Burn Smell

[Deena]

While my parents and sister were here for a week visiting, my mom stuck something in our microwave to cook. Problem is she was supposed to add 1 1/2 cups of water (it was a soup mix thing), and she totally forgot that part. I had run to town to get a few things and when I got back there was this horrible smell throughout the whole house! THis thing had burned to a crisp inside the microwave, turned the inside of the microwave brownish-yellow, and smelled it up terribly! There was the yellow-brown from the smoke coming out on the outside of the microwave in the vent area---hard to get to and hard to clean!

I have used cleaners and got a screwdriver with papertowel bunched on the end to get in the little vent areas to clean. It's not nearly as strong, but whever you're near the microwave (which includes when I cook, cuz it's right above the stove), it smells bad still! Plus even after scrubbing it with cleaners, the inside of the microwave is still yellow (it was white)! :(

Does anyone know of anything I can do to get rid of the smell and/or to get the inside of it white again? I get breathing problems when I use bleach things, so not sure that's an option???

[Emma's#1fan]

I have no idea!
Perhaps you can heat up vinegar in the microwave. It will be strong but it might help. I poor vinegar down my drain if I can't get the smell out of it.
Patty

[momothem]

I've heard boiling a lemon in water works for the smell (I haven't done it myself). I don't know about the stain though.

[Earthy]

Vinegar and water. Spray it down and scrub. Leave a lemon or cotton ball soaked in lemon in it over night. The smell will take a while to get out. Microwaves really soak up burnt smell!

[Jennifer R]

Baking soda, possibly?

[Deena]

Thanks ya'll! I'll try these and see how it goes!

[P.H.]

Being a perfectionist, I'm sure you're disappointed that this happened. But whenever you smell that terrible burn smell, just let it remind you how happy you are that your dm is still around! It'll dissipate after a while, especially with the soda, vinegar, and lemon juice.

[CrystalCA]

I found this on the web maybe it might help.

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf477356.tip.html

[Jackie]

Let us know what you decide on! Whatever you decide, I think I would keep an open box of baking soda next to it, to put in whenever it isn't in use!

[momothem]

Deena--has anything worked?

[timkelmom]

My DS overcooked popcorn once. It takes a while, but the smell does go away. All of these suggestions are good ones. Vinegar and water, lemon juice and water, or baking soda and water. Put it in a bowl and heat it in the microwave. The lemon juice should help with the odor. The baking soda should make it easier to clean. Best of luck.

[Deena]

Oh wow, thanks everyone! I must admit, I've been running so much lately that I haven't gotten around to doing anything else yet.

How long do I microwave these things for?

The burn smell from the popcorn my dm burned is gone. It's the other burn, that really burned and smoked that is still around.

Prairie, it's interesting you said that, cuz I was just telling someone that a couple of days ago---I don't like the burn smell, but I'm so happy to have my mom still here that I can put up with it! :D Oh, and actually, I'm only a perfectionist with my scrapbook pages! I very much dislike housework, so that's not as good as it could be! I have a sensitive smeller, so the burn smell got me goin' to try to clean and figure out what else to do to get rid of the acrid smell!

[P.H.]

That's neat! (About your mom, that is!)

Housework for me is a little bit of a challenge, too. I'm motivated by reading, so it helps me if I read books by Don Aslett on short cuts for cleaning or the Messie's Manual by ?? Also, our twins enjoy cleaning and beautifying, so that is a tremendous blessing! Ds is even developing a formal fish pond in our back yard!

Has the burn smell abated any? It will, by the time you get back from vacation.

[Deena]

I tried the lemon and the baking soda. There's not a major difference, but it's still way better than it was the first few days!

That's a thought---hopefully by the time we're back from vacation it'll be gone!

[momothem]

Sorry :( . Glad it's a little better though.

[KrisRV]

Deena, what I did when it happen to us, is put lemon in a glass with water and let it boil about 4 minutes then let it sit did it again. It helps some but like timkelmom says it takes time but it does go away...

[Deena]

I did the lemon in the water for 3 minutes. Then awhile later I did again. I also did Baking soda in the water for 2 minutes (cuz it boils over sooner) a couple of times. I've sprayed an orange scented spray cleaner and scrubbed it out a few times too.

Yep, it'll just take time....

[timkelmom]

Glad to hear it is getting better. It will be gone before you know it.