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Remove smoke odor from a fire

Submitted by Anne

To remove the smoke odor left in clothing from a fire, add 1 cup of washing soda, 1/4 cup ammonia and 1/2 cup of vinegar to the washload. Be sure not to add bleach, as it will react with the ammonia. You can also add 1/2 cup vinegar to the rinse to remove any lingering odor.

Visitors comments

What is Comments By: Patti on 2006-12-13 I am sorry, I am not trying to be rude, did you mean Baking Soda?? We just had an arson fire at our school and there were some irreplacable items that have smoke damage and I was trying to find a way to clean them.   OxiClean - Stain remover detergent Comments By: xx on 2009-01-17 In Canada there is a regular stain remover detergent named OxiClean. You would normally add small quantities just to make white thing, whiter. We had a fire, and by accident we discovered it actually works on anything, cleaning better than the solvents we have tried. I don't know what is in it, if you never heard about it, try and google it, and then find the formula and look for xan equivalent in your area.   Question Comments By: Anon on 2009-01-07 Ammonia and washing soda are strong bases; vinegar is an acid. Don't they neutralize each other to some extent?   Oxiclean Comments By: Pat on 2010-11-02 'looked up the MSDS for Oxiclean (but not sure which specific product). It seems to be mainly sodium cabonate ("washing soda") and sodium carbonate peroxyhydrate with some minor amount of an alcohol product. Maybe mixing washing soda and hydrogen peroxide would substitute?