Okay, so I *really* didn't try to burn the house down but I thought the title might grab your attention.
I did, however, do something incredibly stupid.
I cooked something in my microwave in what I thought was a micro-safe container. I learned the hard way that it wasn't micro-safe. The container has 'disappeared', the lima beans were hard black pellets, the inside of the microwave has a lovely dusting of gray/black, and the microwave has died. I could kick myself. Feel free to poke fun at me. This was an unbelievably stupid thing to do.
Now we are left with a lingering odor of 'burnt stuff' in the house. Any of you have any suggestions on how to decrease or eliminate the smell? I'd love to turn the exhaust fan on but, oh wait, that's part of the microwave. You know, the one that is dead?
Help - my whole house smells like burnt lima beans and the now-deceased container. I feel like maybe baking chocolate chip cookies to temporarily cover the smell (and for comfort in my time of need). Anyone have any practical suggestions? Thank you in advance. I'll check back to see what words of wisdom you've provided after we get back from buying a new microwave :(
Try wiping down everything in the kitchen with white vinegar and water (if you can stand the smell of that.) Also, if you have an air conditioner that has been running, change or clean the filter after it's had a chance to filter the air for a few days.
I would wash the cabinets and walls with borax(laundry aisle). If you can remove the dead microwave and get it out of the house, as I know from experience that it will hold the smell in its plastic. Make sure you wash behind it. Set a couple of open pans of baking soda around your kitchen. Also if you have any charcoal brickets wrap them in a piece of newspaper and set them on top of your cabinets, this is also an odor absorber and cheap(please make sure they are not the ones that are presoaked with lighter fluid that would be a whole other problem). Wash the intake filters for your air conditioner and change the filter. Then to cover any residual smell in a large pot(an old one that doesn't matter)place 1T cinnamon, peel an orange(eat orange) and put peel in pot, you also can add lemon peel, cloves(if you like the smell), vanilla bean or a little bit of extract. You can add more sweet spices if you like. Pour water over until about 2 inches from the top of pan(ours can hold 2 1/2 gallons) and let it simmer all day, checking it every 1/2 hour to see if you need to add more water. After a day I have not had any smells hold up to this. Warning this will add humidity to your house, open windows so breezes can clear it and odors out. It took me about 2 days to get rid of the odor that come when you don't take the metal seal off of a "microwavable meal" as per package directions and cook it a little too long. It also can melt the door to the microwave. Anyone know how to clean up a gallon of soft soap?(I did it the hard way too, with water).
Check out this web site.
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf766832.tip.html
There is also a product at Wal-mart over in the pet section by the cat liners. It is a natural odor absorber. It is in a container that you just take off the top and sit it where ever you need it and it absorbs the odor. It does not give off a fragrance. It really works, we had back up in our basement at our old house. What a smell and I put these down there so we could get down there to clean up. They worked like a dream.
Office depot sells a similar item here is the website.
http://www1.officedepot.com/a/products/716351/Environment...
Good Luck
I may sound a bit paranoid but, with two kids with asthma I have to be a bit paranoid. If you melted a plastic, you likely released some really harmful chemicals into the air (BPA, etc.. ). I would start by doing the obvious, openning the windows. I would then either borrow or purchase or rent a heavy duty air purifier. We have one and have used it many times to remove smoke, etc.. from the air. Thank God our community banned leaf burning. It works like a charm and doesn't add more chemicals to the air. Hope that helps!
Been there done that. Except I microwaved a pizza for what was suppose to be 2 mins 30 seconds....somehow ended up as 2 hours 30 minutes...yeah...and I forgot it was cooking. The smell was wretched.
We ended having to open every window in the house, turn fans on, completely remove the microwave and yucky contents from the house. Wipe down cabinets and spray LOTS of Febreeze. Within about 24 hours it was back to normal.
My mom puts some water in a pot and some ground coffee in there and brings it to a boil and then lets it simmer for a couple hours. The smell of coffee is nice and it kind of gets rid of food smell (she cooks smelly korean food which can be quite strong).
We use an Ionic pro and that seems to help get rid of odors and clean our air.
Sorry to hear about what happened... that is frustrating. Hope you find something that works for you!
Put out a couple of opened boxes of baking soda for a week or so. Also vinegar can help but I usually nuke it then clean my sink and drain with it(removes water and lime spots). Maybe you can boil some. Or you could boil some lemons or apples in water.I would try to stay away from the febreeze if you can because that's alot of chemicals to be putting in the air if you don't have to.Good luck1
Sorry...can't ridicule you ....I've burnt some bad things in the microwave. Never knew things could spark in there! I'm sure you have aired out your house, maybe add a fan or put on ceiling fans, set in the opposite direction so as NOT to pull smell upward. At least bleach out the microwave if you can't remove it from the house - just to get some of the smell out. An enzyme spray (that you would use to rid your house of dog smells will work to eliminate smell). Febreze, I think, also makes some of their products with enzymes to eliminate smells - not just deodorize. So sorry about the death of your microwave. ARRrgggghh.
I think we have all done something as smart as this in one way or another.
Try simmering water and vinegar in a pot that you really don't care about(ie: the vinagar boiling can ruin some pots). It is a natural air freshener. Don't forget it is on the stove or you could have another problem on your hands. You can also put vinegar and water in different rooms of the house in containers that are open (careful again so that you don't spill) to help absorb the odor in the air. It will take a while, just like trying to get rid of skunk smell, doesn't happen over night. Good luck!
