Cleaning Hacks. Sort of OT

I’ve seen this a lot. I can only assume it comes from folk who didn’t pay attention at school.

Tim

That's obvious.

No, a solution of sodium salts.

and sodium citrate or whatever.

Baking soda paste on its own is a mild abrasive. Add vinegar in situ and it might lift some cosmetic dirt but will end up as dilute sodium acetate. Toothpaste will be almost as good.

Alumina suspension is a whole lot better trade name Cif. Variant sold for ceramic hobs is quite good for glass.

And chrome polish or T-cut is finer still.

Various solvents and reducing acids will take out certain stains. Some of the more effective ones are now banned (toxic/carcinogenic).

Never underestimate the power of microwaving a half lemon to get stubborn marks out of a microwave oven. Citral vapour is a remarkably good and relatively safe solvent for baked on oily gunge.

Often seen as a remedy for clearing a blocked sink drain, the idea being that the frothing pushes the blockage out. I doubt if a sink is that blocked any frothing would provide enough pressure.

Coka Cola cleans pennies. Brian

I have to laugh when Brian Blesseds voice advertises what sounds like Flash white Dung or something like that. Brian

Highly unlikely to do any good. Neat caustic or a gel formulation is the best best (wear gloves and eye protection - it is unforgiving).

Blocked sink drain == use a "snake"

I have two snakes here, for blockages. One has a bit of an auger on the end, for working through a plug-up of some material. The second one is the steel band type, for working with smaller plumbing that cannot take the auger on a bend.

For a blocked frozen sump line, use a snake, then strap a

So the snake can also be used as a leader, for dragging other stuff down a pipe.

The problem with chemical formulations, is some of them damage the pipes and cause "pinholes" to appear in the medal. For example, in a bathroom basin, say a P-trap metal tube, that metal will react with your strong chemical. The company making the chemical does not care, because it's not their sink!!! If the entire path was made of iron pipe, or black plastic pipe, the chemical might well be OK.

The reason I mention it, is the pipes back home were damaged by that crap, and I was the guy to discover where the pinholes were located :-/ Senseless damage.

Is using a snake messy ? Does it constitute "work" ???

Yes :-/

No more chemicals for me, thanks. Imagine cleaning your snake later, when it is coated with conc sodium hydroxide from the chemical. That's what happens when you get a call to auger through an attempted chemical cure. Yes, you do have to clean the snake. Or it'll stink where ever you keep it.

Paul

Always handy to have a length of net curtain wire - effectively a metres long thin spring with a plastic covering that is robust enough to push through gunge.

Depends on the chemical, that doesn't happen with caustic soda.

Plumber mate of mine used to tip an entire winchester of conc nitric acid down a blocked drain, from the chem store at work. That doesn't affect metal either.

Never heard that one! Intrigued, thanks.

Lemon peel would be sufficient, I guess? Citral sounds like in the peel, not in the flesh...

Thomas Prufer

The French use English Brown sauce for cleaning Brass etc. They laugh at the thought of actually eating it.

Andrew

As we do about eating snails and frogs' legs.

The frothing causes no pressure as it's not constrained. Baking soda does have some cleaning ability with clothes & carpet, have used it now & then when other things didn't work. But like any magic natural cleaner, it's a rubbish general purpose cleaner, more a specific treatment.