I had cause to fill a plastic jerrycan with diesel at the weekend, and thanks to my cackhandedness I managed to get quite a lot of diesel all over the can itself. I had to get it home, so not wishing to stink the car out I wrapped it in the only thing I had to hand, which was a piece of vetbed bedding we have in the bot for the dog.
The bedding understandably stank afterwards, and after a few days airing outside I've just stuck it through the wash with some other dog towels and bedding, as well as a generous portion of detergent and Vanish-esque stain remover stuff. Post-wash, it's still pretty whiffy. Is it doomed?
The possibly bigger issue is the blanket that was in there with it, which is the one that goes on the sofa for the dog to lie on. That now smells a bit of diesel too...
The only solution is to abandon everything you own and move house.
Does the washing machine smell of diesel now too?
That now smells a bit of diesel too...
Change the dog's name to "Diesel". Problem solved
Having recently bought a diesel vehicle, I can confirm the fuel stinks. Why can't people fill their cars without getting the fuel all over the handle ? Never had this issue with petrol. Every bloody time my hand stinks after filling up. I'll look a right weirdo putting a glove on or using paper towels.
OP you are doomed - new washer time.
I worked in a test bay for a year, testing diesel engines. That was a long time ago, but my memory is that, once overalls got diesel on them, nothing ever, ever completely removed the smell. Sorry.
Why can't people fill their cars without getting the fuel all over the handle ? Never had this issue with petrol.
Its nothing to do with the people - although I know the default setting in motoring is 'everyone else is an idiot'
Petrol is more volatile so anywhere it's spilt or splashed it just evaporates - I sometimes use petrol to clean things when its important no to leave a residue. Diesel was used a lubricant before someone had the idea of burning it in engines (I forget his name) so by nature clings to and coats things, and stuff sticks to it so it accumulates dirt.
I'll look a right weirdo putting a glove on
Really? I use those disposable gloves at petrol stations and it barely increases my weirdo levels at all.
I don't know if it would be any good for diesel but my go-to for getting rid of smells is covering the offending area with a handful of coffee beans and leaving for a few days. It seems to work with organic smells like puke or spilt milk.
Really? I use those disposable gloves at petrol stations and it barely increases my weirdo levels at all.
he didn't say he was wearing the gloves on his hands
Petrol is more volatile so anywhere it's spilt or splashed it just evaporates - I sometimes use petrol to clean things when its important no to leave a residue. Diesel was used a lubricant before someone had the idea of burning it in engines
Interesting fact what I learned on QI - when petrol was first 'discovered' at the top end of the fractional distillation pipe, because it was so volatile no-one really had any idea what to do with it other than use it as a dry-cleaning fluid.
(I forget his name)
It was Vin Diesel, duh.
Petrol & matches should do the job
Unfortunately that will only work to get it going, you'll need something longer burning to continue the process. You could try something like diesel.
Fullers earth might work - it attracts/traps oily substances. Fullers were people who would remove lanolin from sheep fleeces back in the day. So a good dusting in that and leaving it for a good while before shaking it out and washing might help.
Its not really an off the shelf product in it own right but is used in 'Dry Shampoo' powder
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I'm not even kidding - the only problem with it is that you end up smelling like the '80s instead.
Really? I use those disposable gloves at petrol stations and it barely increases my weirdo levels at all.
Depends on your starting level of weirdness I guess?
Must be a posh petrol station if there are disposable gloves or paper towels. Nothing at the ones I use, long since robbed.
The bedding understandably stank afterwards, and after a few days airing outside I've just stuck it through the wash with some other dog towels and bedding, as well as a generous portion of detergent and Vanish-esque stain remover stuff. Post-wash, it's still pretty whiffy. Is it doomed?
Is it doomed? I think the washing machine might be. What were you thinking?
I would try something drastic like running an empty boil wash with some degreaser in place of detergent. My guess would be that anything you wash in that machine will smell of diesel.
Reminds of the thread when someone washed their Barbour jacket and wrecked the machine.
I would try something drastic like running an empty boil wash
I did exactly the same a few months ago.... 20L of diesel but forgot to close the pouring vent on the can and it leaked all over rather nice (waterproof on one side) quilted dog mat in the boot of the car.
After leaving the mat on a wall dripping the excess out for a couple of days I chucked it into the washing machine with some trepidation 😬
Yes the drum smelt of diesel afterwards 🤦♂️
Ran it on a 90c drum clean program and that pretty much fixed it. Thankfully the wife never got to smell it!
a piece of vetbed bedding
You know that stuff cost bugger all... stop wasting more money trying to clean it
Is it doomed? I think the washing machine might be. What were you thinking?
I just stuck my head in the washing machine and it doesn't smell of diesel...
However, given that the next thing that's supposed to go through it is our bedding, I may not take the chance and I'll stick it on a self-cleaning cycle, just to be sure.
