How to Get Diesel Smell Out of Clothes

The irritating smell of diesel can sometimes stick to your clothes if you spend time around diesel or its fumes. This might happen if you’re a mechanic who works on diesel vehicles all day or if you just spent a while refilling your truck at a gas station.

Diesel has a naturally sweet smell, but it isn’t like perfume. Aside from being irritating to some people, diesel fumes can also be hazardous to your health. In this article, we’ll discuss why diesel odor sticks to clothes, the health hazards of diesel fumes, and how to remove diesel smell out of clothes.

Why Diesel Odor Sticks

Diesel smells sweet because of benzene. If your clothes have been exposed to diesel, they can retain traces of the fuel even after a proper wash. Diesel evaporates much slower than gasoline, so its scent sticks around for much longer since it doesn’t disperse out quickly.

Health Hazards of Diesel Fumes

Some people might enjoy the smell of diesel. However, a wide range of health risks are associated with inhaling diesel fumes for an extended period. If the smell of diesel has stuck to your clothes, you’re likely being constantly exposed to trace amounts of hydrocarbons, which are known to adversely affect people’s health.

Just like diesel exhaust, diesel odor or vapor also contains toxic hydrocarbons that are known to cause nose, eye, and skin irritation. These hydrocarbons can also enter the bloodstream and reach the central nervous system, heart, and lungs. This can slow down neurological functions and cause respiratory depression and cardiac arrhythmias.

How to Remove Diesel Smell Off Your Clothes

There are several ways to remove the smell of diesel from your clothes using common household products. As you’ll find out, there are a few key products when it comes to diesel odor removal in clothes.

Rubbing Alcohol and Baking Soda

Baking soda is a natural deodorizer that can also absorb oils. It can be combined with rubbing alcohol, which breaks down the diesel compounds, to remove diesel from fabrics.

The process simply involves laying down your clothes and sprinkling baking soda on them. Let the baking soda absorb the scents for 15 minutes before adding rubbing alcohol and scrubbing your clothes. Hopefully, this process would have removed the diesel smell. Afterward, you can run your clothes through the washing machine.

Baking Soda and Vinegar

You can also use baking soda and vinegar to get rid of diesel. This also involves sprinkling baking soda directly onto the fabric. Then, you’ll need to spray vinegar onto your clothes using a spray bottle, ensuring that it gets between the fibers.

Baking soda reacts to vinegar, a reaction that releases carbon dioxide. Vinegar also has a pungent smell, so you must bear it. The vinegar will eventually evaporate and neutralize the diesel odors. You might want to repeat the process to ensure that the diesel smell is gone. Afterward, you can toss your clothes into the washer.

Mouthwash

Firefighters use mouthwash to remove the scent of smoke from their clothing. Mouthwash can also remove diesel odors from clothes. If your clothes are smelly, you can pour mouthwash into a bucket that has your clothes and water and let them sit for 15 to 20 minutes. Afterward, you can rinse them with water.

However, if your clothes aren’t especially smelly, then you can simply add a cup of mouthwash to your normal wash cycle.

Coca-Cola and Baking Soda

Cola is a natural degreaser, which means it can get rid of oils and even diesel scents. Using it involves soaking your clothes in a solution of soda and baking soda. You should let your clothes soak in the solution for at least 12 hours. Unlike other methods, cola and baking soda will take time to do their magic, but this can be one of the most effective ways to get rid of diesel scents from clothing.

The next time you find your clothes smelling like diesel, rest assured that you’ll likely have a product in your household that can deal with the potentially toxic fumes. Hopefully, you now know how to get diesel fuel smell out of clothes.