We have this chandelier in the dining room with about 12 little bulbs in it and it has all these little glass do-dads hanging off it it. It is filthy, but I really cannot think of some way to clean it easily without taking an entire day to do it.
Because of the sockets, I can't see putting it in the dishwasher which would make it easier. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to try, or is it gallon of gas and a match time for the poor thing? LOL.
Use a 50:50 mix of rubbing alcohol and clear household ammonia and dip an old toothbrush into it and scrub each piece clean. Dry with paper towels. Spread a plastic sheet underneath or open an umbrella upside down to catch the drips. Keep the switch in the OFF position. After it is completely dry (you may want to wait a few hours) turn on the chandelier and inspect your work. Yeah, it is time-consuming tedious work, especially working on a ladder. I use this same cleaning solution and toothbrush to clean my computer keyboard, unplugged of course. This cleaning mixture dries with no residue, provided you use the soapless household ammonia.
Not that this helps, but in the cafeteria of the office where I work, they have about a dozen 1928-era chandeliers, with at least 24 bulbs each, and probably 50 pounds of glass doodads hanging off them. Being about 20 feet above the floor, they are mounted on winches so they can be lowered to floor level for their once-a-year cleaning, which takes 2 people about half a day per lamp. They do it with spray bottles of ? and white rags.
If you do field-strip it to clean it, a coat of wax may make the dust hang on less well.
Dave Mitton wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Special chandelier spray cleaners are sold in many lighting stores. They are supposed to be formulated to allow for drip-drying and require no hands on effort beyond spraying the fixture liberally. The general instructions call for placing a plastic sheet or other wetproof material beneath the fixture. Bulbs are to be removed and the sockets filled with crumpled paper towel. Obviously, the electric power should be turned off.
I've used this type of spray several times. I works fine if the crystals are not too dirty, but otherwise the spray can't take the dirt off and you have to resort to white cotton gloves.
What I've done in the past is squirt the spray cleaner onto the gloves and go over each crystal pendant with the dampened gloves. Yes, a pain in the butt and time consuming!
The best way I've found? Take the chandelier down and hang it from a tree limb in my back yard. Squirt it with Windex or chandelier spray (I think the kind I used was called "Sparkle Plenty," no kidding) and then spray it with the hose and let it hang until dry. Then rehang.
Yes, this is a HUGE pain in the butt but it sure gets it clean. I did it when I first bought the chandelier at a garage sale. It was in an open cardboard box, partly dissassembled, covered with heavy dust and dirt. I got it for $50. I reassembled it, replaced a half-dozen or so missing crystals, cleaned it off. I've priced new ones for over $1,000, so the work was well worthwhile.
I took mine down, hung it up from a tree limb in the yard, removed the fake "candle" bodies that support the bulb sockets, sprayed the whole thing thoroughly with some general purpose cleaner (409 or the generic equivalent), let it soak for a while, and then sprayed it with the garden hose. After letting the sockets dry out for a few days I reinstalled it. No problems at all and only one little dangly-down bit fell off but was easily replaced. Good for another 40 years. But I'll surely be dead by then and it will be someone else's problem...
I suppose the whole process could be carried out in the shower where you'd gain the benefit of hot water for the rinse. But DO make sure that the sockets and wiring are thoroughly dry before re-installing.
Do those little glass do-dads come off? We've got one in our dining room that you can remove the glass pieces and wash just them in the dishwasher. Do it every few months. They're held in place with little rubber caps on the rods that old them.
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