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Old 5th May 2022, 5:45 pm   #21
Heatercathodeshort
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Default Re: That smell...!

Quote:
Originally Posted by JonSnell View Post
I was given an ancient Vortexion amplifier back some 30 years ago and placed the stinky amplifier in my dad's greenhouse alongside the tomato plants.
After a month, the tomatoes were unaffected and the amplifier smelt pleasant again, with a feint whiff of tomatoes.
If only I still owned it ...
Did the tomatoes taste OK or were they impregnated by the pong? J.
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Old 10th May 2022, 10:30 pm   #22
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Default Re: That smell...!

A side comment on smell: the transformers of the Decca SRG707 I restored last year smell strongly of fish as it warms up. It is not a bad smell, but it is a distinctly fishy one. Does transformer wax absorb smells when hot?
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Old 14th May 2022, 3:05 pm   #23
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Default Re: That smell...!

Hi,

Righty-ho, the amplifier has been captive for a week in a Really Useful box with a Neutradol thingy and it appears t have ‘dulled’ the smell enough it won’t stink out the workshop. I’ll give the amplifier a good scrub with detergent to give it clean and remove the overly smelly grime.

Qualityten, I don’t know about waxy transformers absorbing ambient smells, but I find waxy transformers that have been a plywood cabinet covered in rexine etc., (thinking here of WEM amps and ‘Dansette’ record players etc.,) the transformer when hot can ‘ooze’ the ‘cabinet’ smell, if you see what I mean.

…Must get those 5-10 pictures to you!

Regards
Terry.
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Old 14th May 2022, 3:31 pm   #24
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Default Re: That smell...!

Post No.22-

-I recall someone mentioning the other day, that stockholm tar smells of fish- could it be this?
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Old 14th May 2022, 4:12 pm   #25
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Default Re: That smell...!

I sold a customer a Toshiba 1695B 16" transportable TV, that would have been around 1981. Ten years later they purchased a new 25" model and presented me with the 16" Toshiba. It had never broken down and was still working 100%.

Both the original owners smoked like I have never seen. The house was covered in brown tar including the 16" Tosh. I cleaned it with flash removing all the tar but the inside still had a brownish look to the chassis frame.

I ran it for a few days and then I sold it cheaply to a young couple. A few days later they said it was working fine but stank of nicotine! I explained that it would fade and it did but it took around a month to completely disappear.

Sadly, about a year later the first owners died within a month of each other due to smoking related causes. They also drank heavily.

Whenever I came across a smoke impregnated receiver I used to say it had been Beagled. [They used to use Beagle dogs in smoking related experiments.] John.
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Old 26th Sep 2022, 3:30 pm   #26
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Default Re: That smell...!

Hello ,I have just come across your posting about the nicotine smell on a TV. I was once called to a taxi company to suss out why the office could not contact their drivers. I opened the radio transmitter and my nose told me why it had stopped working. I looked up at the operator and said "the transmitter had died due to nicotine poisioning". The office was typical of a taxi depot, a cramped room with several smokers on their shift.
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Old 26th Sep 2022, 6:56 pm   #27
duncanlowe
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Default Re: That smell...!

Oh, yes, that smell. A couple of years ago, I bought an item from a local antiques shop. Didn't notice the smell until we got it home, and also noticed the colour.

Good news is, a session with the Bear Ladies (al-la repair shop) and the item is much cleaner and more pleasant smelling.
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Old 26th Sep 2022, 9:32 pm   #28
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Default Re: That smell...!

Officer chappie (Graham Chapman): "This sketch is getting too damned silly!"

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Old 26th Sep 2022, 9:53 pm   #29
Richard_FM
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Default Re: That smell...!

I've heard the fish smell in electrical items is sometimes caused by Bakelite getting hot, which apparently uses fish oils to make it.

Old electronics often have that odd, slightly metallic smell which seemed common on things made up to the 1970.
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Old 26th Sep 2022, 11:49 pm   #30
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Default Re: That smell...!

We were once supplied with a replacement rented TV that exuded stale nicotine. At the suggestion of the rental company, we draped tumble dryer fabric freshener sheets over all the vent slots, and the odour was captured very effectively. A similar process to the Febreze, I expect.
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Old 29th Sep 2022, 9:39 am   #31
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Default Re: That smell...!

My old HMV 1124 valved radio had a rather pleasant but unique smell to it after it had been running for a while.
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Old 29th Sep 2022, 10:43 am   #32
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Default Re: That smell...!

Rather than stinky nicotine or soot/dust smells from domestic electronic gear, I am more familiar with the aroma which is released when the case of a hermetically sealed military radio is opened.

I suspect that it is the smell of an anti fungal varnish, whose active ingredients have probably been banned for the last fifty years.
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Old 30th Sep 2022, 8:18 pm   #33
Roger Ramjet
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Default Re: That smell...!

Nicotine was also a problem for burglar alarm PIR detectors in pubs & clubs. It used to deposit on outer lens cover thus blocking & reducing detection efficiency. Al quick clean with detergent restored the detector back to normal.
It was also a problem for the engineer (me) when called out to a pub or club in the night, when returning home the wife would complain bitterly that I had been drinking & smoking ! Horrible memories of how the smell of this stuff can infect.
Rog
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Old 30th Sep 2022, 8:57 pm   #34
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Default Re: That smell...!

Nothing quite like the lovely musty rexine smell from inside a Roberts RMB or similar when you open the rear door after many years. Takes me right back to when I used to bring these sets home from the jumble sales in the early seventies.
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Old 1st Oct 2022, 7:31 pm   #35
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Default Re: That smell...!

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Originally Posted by dglcomp View Post
In a sealed box with an Ozone generator? They are great for getting smells out of things though I don't know if ozone is damaging to electrical stuff.
Ozone is great for destroying rubber cable and certain plastics, very useful when it comes to scrapping stuff off.
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