Update on cleaing Astralux-type kitchen sinks

[MM]

In 2005 I complained about my Astralux kitchen sink in my new house and the hard job it is getting it clean, compared to stainless steel, ceramic or enamel.

On Saturday I happened to see a new product in Wilkinson called Astonish Oven and Cookware Cleaner. This is a mildy abrasive paste in a tub, not unlike the stuff I once used to lap in valves. But it is the *first* cleaning product that actually works on the sink to remove the really stubborn stains! I actually purchased the product for cleaning stainless steel pots and pans, then I thought I'd just try a little on the sink, with one of those rough scouring pads (not Brillo pads!) and it's ruddy hard work, but there *is* a definite improvement.

MM

[NT]

[polygonum]

Yes - it does help. But the seed with which it looks horrible again is a) depressing; b) a reason to buy shares in Astonish.

[Chris K]

Try keeping a spray bottle of bleach or Dettox/Dettol handy for a daily application. Kills the brown coffeee/tea type stains.

Dark scuffs from Aluminium (and other metal?) pans succumb to with Caustic soda or Caustic Soda based oven sprays like Mr Muscle spray can. (Al dissolves in Caustic Soda).

Seems to be all ours needs.

CK

[MM]

liberally coating the horizontal 'draining board' section and leaving it for a few hours. Stains still there. The stains are usually minute brown flecks, almost like rust spots. The paste gets rid of them, though! But you have to rub REALLY hard!

As for the 'biological washing powder paste' suggestion, now that is a new one on me and could well work. I'll give it a go.

The basic problem is the ruddy material! Half the houses in our road have replaced their sinks with stainless steel or ceramic ones, these Astralux ones are SO crap.

MM

[MM]

I haven't tried the caustic soda approach, either. But I will, thanks!

MM

[Frank Erskine]

Hardly "new" - it was a recommended cleaner for my now five year old Bosch ceramic hob. :-)

[MM]

New to me, though! I only happened on it by chance. (I was actually looking for something completely different.)

MM

[NT]

A lor of people say that. But once you get it clean and then use the right chemicals, they're actually not hard to keep clean.

I would definitely caution against _any_ rubbing really hard. Astralux is plastic coated steel, plastics are fairly soft, and anything other than gentle treatment roughens the surface, making it harder to clean. You need to rely entirely on getting the rigiht chemical for whatever the dirt is.

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

Bleach is useless as a cleaner (usually it looks like it worked because it took the colour out of the dirt, but it has no dirt-lifting properties). It's also good at damaging many materials over time.

Dishwasher detergent (powder or cream, not tablets) is very effective at cleaning kitchen sinks, and very easy, but keep away from aluminium. Clothes washing detergent (again, powder or cream) can also work well.

I've never used one, but it may be that some inappropriate cleaning at some point has made the surface more susceptable to dirt sticking. That's common with many finishes, which are often not as bullet- proof as they might at first appear.

[charles]

and bleach is the active ingredient.

[polygonum]

Agreed about inappropriate cleaning - but if that is where you have ended up, what can you do? Is there any possible re-finish technique?

And the inappropriate technique is very likely to have been used when ordinary things seemed not to work.

[NT]

With Astralux its just a matter of using the right ordinary things. Its fussy.

NT