I once did a favour for a mate and filled up a 20 litre jerry can with diesel and set off to help him out. About 500 metres from the petrol station someone flashed me at a set of lights and said water was running out of my boot. It was the diesel and the lid had come off completely.
I shot straight to work and ripped as much interior out of the car as possible (less than 2 year old Mercedes C Class AMG), soaked everything i could up with blue roll and cleaned everything with as much soap and water as i could. I did this about 10 x over the forthcoming weeks until i realised it wasnt working. In general it was ok but as soon as the interior warmed up my eyes would start to water.
I had another 12 months with that car and i counted the days for it to go. I gave it a couple of deep cleans before i handed it back and thankfully my employer just used to trade them out quickly so i got no comeback.
I refuse to carry anything liquid in the back of my cars now. A college had a smilar incident with Ad blue in a container that split. That kept coming back looking like pablo escabars private stash.
With the washing machine, we use some kind of washing salts that we put in from time to time on the self clean cycle. They really work a treat. I think we get them at B&M
Think this is heading for thread of the week !
Another thing I've learned today - when you stick your washing machine on a self-wash cycle, read the instructions first rather than casually throwing in a full dose of detergent and stain remover and letting rip.
Turns out that there's a reason why said instructions say to use 1/10 of a dose of detergent...
Still, the foam explosion was a good thing really, cos the cleaning up of it led me to discover the drippy joint at the back of the machine, the mould up the back wall, the bubbled paint where it's seeped up the plasterboard, and which, of course, also explains why the door into the utility room has become a bit sticky of late because, on closer inspection, it's cos it's got into the floor and started to lift the flooring.
Good. Excellent. Smashing. Brill-i-ant.
Charlie the Collie says:
" Try Fox poo. Guaranteed to outsmell almost anything & absolutely fantastic to roll in" 
As freezers fix buckled Skyway wheels, decode stereo's and remove chewing gum, I'd stick it in the freezer...
Let's face it, you're going to have to buy a new freezer anyway to match the new washing machine 😀
I'll look a right weirdo putting a glove on
Having seen the signs above the urinals at a vehicle engineering business about the prevalence of cancers in mechanics in a certain trouser area I've always felt a glove wasn't a bad call when filling up, weirdo or not.
Beyond that I can't offer much comfort on the diesel point unless you're prepared to soak the articles in a latte and leave it in a warm place for a couple of weeks. Certainly was the only thing I could smell for weeks when I spilled one in the back of the car.
Beyond that I can't offer much comfort on the diesel point unless you're prepared to soak the articles in a latte and leave it in a warm place for a couple of weeks.
Life hack: ristretto does it in a couple of days. Thank me later.
I cleaned a motorbike chain with diesel in the spare bedroom. The room stopped smelling after we moved 30km away.
This thread does make me rather glad I no longer have a diesel car. However, I never carried a can of diesel in the back of the Skoda, so it was never an issue anyway. 😏
Dusting off and nuking from space, it’s the only way to be certain. 🤷🏼♂️
The disposable gloves are for amateurs. You all need your own set of diesel pump/fuel can gloves in the vehicle. Think oil proof builders gloves. Nothing worse than filling up, then 5miles later realising that your hands stink, and now your sandwiches have a diesel taste....blurrgh.
So OP needs a new blanket, washing machine, freezer, gloves and some '80s aftershave. Sorted. 🙂
So OP needs a new blanket, washing machine, freezer, gloves and some '80s aftershave
Keep up, I need to lift and replace the sodden chipboard floors which probably means ripping out the units in the utility room and lifting the laminate in the room next door, at least a section of sodden plasterboard partition wall will need replacing, a bit of plumbing and a new washing machine. And then put it all back with new stuff and redecorate. There will be a call to the insurance people today.
But the blankets come out alright and I'm okay for aftershave.
There will be a call to the insurance people today.
Given that its already primed with diesel - maybe go the whole hog and burn the house down - no difference in the excess you'll pay 🙂
Although I can already see the flaw in that plan is the one bit you'll be left with is the soggy chipboard and smelly washing machine.
Is vetbed specifically designed to be covered in animal piss, shit, pus, blood and puke or is it poorly named, hand embroidered velvet cushion from Liberty?
I can confirm that long covid removes the smell of diesel. And gas, and everything else. But at least I can’t smell the fuel when filling the car now!
Think this is heading for thread of the week !
Once we got onto the mould, bubbling paint, gubbed flooring and door, that did it for me. Where do I vote?
I had a donkey jacket that got some kerosene/avtur on it. It then got hung on a hook in the shed for 3 years, went through a handful of house moves, mostly hanging on a nail in a random garage for maybe 10 years, got bundled up with a load of other garage stuff and did an international move, and spent 10 years being repeatedly frozen and defrosted in my garage and only used when i was changing wheels for the winter.
