Jeyes Fluid – Good stuff, but…

Provided it stays outdoors and gets used far away from people, this rabid disinfectant can do a very good job.

My usual complaint is just the smell, and you really do have to take VERY effective steps to keep it off your hand/skin/clothes.

Some years ago I landed a gallon of the stuff for next to nothing, effectively a lifetime supply for me. It came in one of those rectangular steel gallon (5 litre) tin cans (it’s really thin sheet steel) that lots of things used to be supplied in, now largely replaced by blow moulded plastic containers.

Unfortunately, after a few years I noticed discolouration of that steel container, and found the Jeyes Fluid was beginning to seep out of areas that had become porous, and apparently corroding. I had an identical empty container, so just decanted the fluid from the failing can to fix the problem, happy I’d spotted the issue while it was merely seepage rather than a full-blown leak. At the same time I filled a glass bottle for later use, rather than having to deal with 4–5 litres of the stuff when I only needed a few drops.

The can joined a load of identical containers in my ‘chemical store’, kept separate from the house.

Some years later I noticed a smell from the cans, but couldn’t place it, even though it was distinctive, but there was no obvious signs of a leak anywhere. Wrongly, I put the smell down a loose cap.

More years passed, and I recently had to reorganise my chemical store, and you’ll never guess what I found (yes, of course you will, and no doubt already know).

The source of the smell was indeed the formerly brand new can I’d decanted the Jeyes Fluid into. At least half empty, it had also developed a slow leak due to porosity in one of the sides, and seemingly had been both leaking AND evaporating, so there wasn’t enough liquid to form a puddle, or a run on the ground from the cans. The liquid that had escaped ran along the edges where the can touched, and collected beneath them, effectively remaining out of sight, and not producing anything like the strength of smell an open spill would have.

The pic below shows the stain this stuff left on a concrete floor (that’s an air compressor tank on the right).

But, the stain’s NOT the problem, that doesn’t even matter.

The real problem is the pervasive smell of Jeyes Fluid coming from that stain.

So far, I’ve:

• covered the area with bicarbonate of soda, note that this absorbed some of the colour of Jeyes Fluid, and the smell, for a time
• washed and scrubbed the area with water
• repeated with industrial cleaner/detergent
• repeated with various solvents intended for cleaning engines (then washed down again)
• blasted the area with an ozone generator (the type used for deodorising hotel rooms)

The only thing that had any effect was the ozone, but it only lasted for a few days, then the smell came back.

This suggested there was still contamination, and I found the fluid had formed a hard layer on top of the concrete.

I scraped this off, then wire brushed the floor, and even used grinding stones to remove more, but the hardened concrete just smoothed the stones, and made them ineffective.

The latter seemed to be the most effective, but the fluid still remains in the concrete, and the smell still returns, albeit at a greatly reduced level.

Apparently it does eventually abate by itself, but I will be digging out some carbide multi tools, to try to remove at least some of the concrete surface.

Unfortunately, I’ve found that even when I’ve ground enough surface off for it to look as if it is back to normal (the same colour as the surrounding material), all I have to do is wet it, and the Jeyes Fluid stain reappears.

But, I HAVE to keep at it – you don’t get used to the smell of Jeyes Fluid, and every time it hits is just as bad as it was the first time

Update

Seems that grinding off the floor surface IS the only way to deal with this.

Although I’ve consigned a small pile of concrete dust to the bin, and the surface looks grey when done, once I wash it down to remove all the dust remaining after sweeping, the stain returns.

However, the good news is that the smell is almost gone – there are depressions and cracks in the surface, and I can’t get rid of the contamination in them.

While nobody ever seems to have suggested any sort of chemical neutraliser for the smell, they do agree that it will go away after a while – even if they won’t put a time on that promise.

I’m just happy I can open my garage door without being knocked over by the smell of Jeyes Fluid any more, and will probably zap the floor area with a few more ozone sessions, in case it speeds the process.

