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Over the last couple of weeks and a few rides to work and back in alternating heat and torrential rain, the runners that I use for commuting (and occasionally running) have started to smell. Badly. 'French drains' is the closest I can get to describing the stench.
Those insole things haven't worked like they usually do. Baking powder doesn't seem to be shifting it either. As I understand it, the smell is from bacteria - and the only thing that really kills bacteria is boiling the little f***ers.
My plan is to boil up a big pan of water and drop the shoes in for a minute or two, therefore killing all bacteria and resetting the aroma back to new. I did briefly run the idea past the missus, only to be told in no uncertain terms that I'm NOT to put my trainers anywhere near the pans. Or else.
So, I'll just do it when she's out.
What can possibly go wrong? Anyone done this before?
Try the freezer first..
Probably not a good idea as it could melt the glue holding parts of it together.
You have tried putting them in the washing machine?
Probably not a good idea as it could melt the glue holding parts of it together.
I found this out when I stuck a pair in the tumble dryer.
One hour later I was the owner of a variety of dry shoe components.
Yep, tried the washing machine, but I don't think it gets hot enough.
I'll give the freezer a go first. Good point about the glue.
Yeah good point re heat. Dried my stuff in the sauna in morzine last year, queue soles falling off.
Freezer then anti bacterial wash
Bung a load of bicarb of soda in them.
Anti bacterial wash? Is that like a household cleaning product or something?
I have a 5l tub of the anti bac wash that you brush onto fresh plaster in kitchens/bathrooms before painting. That might do it.
Soak in a bucket of halo overnight.
Packet of Milton tablets in a bucket of warm water, or chuck them and the trainers in the washing machine. Boiling water will pretty much wreck them I think.
UPDATE: Text from the missus - "Your trainers smell of sick"
I'm buying some Milton tablets tonight.
I regularly wash my trainers in the washing machine at 40C. Being doing it for years and at that temp, never had a problem with them.
Napisan works a treat for stinky trainers and is dirt cheap.
Too hot and the glue fails and as a lot of the plastic is thermosetting your heel support regularly falls inwards if in a washing machine/tumbledrier making them pretty impossible to wear.
Napisan +1
If it can kill baby poo it can kill anything.
what about white vinegar?
what about white vinegar?
Too hot and the glue fails and as a lot of the plastic is thermosetting
Thermosetting is a material that irreversibly cures, so reheating will have no affect. You mean thermoplastic, which becomes pliable or moldable above a specific temperature and returns to a solid state upon cooling.
what about white vinegar?
Let me get the baking powder out first, 'k?
Thermosetting is a material that irreversibly cures, so reheating will have no affect. You mean thermoplastic, which becomes pliable or moldable above a specific temperature and returns to a solid state upon cooling.
I put my trainers on the radiator to dry out overnight. Put them on in the morning, and they were beautifully warm and squidgy on the 2 minute walk to the train station. I got off the train 50 minutes later, and they were rock solid. I had to buy new trainers on the way home.
I put my trainers on the radiator to dry out overnight.
Which is way hotter than a normal wash, eg our CH is set to 80C whereas with a 40C wash, the average temp is 30C ish and only peaks to near 40C for a few minutes.
Ordinary soap works well.
Try some on your feet. 🙂
Or
Pour some washing liquid or Halo into them.
Slosh it about a bit.
Leave for a few hours.
Bung in machine.
If it gets serious then the Milton/Napisan comes out.
Never said it wasn't stupid, footflaps! It was leccy storage heating not missed at all.
Still the behaviour of a thermosetting plastic, though.
Still the behaviour of a thermosetting plastic, though
A thermosetting plastic won't soften once [b]re[/b]heated. If it does, it's thermoplastic which is designed for repeated heat / reshape cycles.
A thermosetting resin, also known as a thermoset, is petrochemical material that irreversibly cures. The cure may be induced by heat, generally above 200 °C (392 °F), through a chemical reaction, or suitable irradiation.Thermoset materials are usually liquid or malleable prior to curing and designed to be molded into their final form, or used as adhesives. Others are solids like that of the molding compound used in semiconductors and integrated circuits (IC). [b]Once hardened a thermoset resin cannot be reheated and melted to be shaped differently.[/b]
Thermosetting resin may be contrasted with thermoplastic polymers which are commonly produced in pellets and shaped into their final product form by melting and pressing or injection molding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermosetting_polymer
How about getting some new ones?