Gear that is off-gassing-has chemical smell

Moderator; Move this to Chaff.

Hi Ken The original subject was entirely appropriate to GEAR. Some new stuff does stink. I was sent some Voormi woolens recently, and found that they stank to high heaven. The mfr had not washed the shrinkproofing chemicals out. I had a bit of a row with the marketing firm who sent me the stuff about it: the guy went completely ape when I tried to explain the problem. Tough. I thnk consumers have a right to object to bad chemical smells in new gear. Cheers

It's OK. You didn't get it. Dave did. No, the other one. And not the one that can't fill in the subject box. ddd does not help anyone out.

To know how much of a problem off-gassing is one only has to look for a mattress for your bed.They are all treated with gnarly flame retardant that off-gasses copiously.In fact the chemical is now in most peoples blood.An organic mattress costs 1200 and up. This is unreal.This is why legislation,regulation are so important.

We built our own from http://www.nontoxicbeds.com/items/foam-pads~build-your-own-bed/queen~foam-pads~build-your-own-bed/list.htm We had a frame. Didn't use box springs. Lot less than $1200. Wish my Neoair was as comfy…

everything these days is corner cut and toxic. Even leather didn't have a smell in the early 1900s but now is cancer causing according to california. This is why I am building my plastic free camping setup, but I won't dare share it with you folks. It is possible for 3x the weight and for daily use is more durable at work or short non wilderness travel and adventures.

From Christopher : "The Moderator(s) are one sided and tend to pick and choose as the feel fit. Many small retailers and such who make a comment regarding a product are informed they need to make it known they are affiliated with a product (even if it is in their avatar)…..except for a company that whenever a tent question comes up, promotes their product. Most love and know their products but for a new comer / novice to UL/Lightweight backpacking, it could be considered and is biased information." I posted that Tarptent also does not use fire retardant fabrics. That is a FACT not biased information. franco@tarptent

I'm not debating the information you provide…..but in almost all tent threads you promote the positives (not very many negatives) of Tarptents. We know you, people new to lightweight backpacking may not and through your information (which in those cases are biased as your affiliated) provided on those threads could directly push their decision towards Tarptent. My complaint is others were always told they need to state their affiliation…..unless you look at the small print in your avatar it could be easily missed.

So why do you not post that when it is relevant ? While you are at it , please make sure you do the same with the other members that are affiliated with or sponsored by the brand they discuss. Mind you not that many of them are left compared to years ago, I wonder why.

Franco….I do not see MLD or ZPacks (they've been around awhile haven't they?) or many other cottage companies with a strong following go out of their way to self promote their products on this forum.

Hey Christopher, the response was more directed toward TiPi who consistently, in an underhanded way, makes derogatory comments toward Tarptent (He is doing it over at Whiteblaze right now) despite never actually using one. Overall, however, I don't see self promotion going on here.

"unless you look at the small print in your avatar it could be easily missed" I think Franco has identified his affiliation with tarptent pretty good It works two ways you know to be a little skeptical that he might be promoting his product since he's representing tarptent, you can have some confidence he's accurately stating specs and so forth

Rusty, what kind of foam is that?There are different kinds and most off-gas if they are not natural latex.

Dave, Natural latex.

Dave says—(Despite Roger saying to "Cool it, guys")— "Hey Christopher, the response was more directed toward TiPi who consistently, in an underhanded way, makes derogatory comments toward Tarptent (He is doing it over at Whiteblaze right now) despite never actually using one." So here we go again and Dave deserves a response. Here's my so-called "underhanded derogatory comments toward TarpTent" to see how outlandishly critical I can be—("He is doing it over at Whiteblaze right now").— http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php/114311-Talk-me-out-of-the-Tarptent-Rainbow?p=2011600&viewfull=1#post2011600 Read the whole thread if you have nothing else to do. And join my fan club. But let's return to Christopher's excellent post: Christopher Graf says (To Franco)— "I'm not debating the information you provide . . . but in almost all tent threads you promote the positives (not very many negatives) of TarpTents." Thanks Christopher for a head's up as I said almost the very same thing on page 25 of a recent BPL Hilleberg Tent thread. See it here—scroll down— http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=63979&startat=480 I said in part: "I'd like to see users for other tents who come on here whenever their tents are mentioned to preach to the choir and yet rarely if ever have anything honestly critical to say about their tents and in which way and whatever way they fail." It's comical in a way to see how an individual can find every forum discussion about "his brand" on the world wide web and immediately join in the conversation with positive sales pitches including pictures and glowing descriptions. No tent is perfect, every tent has its flaws, but I have never seen a description of a TarpTent's weaknesses or flaws from people who know more about the product than anyone. I'm sort of an expert on Hilleberg tents but I do not work for Hilleberg and I am not their representative, and yet I could write several paragraphs on their design flaws, weaknesses and shortcomings. Why? Because I've used them extensively in all conditions. Would I make a good Hilleberg salesman? Yes, if you want the full picture. No, if you want the party line.

Yup, A terrible problem, not limited to shoes and mattresses, I have a stove that off-gasses audibly whenever I turn it on – it stinks! I can get the smell to abate by igniting the gas but it still worries me, I read on the internet that if you burn it with restricted ventilation all your worries will disappear…. Just off-gassing, Dave. Moral of the story, odour is not a reliable indicator of toxicity, nor is lack-of-odour an indicator of safety. Amen says the 92-yr old I rescued from her (90 ppm CO-filled) house the other day. The idea that things were better in "the old days" is ridiculous, leaded petrol, creosote, Arsenic used in leather and hat making (cf. the phrase "Mad as a Hatter") I can tell you from personal experience that people die because of burning mattresses.

"Moral of the story, odour is not a reliable indicator of toxicity, nor is lack-of-odour an indicator of safety. Amen says the 92-yr old I rescued from her (90 ppm CO-filled) house the other day." I was about to point this out/ what makes you so certain that the odor causing source is harmful to you.

Expert on Hillebergs? Someone has to sticky this for at minimum, comedic relief.

Rusty, i was wondering what kind of foam their regular foam was…I see that they have higher priced foam like soy etc and i guess that is what you chose?thx

It has been long enough ago that I don't remember for sure.

> I have a stove that off-gasses audibly whenever I turn it on – it stinks! I can > get the smell to abate by igniting the gas but it still worries me I was going to assume that everyone knows what the smell is, but maybe not. (I suspect the author does.) The smell is something like methyl mercaptan, an stinky chemical which is no real hazard to humans, but which we can smell at extremely low concentrations. It is actually related to 'BO' or body odour. Yeah, yuk. It is added to propane and butane/propane mixes (I think by international convention) as a safety measure, to alert us to when there is a fuel leak. So in this one case, absence of odour is a moderate indicator of safety. Cheers