Topic: How to get rid of gasoline smell?

[iron_worker]

Hey guys,

My plan this winter is to build my 2nd bedroom of my apartment into a man cave/bike shop. I'm going to tear down my bike and haul it up there in bits and rebuilt it over the winter. I'm sure one of you is crazy enough to have done this as well. lol

What I need to avoid is to have horrible gas smells coming from the room which I'm sure would drive my gf crazy and eventually get the whole "bike shop" idea scrapped. So I know I will need to rinse the tank and carbs before hauling them up.

What are good cleaners to use that will neutralize the smell? I'm thinking probably some type of citrus cleaner or vinegar?

What say ye?

IW

[Greggo]

I think the easiest solution is to not bring any gas into it If you're asking how to get rid of the gas smell from the tank/carbs...most any of the recommended cleaning methods you'll find on the forum will get rid of that.  Just trying to hide the smell?  I like the smell of ground coffee for that...it's what I clean my hands with after getting gas on 'em.

[lucky]

Never bring gas into your house.

There is the heater or kitchen stove that could ignite the gasoline.
Just take the tank and carbs off outside.
Do not bring the carbs into the house until they have had the float bowls off and turned upside down to get all of the gas out of the vent lines.

Do not endanger other people.

[Elan]

Never bring gas into your house.

There is the heater or kitchen stove that could ignite the gasoline.
Just take the tank and carbs off outside.
Do not bring the carbs into the house until they have had the float bowls off and turned upside down to get all of the gas out of the vent lines.

Do not endanger other people.

did you read his post? he said he is going to rinse everything out before even bringing it in. Theres no way that will ignite a room up. His concern is the "shop smell"

having a "scent free workspace" is gonna be tough. Not just remnant gas scent, but motor oil, grease, cleaners, rags, grime, etc. I would get a window fan the has an exhaust mode so the air is always getting pulled out rather than travelling to the other parts of the house...

[flybox1]

simple green 

[TwoTired]

Acetone will draw off the gas smell.  It's a trade for gas tof acetone smell.  But acetone rinses away pretty well with soap and water.  Then treat with alcohol to absorb any rust promoting water remnants.  To stave off any further oxidation, any kitchen oil will smell nice, olive oil, walnut oil, safflower, coconut oil, peanut oil, etc., and will leave a thin film barrier, and dilute readily when automotive fluids are reintroduced later.

Odors produced in your "shop" can be air filtered with activated charcoal.  Large filters "saturate" to ineffectiveness slower than smaller filters.  But, it's a cost trade off.

[lrutt]

eat eggs and beans, fart often. no problem with the shop smells then

[CycleRanger]

Tent the house. That'll cover up the fumes....

[Dimitri13]

Whenever I accidentally left the petcock and my carbs leaked on to the garage floor, I had great results regular old dawn dish soap and some scrubbing.

[lucky]

Cook up a skillet of onions. It always smells good. Or bacon.

[05c50]

Let me agree with some of the ideas already given- Simple Green, beans and eggs, and bacon.....in that order.

........Paul

[Duanob]

Tent the house. That'll cover up the fumes....

Around here that would be a meth house!

As a landlord myself I shudder at the thought but if you do work on the bike in the bedroom, put thick visqueen down on the floor wall to wall with duct tape. Put cardboard down on top of that. Under the work area get oil absorbant diapers and a drip pan. As far as the smell use some visqueen draped over the door opening and crack a window. I know it gets really cold there but fresh air will help a lot. Old motors just smell and that's that. old Oil dirt gasoline it all stinks. And hang a few hundred christmas trees from the ceiling (anybody remember the movie "Seven"?)

[CycleRanger]

Tent the house. That'll cover up the fumes....

Around here that would be a meth house!

heh, exactly. 
Oh, you're a landlord?
Ever seen the grow houses where they fill the bedrooms with 18 inches of dirt, force-grow several crops, then abandon the house which has to be gutted due to mold?

[Duanob]

Tent the house. That'll cover up the fumes....

Around here that would be a meth house!

heh, exactly. 
Oh, you're a landlord?
Ever seen the grow houses where they fill the bedrooms with 18 inches of dirt, force-grow several crops, then abandon the house which has to be gutted due to mold?

Crossing my fingers but not yet.

[iron_worker]

My have we gotta off track. haha

Rinsing with acetone and coating with oil seems like a pretty good start. I already rebuilt the carbs in that room arleady. I drained them and dunked them into a tub of simple green/water before I brought them up. Now that I think of it, it worked pretty well.

