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Cleaning Bricks (Smoke)

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  • AleyditaAleydita Member Posts: 952
    Not necessarily, if it's a private seller then caveat emptor applies. In some countries this applies to business sellers as well.
  • madforLEGOmadforLEGO Member Posts: 10,788
    Aleydita said:

    Not necessarily, if it's a private seller then caveat emptor applies. In some countries this applies to business sellers as well.

    It depends, if it was purchased via eBay you could likely get your money back, but you will likely have to return the item.
    Caveat Emptor is great and all, but cigarette smoke is a health hazard. So much so that 3rd hand smoke is now being considered as a factor in your health (items that have smoke get on them)

    As for removing smoke there have been those that have discussed this in other threads. I would not want LEGO with smoke damage (that is what it is by the way, LEGO does not make plastic that smells like cigarette smoke) as I have always wondered if that contributes to them yellowing as well.
  • Poisso3Poisso3 Member Posts: 196
    Yeah, the eBay seller did not disclose this little nugget. Had they I would have passed on this. I will try cleaning the bricks and pray that does the trick.
  • JosephJoseph Member Posts: 629
    edited March 2014
    There seem to be quite a few different methods ranging from simply washing them to putting the bricks in a vacuum chamber. You might want to steer clear of oxyclean though.
  • Poisso3Poisso3 Member Posts: 196
    Joseph said:

    There seem to be quite a few different methods ranging from simply washing them to putting the bricks in a vacuum chamber. You might want to steer clear of oxyclean though.

    Thanks for that! I was actually thinking about using Oxyclean...but not now.

  • twoninerkentwoninerken Member Posts: 48
    I have had good luck vacuum packing with baking soda and dryer sheets after a good cleaning with soap. It is the rubber tires that I can never seem to get the smell out of.
    imgeppy
  • Poisso3Poisso3 Member Posts: 196
    ^ The rubber pieces is what I worry about getting the smell out of the most. The set is #3061 I got for my daughter. It is the one Friends business she didn't have and I was lucky to find it on eBay complete, w/ instructions and box for $20. I have a vacuum food sealer canister that I will use on the smaller pieces (the plates won't fit) after a good wash in hot water and dish soap, but the Friends hair being soft rubber worries me the most in getting the stink out. Fortunatly, my daughter has several of the same hair parts so tossing the smoker ones won't be the end of the world.

    I'll post my results once I have finished with the cleaning.
  • mountebankmountebank Member Posts: 1,237
    If you're going to experiment, don't say anything to the seller. See how it goes and if you have no luck, just open a Not as Described case and get a refund. You don't want the seller muddying the waters by alleging you've "messed around with and spoiled the bricks".
  • ShibShib Member Posts: 5,469
    I'm finding this conversation really interesting, I've never had the problem, but had never considered smoke smell getting into plastic. Has anyone had any other similar odd problems with second hand bricks?

    I know if I was selling any opened sets I'd need to warn may contain dog hair, my dog seems to replace every hair every day the amount of hair we have to hoover up and it still ends up everywhere!
  • akunthitaakunthita Member Posts: 1,038
    My memory is fuzzy in regards to this, but I remember reading somewhere that those ozone generators/air fresheners work amazingly well for removing odor from LEGO elements. I will try to find the link - I think I saved it...
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 Member Posts: 11,454
    edited March 2014
    I know this sounds weird, but I have a big air purifier for my bedroom that uses Hepa Filters and carbon filters to "purify" the air. I once had a shirt I could not get the smoke from the bar out of and stuck it into the air purifier to see if it would work. It actually did. It sucked the air into the unit, though the filters, through the shirt and out of the unit.
  • LusiferSamLusiferSam Member Posts: 574
    Shib said:

    I'm finding this conversation really interesting, I've never had the problem, but had never considered smoke smell getting into plastic. Has anyone had any other similar odd problems with second hand bricks?

    ABS is like a sponge for smoke. It just soaks the stuff up.

    I just received a Samsonite set that smells like it was the ash tray. The box even smells. The only thing that I've found that work is just to leave the set out and far away from my other sets to air out. It can weeks to months to air out. I live at a higher altitude than most, so this helps.
  • Pitfall69Pitfall69 Member Posts: 11,454
    Awful. If people need to smoke they should only do it around MegaBloks.
  • LusiferSamLusiferSam Member Posts: 574
    edited March 2014
    Ok, that's very odd. My last post now has an ad in it. I didn't add any links and now there's one for shop dot sam son ite dot com (I'm spelling it out and splitting it up on purpose). Very, very odd.
  • Poisso3Poisso3 Member Posts: 196
    I see my topic was merged with this one. So, I washed the bricks last night, letting them sit in the soapy water for an hour before rinsing/drying. I was surprised that only one piece--the Friends hair piece which is softer plastic--still smells! I did not expect the washing to do the trick, but it did. If my daughter has this hair already, the smoker's wig is going in the trash. :)
    imgeppy
  • madforLEGOmadforLEGO Member Posts: 10,788
    Poisso3 said:

    I see my topic was merged with this one. So, I washed the bricks last night, letting them sit in the soapy water for an hour before rinsing/drying. I was surprised that only one piece--the Friends hair piece which is softer plastic--still smells! I did not expect the washing to do the trick, but it did. If my daughter has this hair already, the smoker's wig is going in the trash. :)

    Or you can contact LEGO customer service for another.

  • imac12imac12 Member Posts: 2
    edited March 2014
    I recently picked up a 7944 that reeked horribly of smoke. I threw some baking soda in a pan and layered the pieces and big box of baking soda, covering everything. I ended up waiting about a week, but once I rinsed everything off they were as good as new. Baking soda works wonders absorbing odors.
  • magpie9magpie9 Member Posts: 11
    Recently bought a huge job lot of mixed sets, I knew I had a problem before opening the package, even the box stank of smoke. The lego stank so badly. The white bricks were literally tan in colour. The pieces look completely unplayed with, however many of them were broken in ways I've never seen. The plastic was brittle. Does anyone know if smoking breaks down the plastic?
  • madforLEGOmadforLEGO Member Posts: 10,788
    ^-I think the Smoke can, I have seen a ton of parts that have been really yelowed/tanned and brittle as well.
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