My son's basement dehumidifiers were not maintained while he was gone for two weeks. The humidity and heat rapidly took their toll.

Advice / experience for removing mold/mildew from waxed canvas? Odors from 70 Denier coated ripstop nylon?

Dry sunlight obviously, but other pro-tips much appreciated.

Thanks.

Maybe there are methods or products that I didn't have 20 years ago, but I had very limited success on a mildewed tent. Lots of sun, soaking in vinegar, scrubbing; I tried lots of things with limited success. Much of the smell went away, but the mildew remained.

Good luck.

Edited: Just wanted to add that I'm sympathetic, not just a naysayer. I hope you have better luck that I did. It sucks to lose good gear.

I've had good results on mold/mildew on tents with the Gear Aid Odor Eliminator. Not sure about waxed canvas - he'd need to check on that, but have used on my tent and some other things.

BTW, don't know if it applies, but if it shut off because it was full and not emptied, he may be able to attach some hose to an outlet probably in back to constantly drain. I did this for Mom's and for mine in an old house. Mom's just went down a floor drain, mine was on shelving and drained into a utility tub.

boonie: "I've had good results on mold/mildew on tents with the Gear Aid Odor Eliminator. "

From Gear Aid Website "Previously known as Mirazyme"

I still have a bottle of Mirazyme. I had good luck with it on a surplus canvas ruck sack. This thing had probably been in a warehouse for decades. My wife wanted this back pack out of the house. After a soaking and drying on a clothes line the thing doesn't smell like mildew any more. At this point I have gotten several years of good service out of this pack.

I recently use the Mirazyme to good effect on my wet footing portage boots. The boots are now allowed in the house again as well.

I have not used it on a nylon tent.

Thanks. I think I'll call the factory. They're baking in the sun. I used a stiff brush. Surprisingly little information on Internet other than "don't let it happen". I've used a product on our pop-up camper with amazing success but it messes with the water-proofing so then you need to apply water proofing. And it's bleach-based, which can't be used on the waxed canvas.
It happened because a fuse blew in the basement and no one was checking on them to turn them back on. It's been a watery mess around some parts and droughty in others.

boonie: "BTW, don't know if it applies, but if it shut off because it was full and not emptied, he may be able to attach some hose to an outlet probably in back to constantly drain. I did this for Mom's and for mine in an old house. Mom's just went down a floor drain, mine was on shelving and drained into a utility tub. "

This is what we do with our dehumidifier.

In terms of canvas gear:
First kill it with distilled vinegar. Spray it on and let it dry.
Then scrub it using a mix of salt, lemon juice and hot water.
Then after it is dry and clean, use a canvas treatment product. Example: Dry Guy

my Duluth packs suffered this fate, so far the Odor Control Spray Powder I use for my feet have seemed to put down the mildew, and BTW, it also did the trick on my carpeted stairs from the basement.

If it works on feet inside socks and shoes, why wouldn't it work on a Duluth pack?
It contains 1% Tolnaftate

You could try a soak in Oxyclean. I've used it on some bad smells successfully. Cheap, readily available and pretty safe on a lot of fabrics.

I'm a huge fan of ozone generators for this sort of thing - provided the items do not contain any elastic or rubber. When our basement flooded a few years back I used large(4' diameter fans) and huge dehumidifiers to remove the moisture and ozone and hydroxyl generators(odorox) to kill off any mold. It worked great!

Another ozone use example - with the recent heat our garbage can had become so rank that I didn't even want to open it. I power-washed it get it clean but the unbearable stench stayed. I put in a little diy ozone generator I use for my hunting clothes and within 4 hours the smell was gone - replaced by the smell of ozone which was gone within a few hours and the can now has no noticeable smell.