What are your thoughts on bleaching a cooler to clean it? The reason I'm asking is because I can't seem to get rid of the soap scent on my cooler, so I'm thinking of just bleaching it and letting it air dry for a few days.

This was an old trick with fish tanks that I used to use, and it worked wonders because the chlorine would essentially become gaseous and all removed any trace of odor from cleaning products.

Has anyone tried this method?
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you will have to dilute it. Pure bleach with damage the cooler. or use a baking soda and water solution and scrub it.
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Jim...I used baking soda and water to get rid of the smell. Let it sit 24 hours with the baking soda/water and then dried it out and it was good to go.
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:-) Baking soda and water is the way to go.:-)
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I used a little dish soap with distilled water and it was fine in 24 hours. I went over it again with just distilled water and let it sit for another 24 hours and had no plastic smell.


If it's nice out maybe letting it air our outside.
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Thanks Mac. I must of had a brain fart there, because I didn't even think about that. :-)
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Sorry Larry...I didn't see you posted that first. I was planning on diluting it, but I'll definitley give the baking soda and water solution a go instead.
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Once you get several hundred cigars in it you shouldn't have any "smell" issues.
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:-)...very true.

I was just worried that it would transfer the soapy smell to the cigars...that make a very unhappy KSB.
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It wont if you smoke them fast enough :-)
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Or I go over your house and smoke them on you....:-)
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I heard they do it in California.....so it must be okay:-)
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Throw some Spanish cedar in there, too!
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When I did mine I used like half a box of baking soda, just enough water to make a thick paste. I scrubbed the inside, and closed it up for a day or so without rinsing. The next day I rinsed it, then set out to air dry with the lid open. No plastic smell, so then I hit cbid... :-)
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I've never trusted you anyway. :-)

That's a definite!! I got one of the marine coolers so I have the slots in there. Jeremy (homerjay19) is getting the same cooler, and he is picking up spanish cedar planks so we can do this up right. :-)

Thanks!! I'll try that method. I'm trying to avoid Cbid until after the wedding, but I'm already getting the itch. :-)
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Glad I could help, brother! You need smokes to hand out at the wedding, right? Cbid is your friend... :-)
Oh, one last tip: no matter how proud you are of your new storage, DO NOT post pics of an empty cooler! :-)
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You might be able to get out the soapy smell by wiping down the inside with a paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol. I have not done this with plastic but it works with glass...worth a shot since it's easy as hell and dries super quick.
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Give Chasden a PM and see if he can send you a cedar board cut to the size fo your cooler bottom.
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Worked like a charm, Jeff!! :-)

That paste made it much easier to clean out the little gaps. I did it as soon as I got home, and checked it before I went to bed and so far you can't smell anything.

You make a good point about the wedding...maybe I'll try that approach with the little lady. :-)
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Very cool! I had the same results when I did mine, but I let it air-dry just to be safe. Plus, you're drying out any residual moisture from rinsing.
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