How does one use potassium permanganate as an odor elimator?

Question

The kid in the hardware store told me his mom uses it, she cleans houses.

Answer 1

I've never heard of KMnO4 being used for this purpose, but any alkali like bicarbonate of soda or caustic soda will eliminate odours in a fridge or a smelly house. You just leave the solid powder in a container. Many odours are caused by organic acids like butyric acid. You can smell them because they're volatile. They react with alkalis to form salts, in this example sodium butyrate, which is a non-volatile solid, so you can't smell it.

Answer 2

Well, i am not sure, but I know that potassium permangenate is an oxidizer and so that will eliminate any odors by oxidation. I would be very careful with using this stuff because if you don't know how much it should be diluted for what you want, then it might mess up some fabrics. The stuff is a deep purple/fuschia color and WILL stain if it isn't diluted enough. I would do a little research on it and see how it works.