Can non-smokers be happy in smoked-in trailer/towing vehicle

[JohnG]

Don't know, I guess some people have more reaction to smoke than others. I have never found it too hard to clean.

If it's so bad you could always paint over it or something, but if the price is right I am not going to let a little thing like that stop me from buying what I want.

I've bought houses, campers, and autos that have all been smoked in. I do suggest OdoBan as I stated above in this thread cause it really eliminates odors. You can also mix it with a lot of different cleaners too and the solution will not only clean and disinfect, but it will get the odor out.

I can't imagine smoking or pets taking president over floor rot or mildew......................

[75Airstream500]

John, I AM going to try that too. I have cleaned everything with 409 and what I have cleaned doesn't smell too bad. It is just that this tar is THICK, did I say, "THICK!" everywhere. Seriously, it is like a grime. Hopefully, we will get to pull the carpet and the fabrics and foams this weekend. I think that will help a lot. (Which, by the way, I need input on the whole sofa redo thing...but that will be another thread .) Anyway, thanks for the odaban tip.
Lisa

[dmac]

The smoke will get into insulation, the headliner, wood, carpet behind cabinates... Once smoked in, it's only suitable for a smoker. I can tell immediately if a trailer, car, or house has been smoked in. I would never buy any of them!

My Dad was a lung doctor, and my father-in-law (former smoker) is dying from lung cancer right now, so I might be biased!

[elbundi]

i wasn't going to buy because it had been smoked in, but the PO dropped his price a lot. the smell kind of reminds me of my grandad. he smoked woodbines all his life then dropped dead from an aggressive throat cancer! was a great carpenter though, fond memories

the carpet, upholstry, leather door to the bedroom, captain n passengers chairs, and all screen material will eventaully be replaced.

i've used half a gallon of odoban so far and the teary eyes and splotchy face have gone away, success.

but it still has a slight odor after being closed for a while. what would you all recommend for the stained walls? scrub, sand and zolatone paint? concentrated TSP? sell to a smoker, buy another 345?

[RIstream'n]

As an auto dealer I can say that we sell 2-3000 cars per year and clean every one of them in our 12 bay state of the art reconditioning facility and smoke smell NEVER comes out completely and we even use an "ozone" machine. So if you're worried it's probably for good reason. It might be hard but I think you should walk away.

[Jim Clark]

This is what worked in my truck. I cleaned it very well then I sprayed/soaked with Febreze. I then cranked the heater as hot as it would go and let it run full blast for 2 hours. I did this twice and it worked. I have leather interior which may not soak as much odor. I had to clean every inch of the interior I could reach. The Febreze may be worse for you than the nicotine.

[Excella CM]

One way to remove odors is to breakdown the molecules that cause the smell. One way to do that is to generate ozone. A sunlamp works just fine. Set it up in a safe place and leave it running in the rig with the windows and vents closed to concentrate the gas. A week or so will help a lot and wont damage anything else. I've cleaned up several cars this way. It's not 100%, but it helps.

[JimGolden]

When I bought my last trailer, the PO (who was a piece of work) had smoked in it a bunch. He was even nice enough to have put some of them out on the carpet....but that's another story.

It took us three weeks to get the walls and upholstery cleaned up. We used the Mean Green stuff from Walmart with lots of elbow grease and got the walls cleaned up pretty well.

I then got ten of these "odor absorbers" from Lowes. I'm not sure how different they are from an old fashioned air freshener, but they claim that they actually absorb the odors, rather than just masking them. They're about the size of a Noxema jug or Citronella Candle. They come in various flavors. I got the citrus orange. Well, i closed the coach up and let these things sit in there all over the coach, all ten of them, for about a month. (according to the odor absorber can, one of them is good for like 400 square feet, so I had WAY more than what they claimed you needed) When I first went in, it was like I'd gone to the Land of Orange, but once I let it air out and the citrus smell was gone, no more smoke smell at all. We washed all the upholstery and the coach is good to go now.

The PO may not have smoked as heavily in it as in some of the rigs you guys are talking about on here. But it took some work, but we got it out.

Lots of luck,

[salvarez]

I couldn't buy, or stay, in anything that had been smoked in. I too have allergies and asthma and I can smell even a tiny amount of cigarette smoke a mile away. I have a hard time believing you could get the smell out. I'd keep looking....

[SARGE/AF]

To all;
here is something that works and I am a smoker and my wife is not and she can smell smoke oder even the slightest bit. I use this method every few months and before winter storage and it works well. I use to smoke inside and stopped for the most part, every now and then I do but it is rare. I have had others I know who smoke use this same method and they say it works as well, including for burnt cooking smell.
NOTE: IF YOU USE THIS METHOD IT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
1) is to clean as much as you can by washing
2) Get a candle that has a strong cherry smell, one that is contained in a container that will keep the wax in it, with a large bottom to keep from tipping, you need one for each 10 square foot, close up area, light and let burn overnight. Make you secure that it can not tip. Do this for 7 nights. Each morning do #3
3) Spray Fabreeze in the air, on materials (test 1st to make sure wont stain) in vents, on screens.

I have found that the only fragrance that will get rid of smoke smell of any kind smell is cherry, no other fragrance seems to work.
NOTE; IF YOU USE THIS METHOD IT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK, I TAKE NO RESPONCIBILITY FOR IT.

