Bleach and caustic.

[Weatherlawyer]

How much caustic soda can you dissolve in hot water? I wish to use it on my sink occasionally and don't want a chunk of sediment building up in there.

The other thing I wish to know is how much water do I need to dilute thick bleach with to make it usable in washing machines?

For all I know, both products are the same strength and the one is designed to adhere to porcelain. But in that case why would anyone supply both sorts?

An how long is a piece of sting question: What quantity should I place in the really large washing machines used in Laundrettes?

There doesn't appear to be a determining factor at my local one. I watched the woman working there load a small machine to the gunnels with soap powder and realised asking her would be silly.

[Simon Mason]

You can dissolve Sodium Hydroxide pellets in water, but I wouldn't recommend it as it is highly exothermic and dangerous if splashed on skin.

[The Natural Philosopher]

More than exists is the whole world.

Why would caustic soda cause a sediment?

I would say the Pacific ocean is probably the sort of volume you should be thinking of.

For all you know the moon is made of green cheese and the Mediterranean is a wine lake.

Holy crap. You cant afford a washing machine, yet you can afford a computer?

Mate, you are weird, and obviously not in touch with the real* world. I have seen this behaviour come and go, so I infer that perhaps you are on medication, except when you forget.

Take it, wait for it to work, and come back and ask the question again.

*at least the world that most people here agree is real.

[Chris Bartram]

That was the only bit that (sort of) made sense to me. If you add it to water too quickly and/or without stirring enough, in can form clumps rather than dissolving. Of course, you should be able to see the clumps before you pour them into the sink, and the answer to "how much to dissolve" is "read the instructions"...

[tabbypurr]

wikipedia will give you the solubility

it doesn't build up, it's soluble

none. But thin bleach is better suited. Except in machines that don't tolerate bleach.

wild guess here: because they're different chemicals with different propoerties?

...how long is a piece of string. Depends what you're trying to achieve.

Most people use far too much of it.

NT

[Simon Mason]

You could put some 40% HCl in the sink to clear it. :-0

[The Natural Philosopher]

and it doesn't matter if it does form clumps. Just add boiling water and they soon go.

[newshound]

The correct way to make a dilute solution is to add granules to a small amount of water (a chemist would use a round bottomed pyrex flask) and swish around until they dissolve. The solution almost reaches boiling point. When it is all dissolved, dilute as required. Nasty stuff, use with great care.

Why would you want to? Chlorine won't do the seals (door and bearing) and hoses any good at all

[AnthonyL]

I've just started using soda crystals more regularly, am I wasting my time?

[Malcolm Race]

+1

As chemist I would say NEVER add swoild caustic soda (soudium hydroxider) to hot water. the action of dissolving releases heat and can easily boil the water. The hot solution (and even when cold) attacks the skin making it (in the first instance) feel soapy. To make a solution add the solid a little at a time stirring constantly until you have dissolved the required quantity. While doing this wear goggles and gloves. Any splashes on the skin should be washed off immediatelywith copious amounts of cold water.

Malcolm

[tabbypurr]

which helps it attack the muck in the drain.

NT

[Alan Dawes]

"Soda crystals" (formerly called washing soda) are sodium carbonate not caustic soda which is sodium hydroxide. However since sodium carbonate is made from a strong alkali (sodium hydroxide) and a weak acid (carbonic acid) when dissolve in water the solution of sodium carbonate will be alkaline but not as strongly alkaline as a similar concentration of sodum hydroxide.

Alan

[The Natural Philosopher]

Washing soda is in fact what you get when you pass water through an ion exchange softener. Calcium carbonate plus sodium chloride gives sodium carbonate and calcium chloride. Sodium carbonate is much more soluble in water, and doesn't react with soaps to form scum.

And in fact is basically a water softener. Wiki has a nice level of detail

"It is used as a water softener in laundering: it competes with the magnesium and calcium ions in hard water and prevents them from bonding with the detergent being used, but doesn't prevent scaling.[14] Sodium carbonate can be used to remove grease, oil, and wine stains."

[AnthonyL]

Yes I know the products are different and that wasn't my question.

[newshound]

Washing soda is still quite alkaline, it does help to clear grease especially with regular use. Arguably a better strategy than waiting for a blockage and then trying to blitz with caustic soda.

[Andrew]

As others have said, it is exothermic, so there is a risk that it could raise the temperature of the water to boiling without warning.

This is a really nasty accident waiting to happen.

[Andrew Gabriel]

A little dishwasher detergent (powder or liquid) works well. Even clothes washing detergent works well.

Check your washing machine instructions. Bleach will damage GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) that many washing machine outer drums af made from. You don't want thick bleach - that's thin bleach with a thickener added to stick to porcelain for longer. It doesn't indicate anything about the strength.

If you want to bleach clothes, you would normally presoak them in a bleach solution before washing. The bleach container will tell you the strength to use.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , [e-mail] escribió:

I think

is already taken.

[The Natural Philosopher]

well I certainly wont be buying it from you.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Just out of curiosity I checked 'whois' both with Mikes incorrect spelling and with the correct spelling.

The domain is not taken: So another provable lie.

*plonk*