Cillit Bang - is it as good as it seems from the adverts?

[Ian Johnston]

: That's because copper coins aren't copper, afaik.

Copper plated steel, these days.

Ian

[Andy Dingley]

They used to be bronze, now they're copper over steel. As far as the surface goes, they still clean as for copper.

Cillit bang is useful stuff, but it's well overpriced and you can buy the same thing much more cheaply without the brand name.

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

There's some fun to be had with two 2p coins and a magnet - find one which is copper and one which is steel. Use a magnet to show someone that a 2p coin can be picked up with a magnet then switch the coins and let them try it.

Si

[Mary Fisher]

Last week I accidentally splashed a copper pitcher which hasn't been cleaned for thirty or so years with Harpic lime scale remover. The effct was amazing, spots of the classic salmon pink pure metal showed. I made a very weak solution and immersed the whole item in it, it worked like a dream.

Somewhere I have some Brasso ...

Mary

[The Natural Philosopher]

Of course it isn't.

Its a fancey name for waterred d=own poofed up basic chemicals at 20 times the price.

By teh chemicals instead.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Phosphoric acid probably then.

Just about any acid is excellent at removing limescale.

[Mary Fisher]

This is one of your posts you don't want to be taken seriously I take it since you can't be arsed to make corrections and make communication efficient.

[Andy Dingley]

Phosphoric acid won't remove rust at all. Instead it converts it to phosphides. If you've already wire brushed it to remove the bulk, then this might give you a useful surface for painting, but it's _stabilisation_, rather than removal.

The best acid for careful de-rusting is citric. Sulphamic acid, as used in most descalers, isn't bad either. Hydrochloric (aka muriatic or brick acid) is pretty lousy in comparison.

But if you really want to de-rust, use electrolysis. Easy and the results are vastly better.

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

So what is the non-brand name stuff sold as?

It's certainly not the same as limescale remover as we did a comparason test between Viakal and Cillit and the cillit was better.

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

Dunno what it is but try rubbing a rusty bit of metal with fine wire wool and cillit!

sponix

[Andy Dingley]

One of Lidl's is very similar. Or you can mix your own from sulphamic acid and surfactants.

For some reason, nearly all supermarket descalers seem to carry huge markups. My sulphamic acid is some MrKwikkyKleen stuff from the ironmongers and is half the price.

Do they still have ironmongers South of Watford ?

[graham]

If you washed yourself with Cilit Bang you wouldn't get any grubbiness on the shower base and you would need to clean it.

(:-)

Graham

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

Now there's a good idea that I would never have thought of!

Si

[Aidan]

Which chemicals? Where would one buy them? Suppliers of bulk chemicals are often reluctant to supply Joe Public.

There used to be a US-based website which sold recipes for domestic cleaners and empty bottles. The idea was that you bought the chemicals in bulk and mixed them according to what type of cleaner you wanted by following the recipe. It's shut down now, so I assume they weren't making a pile of $ from it.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Our hardware store sells most stuff.

I have so far got:-

Hydrochloric acod (brick patio cleaner) Sulphuric acid (drain cleaner, car battery acid) caustic soda (drain unblocker etc. Works as good as Mr Muscle on burnt fat) Ammonia (window cleaning) Acetic acid (vinegar) Sulphamic and other organic acids (bulk sold as descalers) Raw detergent (industral cleaning) Sodium hypchlorite (bleach)

Did you know you can make your won Swarfega from paraffin and washing up liquid? the BEST ever way to clean oily grime off things...

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

Is that what it's based on? That's interesting.

Si

[Mary Fisher]

It's not, the diy recipe was suggested to us in the late 1960s. We tried it, it stank and wasn't as efficient as the proprietory stuff.

Spouse prefers Manuka (?) now anyway.

Mary

[Richard Tobin]

Given a handful of coppers of varying ages, you can demonstrate that magnets only attract shiny metal.

Worked better a few years ago.

-- Richard

[Andy Dingley]

That's now part of the national curriculum.

[Mary Fisher]

What about rusty iron?

Mary