Getting rid of somke smells

[ARWadsworth]

Thats heat detectors not smoke detectors!

[Andy Champ]

Same stuff.

Baking _powder_ , on the other hand, is normally sodium bicarbonate mixed with tartaric acid. Or at least it was when I was a kid...

Andy.

[Graham.]

You know what they say about smoke & fire don't you?

[Graham.]

A couple of fire-fighters were going door to door handing out pairs of optical smoke alarms with lithium batteries that weren't intended to be replaceable

They had a tendency to go off for absolutely no reason that I could see so I went back to my radioactive ones.

[Graham.]

my mother plugged in their electric blanket, only

bed. It was equipped with a mercury switch to stop it

the fire was confined to their bedroom, the fire

window. Only the bed, carpet, wallpaper and a floorboard

black, even the grout in the bathroom had to be

a day off while they were washed three times. It

objects were still turning up at the bottom of cupboards

My Grandfathers factory burned down when I was about that age. One of the things we salvaged was the petty cash tin. The school secretary was not best pleased when I kept on paying in my weekly dinner money in charred coins

[sweetheart]

I have both baking powder and soda crystals. The latter I use to remove stains in my tea towels and whiten net curtains. However, I have another problem now ( cureable), the eco warrior OH got in the pantry to read the electric meter and took the plug to the freezer out. I did not notice. hence last night we had one defrosted freezer and a load of lost food. It wasnt that full fortunately. Only a gateaux, ice cream ( two tubs) some mashed potato mix and chicken pieces. So I have told him off. He had to take me shopping.

[Mark]

I'm not too impressed with my radioactive ones. They go off at the slightest hint of cooking and failed to activate the only time we had a real fire.

[Terry Fields]

Get yourself one or two of these; they are brilliant.

used one in the dining room to get rid of odours such as curry; even on the low-speed setting it clears overnight.

We used the other to freshen a room that had a mysterious odour that smelled of drains - I think it was spilt milk that had got under the lammy floor.

Put one in your bedroom and keep the door closed; run it 24/7 until clear. Use the other round the various rooms in turn. There are larger versions available.

[Part Timer]

So what is your OH good at? Did he attend school and learn about simle things like decay of food? How long have you been together? Every time you mention him on here it's virtually beyond belief, and I have visions of you being repressed like some Afghan woman, kept inside all day in a mud compound! Do you have any children?

[Dave Liquorice]

Installing smoke detectors is not a straight forward as it first appears. For a start one shouldn't put optical or ionisation ones in a kitchen as the muck put into the air from cooking can cause false alarms.

Kitchens should have fixed temperature heat detectors or possibly rate of rise heat detectors. Corridors and stair wells, where there likely to be air movement optical. Optical detectors are better at detecting slow smouldering fires than ionistaion ones.

[ARWadsworth]

Yep. Look at 11min 16 seconds

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Andy Champ saying something like:

That's the stuff I was erroneously thinking of.

[Nick Leverton]

Sounds like quite an ample dinner ...

Nick

[sweetheart]

Well, a lot of questions there. I sure he knows about decay of food . He is/ was a plumber by trade - so qualified and a four year apprenticeship and a year at college full time on a mech engineering technicians multi trades course ( pre apprenticeship) . He has just never been very good at doing things for me. He lived for his job. He did put a bathroom in after 12 years of my asking and he did it well. The bathroom is the best room in my house.

He could do things but mostly wont. He is a better electrician than plumber. He was a brilliant gas fitter but his firm would not make use of his skills - preferred young girl apprentices because the "PC rules" made it better for them to employ females on the grounds of "diversity" and he was retired to make way for them. He is a good carpenter but very slow because its not his trade. He can brick lay but again is slow and its not his trade. Since he was retired off he has become more useless. We do need some French and Patio doors because ours are rotten and he is thinking about that at the moment.

When I was younger he would drive ( I couldn't and he taught me) . We had an agreement he would do DIY and go to work and be a breadwinner and I would do the cooking and cleaning and look after him but that stopped applying three or four years ago when he got made redundant/ forced to retire. Now he is obsessed with saving money because he is on a works pension ( there is a recession on as the TV keeps telling him) . He is obsessed with my job and my losing it so we will have to go to the workhouse ( I am serious!) . He is obsessed with not being good enough to do anything, so I have had to take over a lot of the jobs he would once have done with some nagging. I was never taught to so much as knock a nail in a piece of wood, having been educated for other things.

We have been together since 1978.

We never got round to children , mostly my fault because I had a stupid career (academic). My mistake, not his. I regret that. So now you know, thats what happens when women take over the bloody world. That's about it.

[sweetheart]

> We used one in the dining room to get rid of odours such as curry;

I might try that. I am still hoping OH will let me have a new kitchen. Not that its that bad but the worksurface and the floor are scorched. and I think it is going to need redecorating to get the smell out of the walls and ceilin g.

[Tim Watts]

I think you married my dad!

Sounds like he needs to get his a**s out and go and join a club, even a walking club. He's going mouldy sitting at home and losing his confidence and status as "being useful"....

[Tim Streater]

Or be a freelance sparks/plumber. I assume that wouldn't reduce his pension?

[dennis]

But like most old sayings they are wrong.

[Part Timer]

Thanks for setting the scene. I think it's most helpful for the regulars to know what you (and him) are capable of doing when giving answers to your queries. Hope I wasn't too intrusive - the children question just answered whether you have another line of help. All the best!

[Chris J Dixon]

Only you can do the maths, but it may well be worth claiming on your insurance if there is enough replacement and redecoration required to justify it.

Chris