Urine Smell: How to get rid of it on elecronics? Found a Keyboard at the curb.

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darren01

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I am sure that a few here have found audio equipment in a simular condition. Please bare with me as I tell you of my new found gem and my problem.

I am sure that a few here have found audio equipment in a simular condition.

By a stroke of luck while driving around late last night I saw at the curb, waiting for the garbage man, a 1960s(?) Hammond Organ.

It weighed a lot more than I can weight lift but I got it into the trunk of my car, Jerry Lewis style.

Missing were speakers and it had a busted line out jack. Other than that it appears to work okay.

Got it home and left it outside (too heavy to lift up the stairs). Inspected it with my flash light. Everything, electronics, spring reverb, amplifyer, looks clean and in good shape but oviously this had been in a garge or shed for a number of years.

The spaces above the innerworkings of the keyboards is filled with the stuff of mice nesting and there is a strong scent of urine.

My project for this summer is going to be to dismantle the organ electronics and keys out of the wood body and get it to fit into a smaller, and lighter DIY enclosure. All new knobs and more. Easy.

However, how do I get rid of the urine smell?

I am leaving it outside for a few days. I will remove and shop vac out the essential innards and store the electronics in the shed until warmer weather.

Everything on this unit is analog so I doubt that I can damage it much with lightly cleaning with ammonia and a sponge.

However, how would you do it?

Thanks in advance for reading this offbeat topic. :)
 
If it had mice nesting in it, then there are probably chewed wires and it will be very difficult to fix and probably not worth the effort. It would be easier if you just looked for one to buy. Old hammond spinit organs are usually sold for about $200.
DTB
 
no chewed wires.

hello,

The Hammond is a J-112.

Apprently, a home practice organ. Nothing spectacular.

No chewed wires at all. Just popped the top off a few hours ago. Nice and clean electronics and keys except for the area with wadding and urine smell.

Other folks at the other forums say use janitorial enzymes for the smell. I have a bottle of that and will use that method.

This is a summer project. Just for something to do. If I can get it to work in the end it will be worth while. :)

I plan on chopping out all the innards and turing it into two "roadie" type of 2 part travel unit which will be re-connected together with two 5 pin XLRs and on 3 pin XLR.

There will be a webpage detailing what I did and how I did it.

Thanks for your reply. :)
 
There are all kinds of home remedies, as well as newer and more advanced methods of eliminating various odors.... I'm no authority on these new techniques... I've only read about them from time to time...... however, I merely offer the suggestion that you using non-dilluted BLEACH to solve your problem.

Bleach is a great deodorizer and I've used it for many years fore all kinds of nasty salvage jobs to clean-up all kinds of electronic and other junk that I collect from other peoples garbage. It works.

Just wipe it on with a sponge/rag, and use cue-tips to get into small places, etc.... I know that it often takes a couple applications, especially on surfaces like wood... because a few bleach layers have to sink into porous surfaces for it to fully get rid of the smell..... but on metal and plastic, it should usually wipe the gook and associated smell off rather quickly. If a piece of salvage that you collected is made of plastic (as opposed to metal) that can be more of a problem than metal in regards to being stained as plastic, although seemingly non-porous can apparently trap offending odors if the stain sets in long enough over years.
 
Here are some photos I took of the organ moments ago.

http://home.sprynet.com/~dnemeth01/organ/

Thanks, guys, for all the advise.

I posted that quirey at about 5 forums.

Other than the guy who advises that I take a shit on it, most others suggest pet / janitorial enzymes.

Since I have a bottle of the enzymes already I'll try that when it get warmer outside.


Darren
 
My mother is an archetypal "cat lady", her chemical of coice for this purpose is denatured alchohol. I'm fairly certain that this would be safe on electronics but I would double check with someone else first
 
Animal urine contains ammonia .. so i'd stay away from that .. as I don't think it would help the smell. As allways I 'd say isopropal alcohol would be your best bet ..
 
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