Andrew writes, "My co-driver and I both got diesel fuel splashed on our clothes. I have been told that diesel is one of the hardest smells to remove. Will the baking soda trick work? I have already tried washing the clothes twice with a smidgen of bleach and regular laundry soap."
Gasoline and diesel fuel are some of the toughest smells to get rid of, but there are a few different methods you can use to remove gasoline stains and smells from your clothing.
Comments
If you really want to get rid of the fuel odor add 2 or 3 caps of OdorXit Concentrate to the wash and detergent. If it is a really bad spill and you have a top loading washer, leave the lid open. This action will cause the washer to stop just before the spin cycle. After 20 minutes put the lid down and let the washer finish. The odor will be gone permanently.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4503756_rid-gasoline-odor-carpet.html
I can’t speak to the success of the suggestions above, but if they don’t work, try Fast Orange hand cleaner (Smooth, no pumice) in place of detergent. I just used it after many other attempts (vinegar, etc.) and it did no damage to the clothing and left them smelling like orange, not gas. Good luck!
I tried three or four different methods to remove gasoline from my running shoes with very limited succes. The answer? Waterless hand cleaner (like Gojo). I spread it on, let it sit for 15 minutes, rinsed it off and Voila! Smells great.
A pair of gasoline soaked pants made it into a full washer load of laundry and made the whole wet lot reek of gasoline. I washed again in regular detergent and nothing changed. After a web search I decided to try washing the load again with Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint castille soap. I have a front loading machine, so I just used about 1/4 of a cup (which is is a lot for this soap, as it is very concentrated). The laundry still had a faint smell, so I washed a second time with the Dr. Bronner’s. No gasoline odor with this load. The load was hung out to dry and smells fine.
Where can I find this Dr. Bronner’s soap?
My son had a car accident and gas from the tank leaked onto his clothes in the car trunk. Wash clothes (may take two times) in regular detergent, but add about 2 cups of white vinegar to the first rinse cycle. The first rinse will remove the gasoline odor, the second rinse will remove the vinegar odor.
I spilled gas on my black down jacket. I washed it twice and dryed it and the smell is still there. Do you think I can use vinegar or should I see if the dry cleaners can take it out?
i use tomato juice, works every time
Coca-Cola!!!!!!!!! Cheapest way to remove gas smell!! Soak the smelly clothes in straight Coke in your washer for a few hours, then run the cycle with laundry detergent. Works like magic!
I was filling up my car when I noticed that some gas a spilled out and went all over my good work pants. I immediately thru them in the wash with the regular detergent, but after the load was done I could still really smell the gas.
My husband had suggested that I just put them in the dryer for a while (since that was all he used to do when that happened to him) and that should do it, since the heat from the dryer would make the smell of gas evaporate.
Well I tried it and add a few other clothes in the dryer to help it dryer quicker along with a softener sheet, and low and behold it worked! The clothes will not catch on fire in the dryer, and you can wash them first then put them in the dryer, (I think the softener sheet helps with the odour as well)
DO NOT LISTEN TO THE ABOVE POSTER, this exact same post has been spam posted on several sites.
It IS VERY RISKY to put gasoline soaked clothes in the dryer, EVERY DRYER WARNS AGAINST THIS, don’t risk your home and family.
I found I’ve had to use a combination of several washes with coke, vinegar and some Orange Degreaser.
You can spray gasout on it and let it soak for about 15 minutes before putting it in the washer. It’s in a quart bottle.
Tried a variety of the above… Washed twice in regular detergent, but no luck. Then read the above advice. Pre-soaked in the machine with vinegar (about a cup for a full load) for a few hours. That helped a little, but not nearly enough. Then ran the load again with a cup of Borax and more detergent (which happened to be Tide with Febreze). That got all the scent out. In the dryer now – with several scented dryer sheets just to be sure.
I spilled gasoline on my shoes, socks and pants two weeks ago. Today, I washed them all in my front-loading washer with one can of regular Coke and a box of baking soda–no detergent. The smell is gone! I think that letting the gasoline evaporate for the two weeks made the difference. Good luck!!!
I also tried the Bronner’s Peppermint Soap for gasoline soaked clothes. It worked great! I had already washed the clothes 3 times with regular detergent and OxiClean powder, but the smell was just as strong. The Bronner’s soap did the trick. It is really concentrated however, so I had to add an extra rinse cycle and then I ran the load back through the washer again with the rinse cycle only to fully remove the soap. Also, my next load (regular clothes without a gasoline problem) came out smelling vaguely pepperminty, but I’m sure this will dissipate soon. Thanks for the tip!
my husband overfilled his gas tank while not paying attention. hung his pants outside for 2 and a half days to let them air out washed them and let them air dry they small just fine.
pour an amount of undiluted fabric softener where the spot is and work it in. Leave it to ventilate. If it still smells, try it one more time. I’ve done this with shoes I’ve had spills with and it’s worked every time.
Had a mishap with a gas pump nozzle that left me with lots of gas splashed all over my jeans and, to a lesser extent, my other clothes and leather jacket. As well, my leather boots with rubber soles got a good dousing.
After cleaning the jacket with standard leather cleaner and washing the boot tops and soles with some pink goo (sorry can’t be specific here
, I left everything spread out on the back deck for 24 hours. BTW: Cool weather…mid-30s to high 40s.
I read about the Dr. Bronner’s castile soap trick and decided to give it a try on the clothing because it’s something we have around our house. AND, it completely did the trick. For a small load (jeans, t-neck + wool socks) used 1/2 cup in warm to hot wash/warm rinse (2 rinses). Also used a liquid fabric softener.
The clothes smell wonderful and there was no left-over bad smell in the washer. In fact, ran my flannel duvet cover immediately after and you’d never know.
FYI: The leather cleaner did the trick on the jacket. The jury’s still out on the boots. I tried wearing them the evening of the “incident”, which was a bad idea…inside of the car immediately smelled of gas. They are sill outside on day 3.