hpc - 15-7-2004 at 07:42
I use sodium hydroxide as a degreasing agent on stainless steel. Is there anything I can add to it that will act as a rinsing agent? Foaming agent? I
have not tried alcohol with it yet because I'm not sure if the fumes will be toxic. Any ideas?
DDTea - 15-7-2004 at 07:46
I really don't know, because I have had a very similar problem. The NaOH will react with the various greases and fats and oils to saponify them,
no? And the soaps thus created are very gooey and difficult to remove--at least the Castor Oil soap was. Methanol did not work to remove it. What
most detergents/degreasers do is to react with the greases to form something that is water soluble, and then use the water to rinse.
Degreaser
MadHatter - 15-7-2004 at 07:52
I use NaOH in a 5% solution for really tough degreasing jobs.
It's an excellent emulsifier although I cannot speak to mixing
it with an alcohol.
Tacho - 15-7-2004 at 11:48
Ethanol and NaOH don't make any toxic fumes.
BromicAcid - 15-7-2004 at 15:23
You could probably add your favorite foamy soap to the mix for a foaming agent. I doubt any toxic fumes would result but it would depend on the soap
(Just like I thought bleach and Palmolive dish soap would not react and they scared me away with chlorine gas...) Basified solutions of ethanol are
good for cleaning glassware so they should clean stainless fairly good, but they are stronger then the corresponding solution in water so be warned,
mixing a little ethanol with your water solution though may make your solution behave better in that ethanol is decent at dissolving some grease
itself.
hpc - 19-7-2004 at 10:23
Thanks ya'll. I'm going to try the ethanol method. BromicAcid, I already tried adding soap, Palmolive worked good, and it really helps it
foam. I clean the hood-vents in restaraunts and some of them can really be covered with grease. I spray the solution on, let it set for a few minutes
and then pressure wash it off. By the way, if ya'll ever need tatoos removed, my 3500 psi washer will do it just fine
Alkaline cleaners
chloric1 - 20-7-2004 at 03:45
What you need is some surfactants. www.chemistrystore.com sells nonionic and ionic sufactants. You may want to try Triton 100 or Sodium Lauryl sulfate. THese are not suspicious to
order and they are nonhazardous shipping. As far as heavy duty cleaning I have had good results from Sodium Metasilicate and various alkaline
phosphates. The Chemistry Store has these too. Also, check out there Sodium Percarbonate, this stuff is great fro wahing your underwear! I have used
it without fail since summer of 2000! It is not as strong as bleach so it might miss heavy soils but the benefit is it can be used on colors and it is
safe for most fabrics except silk maybe.
Magpie - 20-7-2004 at 18:12
I think what you are looking for is a recipe for do-it-yourself oven cleaner. My wife sprayed this from an aerosol can into our oven before we got
the self-clean type. As I remember it was loaded with NaOH, and for a foam I would think a detergent such as sodium lauryl sulfate, as mentioned
above, would do.
Degreaser
MadHatter - 20-7-2004 at 23:16
Most degreasers are sodium-based. I still think the best ones are
based on NaOH. I clean really tough grease off buses with these.
Easy-Off, the oven cleaner is an NaOH foam which does a good
job when nothing else will.
Nevermore - 21-7-2004 at 15:14
i found out that NaOH and Na2CO3 work way better when they are together..
i don't know why..
metasilicate
chloric1 - 22-7-2004 at 14:26
I guess I am biased but I like the metasilicate. I think it has abrasive qualities along with being strongly alklaline. It may also serve as a
anitcorrosion agent. By the way it is not wise to get the metasilicate solutions too hot they may drop silca. Trisodium phosphate is alomst like
NaOH but it does not screw up the skin as quickly. Phosphates have peculiar chelating an sequesterin properties.