Using "appa Soda" To Get Rid Of Funky Odours In Your Car

[terrabytetango]

So I misjudged the weather two days ago and left the windows cracked open to prevent the interior from heating up to sauna like temperatures, the result of which was ingress of enough water into the car that when pressing down hard on the carpet, you could feel the moisture rise up.

The first thing I did was remove the mats and let them dry out. I thought that would be enough, but the following morning there was a funk strong enough to overpower the air freshener. That night, I decided to apply a trick I've used for many things over the years, namely Baking Soda aka Bicarbonate of Soda aka Sodium Bicarbonate (not Baking Powder). With the car, I placed two linen rags (roughly 10cmx20cm) in the center of each rear passenger foot well. Onto each rag I sprinkled the equivalent of 15 grams of the stuff and spread it evenly across, crushing any lumpy bits (maximize surface area for absorption), and left it there over night with the windows tightly shut. Make sure to remove the air freshener from the car because I'm not sure what kind of reaction would take place between the two. Come today morning, the car was odour free and the moisture was gone from the carpeting, and saved myself the bill of using a WetVac at the car detailing place.

This is how useful NaHCO₃ is when it comes to drawing out moisture and odours from quite literally any enclosed area, be it your car, bag or shoes.

P.S. The stuff is re-usable a few times, just make sure to fold the rags encasing the powder, and place the bundles inside a "sili sili" bag and tie it tightly. Then when redeploying, all you have to do is unfold the rags and break any lumps which have formed again. I just used the old stuff from last week which was stored using this method, and so far it appears to be working.

Edited October 31, 2011 by terrabytetango

[miniace]

Good info..need to try..Thanks for sharing mate!

MINIACE

[varunatech]

Thank you and appreciate your way of detail description.

[SHAI]

I say, good bit of info machang...thanks for that..... Shall try out soon.

[MkX]

Yep.. good info. Must try that out.

[KMG]

good application of knowledge. this technique is commercially used in absorption of water vapor in medical equipments/ systems.

[mazdaspeed]

Great write up Machan. Very useful indeed. Thanks for sharing

[KI4120]

Superb Info Machan....good write up..thnx alot !

[osanda19]

thanks bro :-)

[hatharasinghe]

thanks machan this is really good i also want to do this kind of works