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NT
Bleaches:
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Bleaches sterilise and remove dirt's colour, but don't remove the dirt itself. The remaining bleached dirt acts as a lodging place for more dirt, hence items cleaned with bleach get dirty quicker. Bleaches are useful when all other attempts to remove the dirt have failed. Bleaches are also to some extent toxic and antibacterial.
===Chlorine bleach=== The most common household bleach. Irritant to lungs, exacerbates asthma.
Contact with acids releases toxic chlorine gas (chlorine was used for chemical warfare in WW1). Toilet cleaners are usually acidic, and must not be mixed with bleach.
Discolours and damages many fabrics, particularly natural fabrics and natural dyes. A mild environmental toxin. Kills bacteria and moulds.
Thick bleach is not a stronger bleach mix, it is bleach with detergent, thickener and pH buffer.
Minimum cost bleaches lack the pH buffer usually addded to other bleaches. The buffer minimises release of chlorine gas when mild acid is added.
If you ever encounter unpleasant or choking fumes from bleach, leave immediately. Don't wait to work out what happened or sort it out, as little as a few breaths can kill.
===Milton=== Milton solution is 1% chlorine bleach, 16.5% salt. Tablets are Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate. Kills bacteria, fungi, viri and spores. Tablets can be used to disinfect drinking water, 1 tablet in 32 litres. Milton is a higher purity grade than basic cleaning bleach, intended for food handling equipment.
===Hydrogen Peroxide=== Hydrogen peroxide avoids most of the downsides of chlorine bleaches, and does not discolour fabrics. Oxygen bleach can be used in laundry & hair bleaching. Not as powerful as chlorine bleach, and not such an effective antibacterial.
Forms toxic compounds when combined with many common materials: avoid contact with wood, asbestos, soil, rust, copper, iron, steel, alcohol, and other cleaning agents. Rinse away well after use. Can cause serious eye injury.
===Sun & soap=== Soaping clothes and hanging them in sunlight while wet can bleach discolouration not removed by chlorine or oxygen bleaches. Its slow, taking many hours. The clothes should be kept wet or [[damp]]. The uv in sunlight also has some sterilising effect. This was a standard way to bleach clothes before the introduction of household chlorine bleach.
Traditionally the clothes were placed on grass rather than on a clothes line. This slows drying so they need spraying with water less often to keep them wet.
===Electrolysed salt=== Electrolysed salt water makes a dilute chlorine bleach solution. Can be used for sterilisation, as with food grade salt the result is of good purity.
===Chloride of Lime===
- aka bleaching powder.
- The forerunner of today's liquid bleaches.
- Dissolves to make a bleach.
- Dessicant, store in a tightly closed container
- Can be used as a deicer, can prevent freezing down to -52C
- Cacl is used as tyre liquid in tractors
- CaCl accelerates concrete setting, but corrodes rebar
- Powder containing calcium chloride & calcium hypochlorite or chlorinated calcium hydroxide.
===Borax=== Borax produces hydrogen peroxide in solution.
- It also has cleaning and antibacterial effects.
- warm solution removes stains of blood, chocolate, coffee, mildew and urine
- mix with citric acid to remove rust stains
==See also==
- [[Acid]]
[[Category:Cleaning]] [[Category:Chemicals]] [[Category:Laundry]]