Hiya

I had my oil central heating boiler serviced a week past Thursday, 9 days ago. I was here when the man arrived and left him to lock up when he finished. When I got home there was a very strong smell (I have no sense of smell, and it was bad enough for me to smell it) of white spirit, or similar.

I aired the house and thought the smell would evaperate over time.

The horrible bit - I went to work with my jacket I hadn't worn for a few days, and someone said can you smell something funny? OMG my jacket was stinking of white spirit - I was mortified to make things worse, for some unknown reason I hadn't dried my hair, so by this time my hair was also stinking!!! I can see the funny side now.

Anyway, I phoned the company to ask if they had used any lubricants that may cause this smell. Apparantly they have never heard of this. (However, after googling it, someone has said that 'the air released when bleeding a heating system can often have a very strong odour' - I've never had a smell this bad before and why didn't she just say that?

But more importantly, how do I get rid of it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated - it can't get any worse, we're selling our house, and I have a viewer coming tomorrow

I can't help but I'm the the same boat
I'll be eagerly awaiting the solution to this one as I had to literally pour neat white spirit all over a patch of carpet till it was sodden and then carpet wash "hoover" it to remove the satin paint.
My bedroom smells of it now. I want to sell the house too!
I've tried carpet washing ith normal solution but...?

Not exactly the same problem (your's sounds a lot worse sorry) but still if anyone knows what neutralises white spirit I'm all ears!

Oh no

Well I explained to my viewers and they actually took it really positively - that we had the boiler serviced!!

I think the smell may now be lingering in fabrics, so I have hung my curtains out to air then I'll put them through the washing machine and see how that goes.

I would recomment you try the how clean isyour house bit of the C4 Forums for advice on how to neutralise odours (then come back and tell us if it works )

For carpet odours, shake n vac is an idea. It works on smelly shoes.

How basic and I never gave it a thought

I'm off there now, thanks!

It's not very user friendly. I tried searching but unable to find anyting. Theres just loads of tips that you have to trawl through.

I also tried googling it and that never came up with anything either.

Not sure if it would help, but... to get rid of the fumes from oil based paint (needs white spirit to clean) leaving a saucer of milk out can help - curdles hideously in the colour of the paint but it "draws" it out of the air somehow. Might work?

I don't think the smell of off milk can be any worse, so I'll give a shot and see what happens. watch this space......

So maybe if a pour a pint of semi-skimmed down on my carpet and then leave it for a bit then hoover wash it up?

anything's worth a try

If it's an oil-fired boiler then it seems more logical that what you can smell is the oil itself (smells just like diesel fuel, which basically is what it is). If it doens't go away within a few days then get the boiler man back - sound like you may have a leak.

quote:

Originally posted by holy cheeses:
So maybe if a pour a pint of semi-skimmed down on my carpet and then leave it for a bit then hoover wash it up?

anything's worth a try

HC please tell me you are joking - if you poured milk on your carpet it would go off - then smell like sick, believe me, i've had it!!! Baby milk, years ago, was awful - would rather smell white spirit instead of sick! LOL

You could maybe hire a rug doctor, we put a bit of Fairy soap in the bucket when we do ours, smells nicer than the solution you buy with it. I'm sure you can use it on the couch as well.

Maybe take the curtains to the dry cleaners?

I agree that there might be a leak though. I get mine serviced and I've never had any smells afterwards.

Update - Well the milk didn't work - I put two dishes out one on the window sill & one on a shelf, wait for it, the cat drank it!!!!!

OK I know I'm an idiot, but he doesn't get milk so I never gave it a thought - at least he didn't spill it while balancing on the shelf

Anyway, after a long conversation with the company that serviced it, they sent someone out. They denied it had anything to do with them, which is why I didn't see the point in them coming out, but as soon as the engineer came in, he said that it would be a small gap in the pump (or something like that) - so it was their fault. I don't mind, I just wish they had been honest with me from the start. So he's fixed it, all the windows are open and I'll wait and see.

Sorry HC this doesn't really help you.

dg1 I have a vac 3in1 that would get all the milk up. I use it in our lounge every month without fail and it is absolutely disgusting but riveting to watch the colour of the used water as you pour it away. but you feel all clean afterwards!

The carpets stain resistant everything just sits there and dries, then is lifted off. A touch of milk shouldn't be a problem. The smell has subsided somewhat now anyway so maybe normal carpet washing a couple of times will do the trick.

Oh and halved onions get out paint smells.