Friday, August 8, 2003

The Mercury News - San Jose

By: Holly Hayes

SeaYu

SMELLY STUFF: A couple of months ago, we asked readers of the Home & Garden section to tell us what was stinkin' up their homes and invited them to test a new patented product that promised a ``revolution in odor elimination.''

The results are in, and even in our very unscientific survey, I'd say the makers of Petrotech have a hit on their hands.

Sally Tiemann, who says she has used ``every new product that I have found,'' calls Petrotech ``the most effective odor eliminator I have ever tried.'' Tiemann originally wrote to us complaining of odors emanating from two sources -- a 14-pound, 18-year-old cat who often misses her litter box and a husband who puffs on a pipe on the front stoop but brings smoky smells inside on his clothing.

``My sense of smell has gotten very well defined since I stopped smoking,'' Tiemann says. ``The first thing I noticed about the Petrotech was that with just two short squirts -- one above his head, and one toward the front of his shirt -- the odor was completely gone.''

Tiemann says she and her husband both noticed ``an odor of freshly baked doughnuts'' that was not unpleasant, barely discernible and ``extremely short-lived.''
It worked on the pesky cat odors, too.

Julie Day had one stinky garbage disposal. She'd tried all of the over-the-counter remedies -- even one with a skunk on the packaging -- and nothing would cut it. She tried home remedies suggested by friends, including oranges, limes, lemons, baking soda, bleach.

``I can't believe it! I sprayed the Petrotech in the garbage disposal a week ago and haven't had to use it once since then,'' says Day, who used to smell the stench from her disposal the minute she entered the house.

Marsha Muir has a 98-year-old house that has all sort of funky smells -- ``old wood lathings, old plaster and maybe a few dead things in the attic.'' She's tried potpourris, ``oils in little things that fit over the light bulbs,'' hanging lavender, cedar shavings, rosemary sprigs and even Dune, her best imported Christian Dior perfume.

``I have a positive reaction to the sprays,'' she says. ``They did not give a new or refreshed odor. In fact, the odor that was most prevalent in the confined spaces was a bit stale. Kind of like the odor you would get if you opened a refrigerator or closed space that had been closed up for a long time -- but was really clean when it was closed up. Stale -- not bad, not good.''

``Not good'' would describe Donna Roberts' experience with the product. She lives in a self-contained recreational vehicle and sought help controlling odors coming from the tank that holds what's euphemistically called ``black water.''

Alas, Petrotech apparently isn't the answer to Roberts' prayers.

``The odor would only stay gone for a half-hour or so after a spray,'' she says. ``It has a very unpleasant smell that I can only describe as `chemically.' I will continue to use the product until the can is empty, but I would not buy it.''

But John Unruh and his wife give Petrotech a thumbs-up. They have three cats who seem to have missed the lesson about covering up their leavings in the litter box.

Muir also would use the product again.

``I would love it if someone would spray it under my house,'' she says. ``But no one I know is willing to crawl under there.''

-- Holly Hayes

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED

Petrotech is manufactured by the Sea Yu Enterprises, based in San Francisco. The company says that the product works by shearing the hydrocarbon chain of the odor source and then encapsulating it, eliminating the odor. ``Once Petrotech encapsulates the odor source, it becomes a microbial-food source for the indigenous bacteria in the environment, which accelerates the biodegradability of the odor source,'' according to company literature. The company says its product is environmentally clean, is made from organic substances, contains no toxic chemicals and is non-corrosive and non-flammable.

The product is available in a mist spray and direct (stream) spray. Look for it mostly at pet-supply stores. For more information, visit www.sea-yu.com.

###