In my attempt to unblock a pipe, I've spilled diluted caustic soda down the back of the washing machine/cooker... Will it just evaporate? Do i need to worry about it gradually eating through stuff over time?
Cheers ... Mark
I reckon the water will evaporate leaving a thin coating of NaOH on things. According to Wikipedia it has a boiling point of 1390C, so I guess it won't evaporate. Depending on how much NaOH was spilled, it might be worth cleaning it up - I've heard it can do nasty things to eyes.
On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 19:50:28 +0000, Simon wrote (in article ):
Well, I've managed to clean up most of it, but I can't move the cooker. There seems to be /some/ on the wall next to the back of the cooker, under the work surface (indicating that it had, in fact gone down the back of it), but there are just a few streaks, and although they reach down to the floorboards (which were up already), there are but a few drops from the bottom of the wall into the space under the floorboards. About 2 litres altogether - and now several ruined towels...
It's worth cleaning it up - it's not nice stuff. It won't dry into a powder - in fact, if you start with it as a powder it will absorb water from the air. At a guess CO2 from the air will mostly neutralise it eventually.
OTOH I wouldn't worry about a few drops.
cheers, clive
On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 20:04:35 +0000, Clive George wrote (in article ):
Anyone know what'll get this stuff off...stuff...? It seems to make some sort of soapy film that dosn't seem to want to wash off!
Water.
Vinegar will help neutralise it, but be careful and try not to replace your excess caustic soda problem with an excess vinegar problem :-).
The soapy film is the stuff reacting with fat, including the stuff in your fingers, making soap.
cheers, clive
The soapy feeling is the ends of your fingers dissolving in the Sodium Hydroxide.
Its a crystalline salt, so it will never evaporate. Its corrosive, and if it gets into the wall plaster youll have a permanent damp patch as salts are hygroscopic. Sorry!
Acids neutralise the alkaline aspect of it, but you'll still have salts there.
NT
A frequently refreshed wet towel.Used several times.
Caustic soda eats aluminium. If it's a gas cooker and any of the fittings are aluminium (more likely to be brass, I'd say), then I'd get worrying...
On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 19:36:22 +0000, Mark wrote (in article ):
Thanks for all replies guys. Things don't seem too bad after all. I've bought a huge bottle of vinegar from Tesco and will douse everything in it (bit smelly though!).
Thanks again.
And even more interesting it reacts with aluminium giving off lots of hydrogen gas! I once made the mistake of putting some in an aluminium saucepan and it bubbled away merrily for a few minutes then the bottom fell out of the pan! Good way to make hydrogen though if you need it.
Don't know if everybody's newsreader displays the same but in my case, this thread is on top of the one asking about cleaning old teracotta floor tiles - would the caustic soda drip onto the tiles and clean them? :o)
John
Sodium Bicarbonate is good for neutralising both acids and alkalis, and doesn't leave any smell behind.
Why would it be good for neutralising alkalis?
David
Cos it's amphoteric, sheesh doesn't everyone know that ;-)
Well I'm sure I would have done when I did my chemistry A-level! But's it not a word which has passed my lips (or troubled my grey cells) in 30 years...
Thanks for the reminder David
spray with a dilute acid..vinegar.
That will leave something like sodiun acetate behind, which is pretty harmless and soluble.
On another thought..carbonic acid? fizzy water? that would end up as sodium carbonate. You can cook with that!
I would definitely attempt to neutralize the stuff by washing with something vaguely acidic. Then wash some more.
It wont damage bricks/mortar/plaster, but it wont do organics much good.
Thats it reacting with your skin turning the fats into soaps.
use vinegar, lemon juice, descaler..any mild acid.
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