I've not had any problem removing labels from glass, I use a safety razor to scrape off lables same as the stickers from windshields.... it's plastics and other soft items that makes removing labels more difficult... I especially find those stickers on produce difficult.
Why not use your favorite solvent?...MURIATIC ACID.
If warm water doesn't take them off, a little vegetable oil may dissolve the residue.
nate
It's a combination of solvents, plus it's heavily scented. If you don't need a
100% removal rate and you don't care about the nasty smell, then buy mineral spirits and save yourself 45 cents.
Funny you should mention pool acid ...
The odd thing is that the olive oil fared no better than did water or alcohol, in my preliminary tests over the past 24 hours:
The diluted alcohol fared about the same as the oil:
And the water was about the same as oil & alcohol were:
Only the dish detergent seemed measurably better:
While all four methods easily remove the paper label, all four appear to need additional suggested solvents or petroleum distallates in order to remove the gummy residue coating the entire area under the paper label.
Thanks for the advice.
I'm a firm believer in figuring out what a chemical is, and then just buying it in bulk.
For example, my female kids love that straight acetone from my garage works just fine when they run out of nail polish remover.
And, on of my male kids uses dish detergent instead of shampoo for his short hair, since he learned that they're practically the same thing (and all my kids have to buy their own personal hygiene products since they fight over them all the time).
I'm going to try the following solvents, simply because they were what are in my garage at the moment:
BS removal kit ... even works on a Prius!
:)
When they dry out, that's what I'll try ...
Acetone would probably work on glass and ceramic - not plastic. I'd use MEK because it's more aggressive than acetone and it's what I have on hand. You have to be careful with the stuff cause it can be absorbed through the skin. I only use a little at a time.
I've used dish detergent to wash my hair. It worked great but it would give me tremendous dandruff when I used it 15 years ago. I've used it recently and it worked fine without the dandruff problem. These days, however, I just use a bar of soap.
UPDATE:
Nothing really worked better than dish detergent and water for getting the *paper* part of the labels off the plastic Costco vitamin jars... but the gummy glue residue was left:
MAF cleaner dried too quickly, leaving a sticky residue:
Brake cleaner had similar results to the MAF cleaner:
My wife noticed the smell with the engine degreaser:
The alcohol was ineffective at reducing the gummy glue:
The paint thinner turned the glue into a milky residue:
Likewise with the better-smelling WD-40:
Acetone simply made the plastic itself sticky:
And TSP didn't do much more than the dish detergent did:
Within margins of error, I'd have to tentatively conclude that the winner would be whatever smells best to you of these 3:
For example, here's a before-and-after glue-removal comparison:
LESSONS LEARNED:
In summary, the lesson learned is that the paper labels easily fell off the glass bottles after an overnight soak in water and dish detergent.
However, on the plastic vitamin bottles, the paper labels came off only with an overnight soak, where the mix of dish detergent was necessary, and, even so, required a bit of fingernail scrubbing.
The real problem was the pervasive gummy glue, which, only the lower volatility petroleum distillates did a good job on (because the higher-volatility petroleum distillates evaporated too soon).
BTW, the green one at the right was discolored by the acetone; so of all the fluids chosen, acetone is the most deprecated.
Is that what the driver's door is called?
Try Goo Gone; it is made to take sticky labels off things. Squirt some on, wait five minutes, and it should rub off with a paper towel.
Just to report back on the hydrochloric acid, it didn't dissolve the paper label any better than did the dish detergent solution.
But I really like how well the gasoline almost instantly removes the gummy glue residue off the plastic bottles:
The results are clear plastic bottles with no labels or glue:
ROUND 2:
My new favorite method of removing the labels and glue from Costco gummy vitamin plastic jars is this process:
a) Soak in a soapy solution of dish detergent (24 hours) b) Scrape off the paper label with my fingernails c) Douse in gasoline for a minute or two d) Wash in laundry detergent or tri-sodium phosphate
Since the gasoline necessitates being outside, here' my starting point today:
Here's what will be soaking overnight:
Just wet the label with Eucalyptus oil
Danny D wrote in news:kmgmih$j9n$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
Cooking oil will help. Don't actually cook the glass,tho.
Personally, I gave up on the oil idea as I didn't find the vegetable oil anywhere nearly as effective as the petroleum distillates (gasoline was the best) in instantly dissolving the gummy deposits on the plastic gummy vitamin jars.
Here's my latest experiment, concluded this morning:
These are my steps for those plastic vitamin bottle labels:
Danny D wrote in news:kmogt8$7e8$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
Chemicals ! vapors galore. Better wash the glassware a lot to remove the stench.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.