Thanks guys,

IW

[CycleRanger]

When I was in college the guys in the apartment across from mine rebuilt a Corvette engine on the table in the middle of the kitchen. (It was a sturdy table.) This was an efficiency-style apartment and they totally destroyed the carpet, tile, wall paint, etc. in the whole place.
Another time they had a party where they sat in the living room with pellet guns and shot bottles lined up on the kitchen counters and cabinets.
The next day every surface in the kitchen was covered in two inches of broken glass..
Good times!

/csb

[vames]

forget the extra bedroom -- just do it in your bedroom.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=62368.0

actually, I think David ultimately regretted building a bike in his studio apartment, but the results were fantastic.

[Bailgang]

Another time they had a party where they sat in the living room with pellet guns and shot bottles lined up on the kitchen counters and cabinets.

First apartment I had when I first moved out had cock roaches courtesy of the tenant next door. Sometimes I'd get bored and grab my pellet rifle, load it with a spit ball and pick the roaches off as I saw them crawling up the wall. After a while I got to be a pretty good shot.

[M.Harrigan]

I live in a condo here in Miami and I'm currently building my 72k in my Florida room. For those of you not familiar with the term, a Florida room is like an enclosed patio with lots of windows.
My floors are tiled and the walls are concrete. I'm even mig welding in there, very carefully.
I keep my carbs, tank and solvents in an outside storage room.

[Greggo]

forget the extra bedroom -- just do it in your bedroom.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=62368.0

actually, I think David ultimately regretted building a bike in his studio apartment, but the results were fantastic.

Ha!  I hope he started that bike in there and scared the sh1t out of the neighbors! 

[chewbacca5000]

IW,

I think some very good suggestions have been put forth, but if you must bring the carbs and other smelly stuff into the house may I suggest a different approach reprogram your lady to love the smell of gasoline.  Get her to associate positive emotions with the smell of gas.

For example take her to a monster truck jam or a tractor pull where there is tons of exhaust fumes and the smell of unburnt gas.  Make sure she has the best time of her life.  Get her a little special gift or something.

On sundays when you are watching NASCAR give here a backrub.

Finally you start aroma therapy with the typical essential oils, but find a way to work some gas smell in there.  She won't mind so long as the backrubs keep getting better.

After a while she will get so turned out by Shelll and Exon signs that you will be able to expand your operation to the other room in the apartment.

Good Luck!  I am rooting for you.

[iron_worker]

Ha. All great suggestions guys.

We would probably be buying a house (with a shop!) but my gf decided to go back to school to get her Law degree... so I'm covering all the bills for a while.

I have plans to put some plastic down over the carpet and then some plywood. I will build some benches also. Should be a pretty cool room I think.

If I did't have to build the bike in that room I wouldn't... but for now my options are limited and I really want to do it so I'm going for it.

IW

[ekpent]

Where's Johny from Wi.  He has a great shop on a porch that he does work in in climate weather and his wife still loves him.     Did not read the whole thread--- Sorry--    But if you are doing a machine there are a lot of other toxic smells you will have to deal with. Cleaners,lube,paints just to name a few. My good buddy Sean Barney here in Kazoo went in with some friends to rent a real shop. Group efforts pay off in more ways then one,like lifting etc. As a landlord myself I would not be happy to see a guy turning part of my house into a winter work shed,if its your house go for it but there are other smells and such involved in a resto job. I have over 33  old bikes in my stash but only 1 ever stays in the garage at a time  where I live with wife. Lucky to have an offsite shop but good to have.

[iron_worker]

I own the condo so no landlord to deal with. My plan is to outsource paint and/or powder coat.

IW

[ekpent]

I own the condo so no landlord to deal with. My plan is to outsource paint and/or powder coat.

IW

Wish I could pay for that stuff. Be nice to have somebody else do all that dirty work.Hopefully nobody in the Condo will get Prego as that will send a Womans smell detector to an all time high,been there done that.   

[trueblue]

I must be lucky, I have a good sized shed in the backyard, but lately it has been too cold at night to work out there, so for the past couple of months I have been bringing random parts into the lounge room to work on them.  My missus hasn't complained about the smell once and has helped me on numerous occasions.  The worst one I have brought in was a set of carbs that had had rotton fuel laying in them for some time, they were drained before I brought them in but they still stunk out the place for a couple of hours.  I think the stink of my farts helped numb her to the smell of the fuel.