I don’t like floor paint – it seems to be nothing more than a way to sell lots of paint to obsessive people as it never lasts and always looks horrible after a few months, demanding to be redone – but I will probably dig up some concrete sealant later, intended to stop dust, and apply that if the smell returns.

Stinky blue air hose V2

I think I mentioned this air hose some time ago.

I got this air hose (I thought it was a bargain, being complete with quick release fittings) during a Lidl special, about three years ago, but it hasn’t even been used once.

It stinks!

It stank three years ago, and it still stinks today.

As noted in the previous post, I chucked it outside for weeks, and left it lying on the grass, in the sun and rain, thinking this might let whatever was causing the stink to out gas.

It seemed to work, and I brought it back indoors.

However, months later I was walking past it, and the same stink was back – it’s horrible!

Per the above pic, it’s back outside, this time over winter, so it will enjoy cold, frost, and snow.

As noted, it’s absolutely horrible – best I can match it to is the worst aspects of a farmyard, combining rotting silage, cow poop, pig poop, chicken poop. Oh, and the foul disinfectant they spray all over the place too.

Doesn’t smell of any one of them, but if I was to smell it in a blind test, I would have to guess I was in a farmyard.

Ever owned an offensive air hose?

After years of trying to ‘fix’ this offensive air hose, as I bring it indoors for winter (when the low temperature outdoors will end another unsuccessful year of hoping its disgusting smell will dissipate), I’m coming to terms with the need to accept the fact that this hose can never be used near people.

I bought it as part of a load of small, cheap air fitting and accessories on offer from Lidl under their Parkside brand about three years ago, when I needed to set up a small compressor to provide a low volume/high pressure air supply in the house, as the system I have in the garage is just too big (and NOISY!) to be used in a domestic environment.

All went well, although I was slightly irritated at having to use a THIRD variation of quick connects, since the Lidl offering didn’t match either of the larger types I was already using for air tools.

Then I began to notice a smell that had me thinking something had died after finding some hidden corner out of sight in my house. I couldn’t track it down, or pinpoint the source, but just found it seemed to exist somewhere at floor level. It was quite a while before I realised the problem was the new air hose, which I kept shoving out of the way as I poked into corners and holes to try to locate the smell’s source.

I might still be hunting, had I not happened to coil the thing up and shove it under my nose as I went to store it on a shelf – and found it absolutely reeked of some cross between dead rotting meat and a toilet nobody had ever cleaned.

I threw it outside, and left it in the sun and rain for weeks/months/years, thinking this would cause the source to outgas, evaporate, be washed off, and become diluted over time, but that never happened. It’s still stinky, maybe less so, but still bad, and who knows what it will be like if/when it gets warm again.

I dared stick my nose in it before I brought it in, and it STILL stinks.

A pity, as it’s a handy little hose to have, being smaller and lighter than the usual half inch nominal garage stuff, and ideal for running through the house since it runs around things, rather than being so heavy it either it drags stuff along with it, or pulls it over.

Footnote

I had to dig out some receipts to find out how old this was, as I’d expected the smell to wear off during the first year I took it out of the plastic bag it was sealed in.

I ‘lost’ this post back in 2022, so it’s now a year older.

FOUR years after buying this air hose, I STILL avoid it – it STILL smells just about as bad as it did when I opened the bag.

I wouldn’t mind the smell so much, but it STILL smells like a dirty, unmaintained public toilet, and the smell eventually pervades any room it’s left in.

So, stinky Strathclyde Park – it’s NOT just me

In a recent post, I noted that I was being (reluctantly) forced to give up Strathclyde Park as a ‘Nice Place to Go To’ due to the increasing number of geese which have taken residence there, and the horrendous smell from the massive amounts of goose poop they leave all over the paths and grass. The last straw was finding I had to scrub my bike’s tyres clean of the stuff after every visit, as it doesn’t come off ‘naturally’, and dries on hard.

Seems I’m not the only one and, while I don’t normally pay any attention to online review such as Tripadvisor, was intrigued to see this pair of ‘reviews’ come up during a search.

