I got a smoking smell problem.

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Danny37

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So I bought a cheap analog scanner for my nephew who's interested in joining the fire service when he graduates from college. The problem is that when I opened the package I was thrown back immediately by the smell of cigar smoke. It was so strong that I could smell it from 5 feet away. The seller on eBay never disclosed it was from smoking house by my god this thing smells like its stuffed with 5 cigars in it. How do I get rid of the smell? I tried wipping the scanner with rubbing alcohol and even use a damp cloth with alittle bleach. Nothing is really working.

Any tips?
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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Take it apart and soak the housing parts in formula 409. Put the interior parts outside in the sun and hope to bake out the smell. Or you might want to just get your money back.
 

bharvey2

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Take it apart and soak the housing parts in formula 409. Put the interior parts outside in the sun and hope to bake out the smell. Or you might want to just get your money back.

I'll second that recommendation. The sun does a pretty good job of cleaning stuff out. More so that one would think. If you're brave you could use 90%+ isopropyl alcohol or distilled water (sparingly of course) before baking it in the sun.
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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I agree, 90% IPA and a toothbrush will remove a lot of crud from the electronics. Rinse with distilled and bake in the sun.

The key word here is "cheap". There are a lot of cheap analog scanners and I would be inclined to send it back. I bought an ICOM microphone off e-bay once. It looked great in the pictures and of course the seller talked it up. When I got to see it for real it was awful, dirty, damaged. I simply told the seller it was either not as advertised or he sent me the wrong one. I got my money back. I found one later like new.

I bought a Drake transceiver once at a thrift store that had belonged to a cigar smoker. It was so bad I tore it down to the mother board and chassis and washed what I could in the bathtub. I only went that far because it was bought so very cheap and was valuable once it was restored.
 

Danny37

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I agree, 90% IPA and a toothbrush will remove a lot of crud from the electronics. Rinse with distilled and bake in the sun.

The key word here is "cheap". There are a lot of cheap analog scanners and I would be inclined to send it back. I bought an ICOM microphone off e-bay once. It looked great in the pictures and of course the seller talked it up. When I got to see it for real it was awful, dirty, damaged. I simply told the seller it was either not as advertised or he sent me the wrong one. I got my money back. I found one later like new.

I bought a Drake transceiver once at a thrift store that had belonged to a cigar smoker. It was so bad I tore it down to the mother board and chassis and washed what I could in the bathtub. I only went that far because it was bought so very cheap and was valuable once it was restored.

I got it for less than $20 bucks shipped so it's a win for me. It's actually in great condition and works fine but the smell is just a turn off. I'll try what you suggested. Thanks.

My sister said to wipe it with tea tree oil water solution, she has some laying around I might try that before I go buy the other materials
 

bharvey2

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I got it for less than $20 bucks shipped so it's a win for me. It's actually in great condition and works fine but the smell is just a turn off. I'll try what you suggested. Thanks.

My sister said to wipe it with tea tree oil water solution, she has some laying around I might try that before I go buy the other materials


The advantage of 90% IPA or distilled water is that they don't leave any residue once they're dry that might cause grief when you power it back up. Also, neither is particularly destructive to most plastics. You might not be so lucky with Tea Tree oil. You should be able to buy either of the aforementioned products for $2-3 or so.
 

DPapay

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So I bought a cheap analog scanner for my nephew who's interested in joining the fire service when he graduates from college. The problem is that when I opened the package I was thrown back immediately by the smell of cigar smoke. It was so strong that I could smell it from 5 feet away. The seller on eBay never disclosed it was from smoking house by my god this thing smells like its stuffed with 5 cigars in it. How do I get rid of the smell? I tried wipping the scanner with rubbing alcohol and even use a damp cloth with alittle bleach. Nothing is really working.

Any tips?
Clothes Dryer sheets. Put several dryer sheets with the scanner in a sealed bag or box for a couple days.
 
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Danny37

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Take it apart and soak the housing parts in formula 409. Put the interior parts outside in the sun and hope to bake out the smell. Or you might want to just get your money back.

This worked, there's still a faint smell but like you need to shove the scanner in your face and sniff deeply lol. Thank you!
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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Great to hear it worked out.

Some materials you can never get the odor out of. My wife bought a nice expensive designer leather bag from Goodwill. Right off the bat it had an odor of - tobacco? Leather? used as a diaper bag? Could not figure it out, the consensus was tobacco but I think it had been used as a designer diaper bag. In any event after all the nondestructive attempts it got donated right back to Goodwill. Perhaps someone needs a fancy designer diaper bag!
 

poltergeisty

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I have a pretty damn good memory and I remember many moons ago on this very forum people laughing at people describing in their eBay auctions that people mentioned the item was from a pet and smoke free home. I was like, really? You people don't understand the significance of why people say the item comes from a pet and smoke free home?

I'd have to do some major digging to find the actual thread, but it was discussed. Again, many years ago.
 

poltergeisty

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In all the years I've bought on eBay, it was only three years ago I got an item that smelled like smoke. Now I'm a smoker, but I smoke outside. NEVER inside. So the fact my item smelled like crap just by having it 3 feet away was a real let down.

Reminds me of this old classic meme. LMAO!




MrptXjH.jpg




Instead of, "you got mail!" It's, "you got smell!"
 
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