I can confirm that when it eventually failed, after some 20 years (the sleeve fell off), it *still* stank of kerosene.
I worked as a mudlogger on oil rigs for a couple of years...a lot of it in the Southern North Sea, where you have to drill through thousands of feet of salt to reach gas bearing rocks. Because salt dissolves in water, they have to use diesel based "mud" (drilling fluid). Everything you took on the rig becomes impregnated with the smell of diesel, and the rig laundry just transfers the smell to bedclothes, towels, everything.
(I wonder if they still use diesel based mud?)
(I wonder if they still use diesel based mud?)
you'd have a big fight with OSPAR if you proposed OBM in this day and age.
no one else wondering what happened to thelittlesthobos mate ? - is he still waiting on that help 😀
A really long boil wash will shift it.
Source family haulage firm and washing fixing lorries from age 13. Dad+ uncle+ grandad+ great uncle all seni regularly soaked in diesel.
Hand was was in the dirty paraffin parts wash sink, clean paraffin sink final wash in swaefega and freezing water.
Dad fell of a lorry once and hit his leg on a sticky out handle that holds the tipper shut. He was saved from serious injury in the leg as he was wearing an oil skin, overalls, overalls, jeans, thermal long johns which all ripped but the second pair of thermals saved his skin.
I didn't go into the family firm, lucky as it went bust in my 20's
Soak it in cat's piss. That will mask the diesel smell and will never wash out.
whole milk.
Leave it to soak for a few days so it gets right into all the padding and nooks and crannies. Then Baking soda to fail to absorb the smell of deisel and milk so on a hot day your car will smell of cold deisel in the morning , then child sick in the afternnoon.
HTH
I thought Dr Diesel invented the Dr Diesel engine to burn coke powder on compression ignition?
Not the finest columbian , as the pence per mile would be prohibitive, but refined coal. Using cracked fosil oil came later.
If there is anything to take from this thread it's.
Get a small Gerry Can.
Washing up liquid, though that causes a foam issue. Hot wash will work, as well but you could ugger the bedding. Carpet shampoo works too. We used to clean our staffs PPE ourselves, but it kept knackering the washing machine, so it all goes off to be cleaned professionally, also we need to keep the flame retardant properties.
Years of working with farm and forestry machinery, the answer is generally fire.
For more valuable kit like chainsaw trousers, several washes in a washing machine that isn't yours will avoid the fumes overcoming you in a machines cab.
Op had a Gerry can't apparently
That deserves to be acknowledged! 👍🏼👏🏻
Proper Jerry cans are wonderful examples of perfect industrial design, so good, by comparison to the truly crap containers issued to the British Army, that they were highly prized plunder from wrecked German vehicles. They were eventually copied and issued to British and American military.
Original German version…
British version…
The handle system is brilliant, specifically designed so that two cans side by side can be picked up together by the outside handles.
Great things for putting water in, there are specific versions for just that purpose.
Getting back on topic, you could spray with cadaverine or putricine, which would definitely cover the smell of diesel, but then you’d have to napalm the area to get rid of the smell of rotting flesh…
🥴🤢🤮☣️ 😷
If I was in your shoes I'd try a few things.
Heavier hydrocarbons have higher viscosities and transition temperatures. A hot wash might be more effective. However hot your machine will go. It might destroy the bed but it is set for the bin anyway?
The other thing is that your average detergent (particularly the bio types) are designed to remove the type of chemistry that you would expect to find on dirty clothes, not normally diesel. I'd try a generous dose of pure soap.
You could also try using washing up liquid (as that is more designed to remove fat and oil (similar properties). This can be entertaining in a washing machine as it creates a lot of bubbles. An alternative would be to do this in a big container if you have it. Again, the hotter the water the better (which would make it tricky by hand.
In any case I would look to run a hot cycle on your washing machine (or self cleaning cycle) to try and remove any diesel. It might attack any seals.
Hot wash with dish soap is what worked for me trying to remove tetra and hexadecane from a shirt. Also works for cleaning equipment of higher molecular weight petrochemical oils and similar fatty acid derived materials.
several washes in a washing machine that isn't yours
There is a petrol station near me with an outdoor launderette on the forecourt. There is a working harbour nearby and many farms surrounding it. I can only imagine the filth that gets dumped in them - they must be minging.
Time is the best bet... I managed to get diesel on my shoes a few years ago. I thought it was the end of the shoes until I just left them out in the sun for a couple of days and the diesel evaporated off with the smell
I reckon a good soak in Screwfix degreaser would be a good bet.
It's very good at breaking down oil and grease so diesel should also thin out. It's dilutable so potentially you could start with a 25% solutions and then try stronger ones if low success.
Hot water will also help the process.
It's cheaper than some other brands , not overly smelly like jizer , readily available in over 900 location and is generally a stocked item.