In past posts, I’ve noted that in nice weather, the number of people I see in Strathclyde Park today appears to be much lower than it was some years ago, when I was a much more frequent visitor.

In fact, at the turn of this year, I noted how busy the park was in the colder weather following the New Year, when I had gone there for some peace and quiet, instead finding the place full of people walking around the loch.

Maybe they knew something I just learned, as the place was NOT covered with goose poop then, nor was the poop stench almost making my eyes water.

Not new

This cartoon is dated 2011.

See the source for a description of the content, by the artist :-)

This seems to be an even bigger issue than I realised when I first mentioned it.

Get an idea by putting something like ‘pooping geese’ into your favourite search tool, and see just how much comes up, related to this problems in parks and places visited by people, especially children, who don’t understand the potential dangers of playing with the stuff!

Strathclyde Park Stinks!

Before you get upset, that’s not an insult, but a statement of fact.

I’ve been trying to get there around early evening for a while, but fail due to things like rain (I get there, then have to speed home as the rain arrives – my Rainman Curse), or I get there really late, just for the sake of cycling the miles.

At the same time, I noticed stuff stuck to my tyres, which didn’t go away as I cycled, and was unaware of the source, or what it was.

That was solved when I actually got to the park early!

I’d previously been using the path around the loch at the northwest end, which was very handy for my needs, and had been fine in autumn, winter, and spring, but summer?

NOPE!

I thought the place had smelt a bit ‘OFF’ during my last few visits, but last night was positively stomach turning. The stench of a sewage outlet (ammonia) pervades that whole end of the loch now, and extends well along the paths on both sides. Suffice to say I won’t be going back while the weather is remotely warm.

Sad to say, I know why, and solved the mystery of what was stuck to my tyres – this guy, and dozens of his/her mates, live around the loch, and constantly swarm from the water to the grass across the path around the loch. As they do so, they’re constantly pooping, and will do so every 12 to 20 minutes!

Goose

That’s a lot of poop, and that’s just one goose:

The average goose poops about every 12 minutes or so, which translates to more than 100 times per day per goose! 

Foraging geese will eat about 4 pounds of grass a day and turn that into about 2 pounds of droppings – every – single – day.

That’s a lot of poop, but it’s also mostly water, together with lots of chopped up grass matter.

How many geese in the park? Not forgetting the ducks and swans (in lesser numbers)

I thought the stuff glued to my tyres looked liked chopped grass – seems I was right.

I’m also glad I started scrubbing it off too, as I didn’t realise I was picking it up in the park (it was too dark).

This is typically what the path looks like now, and this is about a mile from the northwest end of the loch! As has been said, pity we don’t have Smell-o-Vision.

Don’t forget the grass, which would look just the same if it was tarmac, covers a greater area, and presumably makes most of the smell – although the poop will be better dispersed there, than on tarmac.

Strathclyde Park Path

Don’t know if this give the full effect, but have a slightly closer view :-)

Strathclyde Park Path Goose Poop

As can be seen, the ‘sausages’ are soon flattened by the visitors, as they walk, or cycle over them.

Well, I won’t be back until autumn (maybe at the other end, which is busier with the water sports centre). The smell of all that fresh goose poop spread and walked everywhere is bad enough, but it’s no fun cleaning it off your tyres, once you know what it is!

My First New Theme Post

I hadn’t planned to do any new posts until I’d done most of the new theme configuration, but I guess this one has come along and made itself the first post to be made using the new theme.

Posts are probably going to be OK (although I still don’t like the unchangeable white background to the text). The thing that needs sorting is the Sidebar, full of junk from the earlier tests.

I’m not even bothering about the poor, forgotten footer for the moment, languishing at the bottom of the page.

And finally… Guano

I almost referred to this stuff as ‘guano’ but, I didn’t realise this applies only to seabird poop and bat poop. Sadly for the geese, they’re just full of sh… sorry, poop.

So, you CAN learn something new every day.