stench from wet/dry vac

[ruxCYtable]

So some mystery substance got into my wet/dry vac and it smelled nasty. Rotten milk? Puke? Your guess is as good as mine. Now, even after spraying out the inside and replacing the filter, everytime it is used it pumps out more of that nasty smell. Any suggestions on what to do to get it out? I was thinking of pumping a few gallons of vinegar and water through it.

 

[twistedredbird]

So some mystery substance got into my wet/dry vac and it smelled nasty. Rotten milk? Puke? Your guess is as good as mine. Now, even after spraying out the inside and replacing the filter, everytime it is used it pumps out more of that nasty smell. Any suggestions on what to do to get it out? I was thinking of pumping a few gallons of vinegar and water through it.

That's a good idea, you might try ammonia or bleach too, but you may want to get a new hose. Sometimes stuff builds up/gets caught in the ridges inside the hose, and it can be darn near impossible to clean that, especially if it sat for a while and dried out.

 

[jsmith86]

So some mystery substance got into my wet/dry vac and it smelled nasty. Rotten milk? Puke? Your guess is as good as mine. Now, even after spraying out the inside and replacing the filter, everytime it is used it pumps out more of that nasty smell. Any suggestions on what to do to get it out? I was thinking of pumping a few gallons of vinegar and water through it.

vinegar is probably the way to go.

 

[roscoedog]

Run some Summers Eve thru it. That always cleans out stanky things.

 

[beatiowa]

We had one of those back at my high school job that a couple 15-year-olds never cleaned out until their supervisor (me) looked inside and discovered that some kind of small weird bug actually started breeding inside it... there were HUNDREDS. That smell never did go away no matter what we did, but everyone's suggestions so far seem like the way to go to try to fix yours. Good luck!

 

[isumellie]

Wait for Black Friday deals and get another one. That is what I did.

 

[HILLCYD]

Were you listening to KXNO in between the hours of 4pm and 7pm while vacuuming?

 

[TheCaptain]

I had that problem once and vingar worked pretty well.There was still a bit of stenchiness left and I used a mixture of peroxide and baking powder and that took care of it.

 

[CYdTracked]

Maybe mix up a bucket of water and some pine smelling Mr.Clean and run it through your shop vac? Should cleanse everything out of there while leaving a good smell behind.

 

[isucyc]

Maybe mix up a bucket of water and some pine smelling Mr.Clean and run it through your shop vac? Should cleanse everything out of there while leaving a good smell behind.

I would sprinkle baking soda in it after you get it cleaned and would treat it with vinegar like others said above. Another idea is to put a saucer of baking soda in the canister and change to freshe every few weeeks. Works for refrig odors,too.

 

[ruxCYtable]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ran 10 gallons of vinegar and water (a cup of vin. to every gal. of water) thought it several times last night. I hope that will do the trick but I won't know until tonight when I'll fire it up indoors and see what happens. If this didn't take care of it I'll try some of the other suggestions.

 

[HawkFanISUalum]

I used my friend's Kirby to clean up puke one time while at Iowa State. Of course it was a standard vac so there was really no way to clean it out.

I figured it was his friend, so I'll use his vacuum.

BTW--Chocolate Milk and Vodka do not mix well...