FAQ

Yes. Fuel oil trapped in the pores of wood and other porous materials produces fumes, especially when the home is being heated. Room fresheners or fume suppressants are ineffective in eliminating fuel oil fumes as they do not address the source and the generation of fumes continues. VaporRemed, on the other hand, is a bioremediation product that attacks the source of the fumes – the fuel oil trapped in the pores – and eliminates the fumes almost immediately. We have found VaporRemed to be effective on wood, carpet, and packing materials that have been affected by fuel oil spills in basements.

Yes. VaporRemed has been used to remove stains from concrete and wooden surfaces in basements. In one case, VaporRemed was sprayed on a 20-year old floor stain and, within minutes, the stain was wiped off and removed. Stains on most surfaces, with the exception of brick, can be removed by wiping the area several minutes after spraying VaporRemed.

Yes. VaporRemed is effective in removing heating oil odors from clothes. The clothes should not be dripping heating oil – excess heating oil should be drained off before spraying VaporRemed. A homeowner used VaporRemed to clean spilled heating oil from a favorite pair of jeans. He sprayed VaporRemed on his jeans and after machine washing them using a normal wash cycle, he advised us that the jeans were useable once again. Another customer was going directly from his work to a party when he noticed that his winter jacket smelled strongly of heating oil. He had some VaporRemed with him and sprayed it on the jacket. By the time he arrived at the party, the heating oil odors were gone. This is an important issue for oil companies as frequently a driver receives splash of oil on their clothes and a heating oil company in PA recently reported that using VaporRemed, they could remove odors from gloves and clothes affected with the spray.

Yes. VaporRemed eliminates fumes from most surfaces including asphalt. Furthermore, VaporRemed does not impact the asphalt surface. Oil stains are removed when washed soon after application.

SpillRemed (Marine) initially was developed to perform high-speed bioremediation in marine (saline) waters. SpillRemed (Marine) was customized as SpillRemed (Industrial) for use in reduced salinity industrial applications and similar contained oil contamination situations. SpillRemed (Industrial) is used in many metal recycling plants and waste oil treatment plants. SpillRemed (Industrial) also fits nicely with the established pollution control goals outlined in ISO 14001. At the recommended ratio of 1:10 – 1 part SpillRemed (Industrial) to 10 parts oil – SpillRemed (Industrial) has been shown to reduce waste oil pollution to less than 10 ppm within 10 days. We have found that decreasing the ratio to 1:3 – 1 part SpillRemed (Industrial) to 3 parts oil – the time can be reduced to 3 days.

One gallon of AgroRemed treats approximately 1 metric ton of contaminated soil. Since 1 cubic yard of soil is approximately 1.5 tons or 1.36 metric tons, approximately 1.36 gallons of AgroRemed will be needed to remediate 1 cubic yard of contaminated soil. These calculations assume TPH concentrations to less than 50,000 ppm of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) and may not apply to higher TPH concentrations.

AgroRemed is effective at the rate of 1 gallon AgroRemed for every 20 square feet of soil with surface contamination of less than 50,000 ppm of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH). It is essential that adequate soil moisture and aerobic conditions are present for remediation. Soil should not be soggy as that will prevent oxygen for bacteria.
Note: The above computation roughly equates to about 1 gallon for 1.85 sq. meters of contaminated soil for every meter. If your project needs to remediate deeper areas of contamination, you might need to monitor the remediation activity and prepare for adding AgroRemed after three weeks or use mechanical methods to loosen the soil layer for simpler transport along the depth of the contamination.

AgroRemed is a complete, ready-to-use product that requires no additional nutrients. Treatment of petroleum contaminated soils with AgroRemed is generally a one-time process if all conditions for favorable bacteria growth are present. No further maintenance or supervision is needed after application of AgroRemed to the contaminated soil, and the use of AgroRemed results in no waste for disposal.

The recommended ratio of VaporRemed is 1 gallon for every 100 square feet of surface area. In this case, since the amount of VaporRemed needed is about a gallon, we additionally recommend an applicator spray to dispense the product evenly.

For smaller spills, we recommend using the VaporRemed (Mini) trigger spray bottle. In any event, we recommend starting with a smaller volume of VaporRemed and then checking the basement for smell or fumes a few after application.

Since the spill is in the basement, it might be in difficult to reach areas. We recommend using 1 gallon of VaporRemed for 100 square feet in a clean pump sprayer that has not been used for any pesticide application Please wash any bleach or lime treatment that may have been applied to clean up the spill as this would interfere with effectiveness of VaporRemed.

Treatment of petroleum contaminated soils varies with the depth of impacted soils. For contaminated soils less than 5 feet in depth, surface application of AgroRemed generally is adequate. For impacted soils at 5 to 10 feet below ground surface, AgroRemed is best injected into the soil for in-situ treatment. If the soils are very compacted or clayey in nature, it is generally recommend that the soils be excavated and treated with AgroRemed ex-situ, after which they can be reused. At a site in OR contamination of soil was below 15 feet and this was also remediated by injecting AgroRemed.

Yes. VaporRemed is safe to use on upholstery and on carpets. We have a couple of reports where received first-hand feedback from our customer that we are including here:

• A homeowner in Long Island, NY sprayed VaporRemed on upholstery and carpet to effectively remove fuel oil odors and was happy with the results.
• A boat owner used VaporRemed to remove diesel fuel odors from the boat’s cabin and found it to work.

Yes. VaporRemed is effective in removing fuel oil odors from footwear. We have found out during our interviews with our customers that they have incorporated, as part of their protocol, for service personnel to use VaporRemed on their shoes to remove fuel oil odors prior to entering a customer’s home.

VaporRemed is not a room freshener or fume suppressant hence it should not be sprayed in the air. VaporRemed is sprayed directly on the surfaces affected by the heating oil spill in order to be in contact with the source of the fumes – the heating trapped in the pores of the surface. VaporRemed remediates the trapped heating oil so that the fumes will be permanently eliminated. One would not require any blower fans after application of VaporRemed. A homeowner in Maine had a similar situation when the arrival cold weather made it difficult to keep the blower fans on. He used VaporRemed and was happy to be able to close all of his windows before the onset of winter.

VaporRemed is a do-it-yourself (DIY) product that has been used by a large number of homeowners and contractors to eliminate fuel oil odors. We have found that homeowners form a large and important group of our customers.

No. SpillRemed (Marine) does not increase BOD. BOD rises as the load of organically rich waste that depletes oxygen in water increases, often creating anoxic or oxygen free conditions. SpillRemed (Marine) is rich in bacterial population, but not rich in organic nutrients that contribute to increase in BOD. Bacteria in SpillRemed (Marine) are aerobic and die in the absence of oxygen reducing the possibility of creating anoxic conditions. Thus, SpillRemed (Marine) does not contribute to an increase BOD.