How to clean rough ceramic

[D.M. Procida]

I have some ceramic electrical insulation, that is a bit discoloured and I would like to clean up.

It has a rough unglazed surface.

What do you suggest?

Thanks,

Daniele

[Rob Morley]

Brick acid?

[newshound]

Ceramic insulation is normally glazed at least on the external surfaces. Is it still in service as an insulator? If so I would be cautious about trying to clean it chemically or mechanically.

Obsolete insulators sometimes acquire corrosion products from metallic parts, either green from copper or brown from steel. As someone else said, brick acid should get rid of those, perhaps with some brushing.

[Marland]

An old fashioned toothpaste with a bit of roughness to it,not one of the gel types.

GH

[Brian Reay]

It rather depends what the muck is.

I?d try a strong solution of detergent first and a scrub, to remove any oil/grease and surface stuff. Anything left will be absorbed into the unglazed ceramic and more of a problem. May be bleach- it seems to work on tile grout, my wife used it on the old tiled floor we had (it had wide grout lines and seemed to stain).

[tabbypurr]

If it's old, beware, a lot had near zero tensile strength and will crumble just from doing a screw up. 1st move I'd recommend is dishwasher. It's effortless and removes a lot of things.

NT