and can make a room stink. I believe that was the word.

This type of thing is the risk you take when you make perfume. Hopefully you don't have roommates or neighbors who have all kinds of "allergies" and the like. But as far as different components creating a strong or unpleasant smell, especially when spilled, I think all of us have experienced that. But you can't let yourself be "put off by chemicals" every time you store a winter coat near some caramel furanone and have people at KMart telling you you've had pancakes that day or when a bottle of isobutyl quinoline breaks on your floor. (....OK, maybe it would be justified in the case of the IBQ). /rant

[Pears]

I'd recommend that you avoid using chemicals when you know that ventilation will be an issue, such as during a major storm. Also, get yourself all of the necessary cleaning materials, including bleach, sodium bicarbonate, isopropanol, acetone and rubber gloves, so that they're there when you need them. Other than that, I'd say that you're good to go.

[Nizan]

I didn't appreciate the dangers.. I do now, though
A lot of small things to take care of.. I also need to find a way to remove PA's
scent from the bottles..
On a positive note, I've made two batches of experimental base accords.. Now
I'll just wait.. and wait.. and wait..
That cyclamen aldehyde sure did surprise me..

[Skelly]

Cyclodextrins. eg Febreze floor cleaner. Pour it on neat.

Interesting article about them - by Luca Turin - here:

http://doublebasenotes.blogspot.co.u...uca-turin.html

-

[Nizan]

I'll see if I can find something similar here. Thanks!

[lpp]

Our vet told us years ago never to use Febreze around animals (no idea why) - there's something called Simple Solution, from the U.S., which doesn't leave any residual odour when dry & removes stains in addition to odours..
No idea if that would be of any use 'though!

[Ramute]

Oh yes, PA leave their own scent on bottles. But I don't sleep in my workroom so this don't seems trouble for me. I can suggest one not mentioned method: leave plate with charcoal there scents are too strong. Activated charcoal very good scents absorbent, but even coal from the fireplace can help a little.

It seems to me that when I leave the plate with pieces of coal on my blending table, atmosphere in room became less scented.

[Pears]

Oh yes, PA leave their own scent on bottles. But I don't sleep in my workroom so this don't seems trouble for me. I can suggest one not mentioned method: leave plate with charcoal there scents are too strong. Activated charcoal very good scents absorbent, but even coal from the fireplace can help a little.

It seems to me that when I leave the plate with pieces of coal on my blending table, atmosphere in room became less scented.

Yup, that's why activated charcoal/carbon is used in air filters. It's microporous structure is so fine than 1 gram of it has a surface area of approximately 500 m². With that much surface area, air particles and odor compounds become efficiently trapped through the comparatively weak Van der Waals forces (physical adsorption as opposed to chemical adsoption). Good advice, Ramute.

[Graphite]

Good advice, Ramute.

Indeed. Thank you!

[JEBeasley]

Speaking of scent reduction... I would also recommend a hospital grade HEPA filter but I also recommend that everyone working with EO's and AC's run long, hard and far AWAY from "ionizing or ozone generating air cleaners". They can turn ordinary molecules into something really really nasty that nobody want's to or should breathe in. I have personal experience with this.