Multipurpose cleaners review

Part of the reason Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) is preferred over Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) is that it removes the Sodium (Na) ion from the formulation leading to less soil salinity issues when the water that ends up containing it is recycled for plants. In this case the K is a plant beneficial inclusion. So if a family/person use a grey water system, a septic system, or the local authorities recycle used water for gardening purposes many may prefer the KOH formulation.

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Some more good science, thanks @grahroll

I was curious as to what concentrations other cleaners might use KOH at or applications. You spurred me on.

While EcoWorx claim some support for their product from UNSW and a Doctoral graduate, I’d like to see you a Doctor and raise you an Associate Professor!

http://www.dmsc.com.au/dmsc/reports/Report_Clean-In-Place-review_Deakin-University.pdf

So Deakin may have a counter claim to fame here other than UNSW. If you care to read the long paper from 2005!

KOH has a history as a cleaning agent. It’s reduced impact on the environment compared to other agents is known as @grahroll has reminded us, but possibly lacked more general use in the past as it has been a more expensive chemical to procure.

The Deakin produced report lists a number of KOH based commercial cleaning products available in 2004 and used in the food or beverages industry. It is a good read for anyone interested in commercial cleaning products, which unlike household products need to perform 100% without the need for clever marketing.

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You are correct in principle but I wonder if this is significant given the very dilute nature of the product. I would be much more concerned about getting rid of dishwasher and laundry products that can contain quite high quantities of sodium carbonate. This product is not a replacement for those. I would be cautious about putting any strong acid or base into a septic or AWTS as the biome needs a stable pH to function properly.

Having an AWTS my practice is to not put any kind of chemical into it other than soap, washing powder and washing-up liquid, this removes the need to read the contents and do research to find out which products will kill my soil or the biome of my system. Half a bucket of disinfectant or a cup of oven cleaner (mainly NaOH) will kill your system overnight. Yes it will recover but the system will not be working properly while it does. I recommend this principle to everybody who has such a system.

We go for low sodium washing powder and I care not about the amount of phosphorus as it is being discontinued by the industry and will not pollute waterways in my case anyway. Phosphorus is fertiliser too.

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An article regarding DIY natural home cleaning products.

https://homes.nine.com.au/2018/06/01/12/36/diy-natural-cleaning-hacks-to-replace-harmful-chemicals

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I used to use a multipurpose cleaner to clean the BBQ (not the cooking plates/grill but everything else). This included the stainless steel hood and panels. It was a tiresome process. One day purely by accident, I used a damp cloth that I forgot to rinse out the laundry powder out of and found it cut through and cleaned the SS far better, easier and a quicker than the multipurpose cleaner.

Now that’s all I do. Bucket of warm water with a small amount of laundry powder added, using a cloth clean the SS. I suspect it could be the enzymes and detergents which better break down the brownish oil residuee which tend to accumulate on the SS.

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I discovered the same, using a powder seems to work better than a liquid for some reason?

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Another cleaning hack revealed.

https://homes.nine.com.au/2019/03/01/15/36/cleaning-tips-burnt-saucepan-stain-removal-trick

image

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Caustc soda is cheaper and works just as well on stainless. Not recommended for aluminium as it will slowly over time corrode/dissolve the metal.

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The problem with caustic soda is that it is not very user friendly.

Whilst in high school, when my best friend and I who were both brilliant in chemistry and constantly experimented with all the chemicals we could access, I once spilled some caustic soda on the dining room floor linoleum. It absorbed moisture from the air and destroyed the surface pattern much to my mother’s absolute horror.

That is apart from the danger to users and anyone accidentaly coming into contact with it.

Best used as a drain cleaner.

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Neither is dishwasher powder/tablet. There are safety issues with these due to their alkaline nature. They can burn skin


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I have seen several references to using dishwashing tablets to clean, including one where the promoter was holding the damp dishwashing tablet in her bare hand and rubbing it on an oven door until it was completely dissolved!

Clearly these people have no appreciation of how caustic and dangerous dishwashing tablets and powder is. I I think it is irresponsible to promote the use of dishwashing tablets and powder like this.

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Agree
and haven’t read the writing on the side of the packaging nor the MSDS for the products


https://www.aldi.com.au/fileadmin/fm-dam/images/Safety_Data_Sheets/2016/Batch_1/49115_LOGIX_Complete_Dishwashing_Tablet_10_in_1_30_pk_540g_02176_1.0.pdf

ETC

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All these warnings about using caustic soda are valid. This is a very dangerous substance.

  • Never use it on any aluminium or aluminium alloy, it will dissolve the metal quickly and produce hydrogen gas. No only will it wreck your pots but you may get an explosion too in the right circumstances.

  • Never use it as drain cleaner or pour leftovers down the drain if you have a septic or AWTS sewerage system. It will kill your microbes.

  • Keep it well away from children or clumsy adults. A bit in the eye will cause pain and damage and risk blindness unless washed out quickly with a lot of water. Swallowing is similarly bad, call the poisons hotline right quick. It ain’t called “caustic” for nothing.

  • If you must use it wear gloves and eye protection. Seriously!

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Cook some rhubarb or other acidic fruit in a pan and that will help make the pots and pans shiny. Rhubarb works well because it contains oxalic acid which is a great cleaner and was/is used to bleach stained woods and remove rust from metal objects. It is very poisonous so if using the acid itself care should be taken to avoid ingestion or skin contact. Vinegar boiled also can help do this. Both of the boiling the fruit or the vinegar methods are less dangerous to human flesh contact than the strongly caustic or acidic compounds. The boiling Bicarb and vinegar together is counter productive as they neutralise one another as one is acid (vinegar) and the other alkaline (bicarb), better to use one at a time, or maybe they are trying to lift the stains by the bubbling gas reaction of when the two are mixed (but this is just a minor cleansing action).

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Great tip @grahroll!

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Telephone Alan Jones at 2GB ? :thinking:

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We’ve updated our multi-purpose spray cleaner review. The lowest scoring multi-purpose sprays are pictured below, find the best sprays here: http://bit.ly/2HwKfxs

Don’t forget to use the filters on the left to sort products for your needs, including which sprays are enviro-friendly :leaves:.

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It is impressive how many companies manage to develop, package, and even sell products that appear to be essentially as good as (OK, just a tad better than) water!

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As a person I know said in the 1970’s, you can sell sh*t wrapped up in silver paper so long as you use the right story.

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Wasn’t sure where to place this so this thread seemed a good choice. I have noticed that Big W sell a line of cleaning products that are produced/licenced by Method Products PBC. They all start with the name ‘method’ eg method¼ Bathroom Cleaner. Have they been included in the cleaning products tests done by CHOICE? Is it worthwhile including the range in any future tests run by CHOICE. How do their products really stack up and do their claims of environmental sensitivity really meet the spin.

The Bathroom Cleaner has the claim on the label “with non-toxic plant-based Powergreen¼ technology”. Website for the product home is methodhome.com

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