Removing Odors from Silicon

Hi all,

Have a nasal pillow mask that was placed in a drawer that also has some aromatic bath salts etc. in it. End result is I have a mask that has a strong "flower" odor...and I HATE odors..highly sensitive to them and they give me a headache etc.

Tried different soaps etc to no effect.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to help? Swift LT, so just a small pillow to deal with.

Grant

Have you tried soaking it in a vinegar water solution for awhile, then rinse real well and soak in mild soap for awhile , then rinse real well again and let air dry. Maybe that will help.

Boil it in water with a tablespoon or so of baking soda.
5-20 minutes, keep it off the bottom of the pan. Rinse in water, vinegar water and finally in just water.
This got rid of smells for me.
If it still smells after it dries, seal it in a plastic bag with baking soda for a couple of weeks.
Change the soda once in a while.

chunkyfrog wrote:Boil it in water with a tablespoon or so of baking soda.
5-20 minutes, keep it off the bottom of the pan. Rinse in water, vinegar water and finally in just water.
This got rid of smells for me.
If it still smells after it dries, seal it in a plastic bag with baking soda for a couple of weeks.
Change the soda once in a while.

I had a mask with that problem and I did as just suggested. However, in my case, the couple of weeks took a couple of months. Baking soda after all the cleaning exercises is the way to go.

BTW, it's siliconE, not silicon. Big difference.

Try various cleaning tricks, including dishwasher, but airing it out for a long time may be the only solution. Especially if you put it somewhere air blows on it. Disassemble it first.

I wonder if higher temperatures might help. I've heard of some people putting silicone mask parts in the over, but if you overdo it, you'll damage it, of course. And be sure to only put the silicone parts in the oven. I'd leave the oven as the last resort before trashing it.

Basic chemistry... most things are acids or bases and they react to things of the other type and form what chemist call salts (which table salt is just one of a billion forms).

Take the mask apart and treat each type of plastic differently.

White vinegar is on the acid side while baking soda, bleach and dishwashing detergent are bases which why baking soda and vinegar bubble when mixed.

Bleach works because its a strong base which rips apart acidic chemicals and even non-acid ones. Bleach can kill bacteria but its not so good against fungus since it tends to cause it to go into hibernation mode and bleaches it so you can't tell its still there. Alcohol in high concentration will kill fungus as will vinegar (which can be made from alcohol)

So if your smell is from a chemical that is slightly acidic, backing soda will help.

Once you have the thing neutralized, then you have to remove it and for that you need a solvent. Distilled water is one of the best ever and given time the stuff will dissolve mountains. Alcohol also works. These can be used to clean away the salts left from using the reaction above.

Dish soap is very good at pulling organic molecules apart as well. Thats how dish soap works, it breaks apart the food molecules that are stuck to a dish and then the water removes the stuff. You can use the stuff full strength on most plastics without any issues just rinse them within an hour or so. This type of soap works differently than dish washing machine soap which works as a very strong base.

So I would get some white vinegar, soak the mask for an hour. Rinse it with water, soak it for 10 min, rinse it again. Then soak it in a baking soda mixed with water or the dishwasher and then rinse it again and soak it for 10 minutes, rinse it again and then soak it in distilled water for an hour. If that doesn't work, soak it with a bit of dish soap. First time about 4 times the concentration used to clean a dish and the next time full strength.

Don't bake it or boil it unless you have a spare. I would boil it before baking it. Put it in distilled water and heat the water up making sure the mask doesn't touch the side of the pan.
You can do that by getting a large pan, put enough silverware in the pan to keep a cup or bowl from touching the bottom and then put the mask parts in the bowl. Baking is very risky
and I wouldn't do it my self unless I had no other options.

Of course this isn't recommended by the people who make the masks. They have a better $olution which is to pay for a new mask.

After the baking soda / vinegar treatment you place it in a bag with activated charcoal. The kind that you get a at an aquarium store. This stuff can pull all kinds of odors out of plastics / items given enough time to work.

Somewhere I have a little battery-powered doohickey for the fridge that spews out ozone.
I would put one of those into a cooler with the offensive cushions/pillows, and let chemistry kill all your birds at once.
(not recommended for anything with electronics)