Sarge

[fridder13]

I have same problem and have ordered something called RV Shocker. Anyone know about? Has not yet arrived

[ventport]

Get one of those electric ozone generators like an April Air unit. I have used these on used cars that I have bought to fix up to resell. I put it inside the car turned on full, with the windows closed and the heater fan on and turned to recirculate, so it goes through the duct work. I let it run for about 24 hours like this. There is something about the ozone that removes the tobacco smoke smell. It works with cars so I think it would work in an Airstream.

[Aage]

I dunno, these days I thought that ozone generators are a nono. From Wikipedia:
__________________________________________________ ___________________

Devices generating high levels of ozone, some of which use ionization, are used to sanitize and deodorize uninhabited buildings, rooms, ductwork, woodsheds, and boats and other vehicles.

In the U.S., air purifiers emitting low levels of ozone have been sold. This kind of air purifier is sometimes claimed to imitate nature's way of purifying the air[55] without filters and to sanitize both it and household surfaces. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared that there is "evidence to show that at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone is not effective at removing many odor-causing chemicals" or "viruses, bacteria, mold, or other biological pollutants."

Furthermore, its report states that "results of some controlled studies show that concentrations of ozone considerably higher than these [human safety] standards are possible even when a user follows the manufacturer’s operating instructions."[56] The government successfully sued one company in 1995, ordering it to stop repeating health claims without supporting scientific studies.
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[ventport]

It works on cars, but we never lived in them while the April Air was running full blast, that's the difference. Just like you don't stay inside your house while it's being fumigated.

[JFScheck]

Originally Posted by gardener

Is it common for people to travel long distances to look at units before buying, or to buy sight unseen?

Although I "RV" on the West Coast and live in San Diego - I purchased my Airstream from a dealer in New Jersey on the opposite coast. Gave the deposit over the phone - but I did get an "in-person" view before I signed final paperwork on a visit back to a residence I have on the East Coast.

If you can't be there in person to inspect - have one of our forum folks go check it out for ya!

[TG Twinkie]

Have you tried "Simple Green"? I scrubbed our trailer with it and it made a world of difference. 36 years of cooking grease, smoking PO's and just plain OLD smell. I am a smoker, but I don't smoke in the trailer, my wife is a non smoker and she says the trailer smells fresh as can be.
I used it full strength with the nozzle set on foam, covered a small area at a time, maybe 6-8 square feet, then wiped it of almost immediately with warm clean water before going to the next area. I cleaned all of the vinyl, wood and plastic surfaces. I did not use it on the formica because the label warns against it. It took less than 2 spray bottles to clean everything in the trailer.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[SARGE/AF]

Yes a non smoker can live in a smoked trailer in most cases, there are some that you can not because the person stayed in mostly 24-7 and smoked like a freight train and you will never get rid of it.
I am a smoker and the method I use to keep my vehicles and trailer free of or at a very reduced amount is 1) I dont smoke inside unless I have too, 2) clean all surfaces with simple green, greased lightning, or some cleaner you trust that removes grease, 3) light a series of scented candles (cherry works best) about every 4 feet on something that can not tip (pie pans) or if the candle does it can not get to the carpet, close up the unit but leave blinds up so you can see inside, check every so often to make sure everything is ok, let candles burn for 12 hours min, may have to go 24 if it is real bad, open unit air out, clean again with mild cleaning solution ( I use dawn). You should not be able to smell anything except for the cherry candle.
Basically what happens is the smoke actually adhears to and into wood, cloth, plastic, into its pours, just cleaning does not get that which is in the pours of the material, this is where the candle comes in because the scent from it is hot and it heats up the pours and it soaks into the pours of the material and eliminates and replaces the bad smell with good.
I have used this method on my semi, semi trailer, cars, pickups, campers, and it has never failed me. When I do it I check on it every hour and let them burn for 24 hours, replacing any that burn away, with the exception of while I am in the house asleep, I put them out and re-light when I get up. Of coarse I dont sleep any longer than about 4-5 hours anyways. On the worst I have had I was hired to do a semi that a dealer freind of mine had bought, and it took 2 days of cleaning, 4 days of candle burning with them only out for 4 hours each night. Even then you could barely smell it but to do so you had to stay inside sealed up for all day before you could get a slight wiff, and my freinds wife had a nose like a bloodhound and she could not smell it.
My current trailer gets wiped down every spring and fall with candles every fall before storage.

Sarge

[barts]

You may have problems w/ the soft goods. Hard surfaces will clean with a good degreaser (we use Oil Eater from Costco; much faster than Simple Green in our experience). Our trailer had some really funky smells inside that the PO tried to cover up w/ scented powders (shudder). Scrubbing really helps, as does airing the thing thoroughly.

- Bart

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, the only way that you will no longer smell smoke in a trailer is to let a cat piss in it. You will never ever get it all out. In cars there are machines that pump or blow a fog/chemical through the A/C system and all of the ducts. [the fog covers the entire interior too] You need to do this at least twice, on separate occasions, in a vehicle that was only lightly smoked in. I don't care how good the price is, if you are going to breath in smoke for the term of ownership, the lack of enjoyment will never be worth the money you think you saved. I can smell a smoker fifty feet away, who hasn't lit up for over an hour. [that's a life time for most smokers]

[fridder13]

I see a lot about cherry candles and the principle seems the same as I had in mind for after the RV Shocker(arrived y'day, too rainy to use today) I thought I would try incense since I usually burn some each day and it's smell would then be a familiar one. Anyone else used either RVShocker or incense? I'll post on my results when I have them