how to remove alkaline battery residue

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Between the combination of the hotest day in many years and really bad batch
of alkaline batteries, I have several devices with a crystaline residue from
the batteries leaking.

Besides brushing with a succession of stiffer brushes, is there some chemical
that can safely remove it? It's all on metal contacts in plastic, but some are
surrounded by anodized aluminium.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must order
dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Besides brushing with a succession of stiffer brushes,
is there some chemical that can safely remove it? It's
all on metal contacts in plastic, but some are surrounded
by anodized aluminium.

Ordinary household ammonia on a Q-tip with dissolve it. I usually follow
that with an isopropyl alcohol flush.

Possible problem... Aluminum can be attacked by ammonia and other alkaline
solvents. So, be careful.

 

[Adrian Tuddenham]

William Sommerwerck <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote:

Besides brushing with a succession of stiffer brushes,
is there some chemical that can safely remove it? It's
all on metal contacts in plastic, but some are surrounded
by anodized aluminium.

Ordinary household ammonia on a Q-tip with dissolve it. I usually follow
that with an isopropyl alcohol flush.

Possible problem... Aluminum can be attacked by ammonia and other alkaline
solvents. So, be careful.

Plain tap water with a nylon scouring pad seems to work. Alcohol can
then be used to remove the water.

--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

 

[ian field]

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm@mendelson.com> wrote in message
news:slrni7isgn.hrd.gsm@cable.mendelson.com...

William Sommerwerck wrote:

Ordinary household ammonia on a Q-tip with dissolve it. I usually follow
that with an isopropyl alcohol flush.

Possible problem... Aluminum can be attacked by ammonia and other
alkaline
solvents. So, be careful.

Thanks, anything else? Ammonia is restricted here. :-(

Isn't acid the opposite of alkaline.......

Such as ordinary acetic acid (vinegar) found in any kitchen.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:34:04 +0000 (UTC), "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
<gsm@mendelson.com> wrote:

William Sommerwerck wrote:

Ordinary household ammonia on a Q-tip with dissolve it. I usually follow
that with an isopropyl alcohol flush.

Possible problem... Aluminum can be attacked by ammonia and other alkaline
solvents. So, be careful.

Thanks, anything else? Ammonia is restricted here. :-(
Geoff.

As long as you don't make any ammonium nitrate fertilizer and diesel
fuel bombs. Be glad that it's restricted because the "ammoniated'
cleaner will streak the anti-reflective coating on some LCD displays.
It's almost impossible to find glass cleaner in the US that does NOt
have ammonia in the formulation.

The electrolyte in alkaline batteries is KOH (potassium hydroxide)
which is NOT very soluable in liquid ammonia. What does the cleaning
in most spray cleaners is n-PropoxyPropanol, which is a form of
alcohol. Looks like 409 spray cleaner has ammonia in the form of
ammonium chloride:
<http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/products/msds/409products/formula409antibacallpurposecleaner807.pdf>

I use 409, Fantastik, or similar cleaner. If it foams when it hits
the KOH, it's working.
<http://www.ehow.com/how_2341688_clean-battery-leakage.html>
<http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Battery-Leaks/Spills>

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

 

[Jim Yanik]

"ian field" <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote in
news:N5feo.132535$S46.76190@hurricane:

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm@mendelson.com> wrote in message
news:slrni7isgn.hrd.gsm@cable.mendelson.com...
William Sommerwerck wrote:

Ordinary household ammonia on a Q-tip with dissolve it. I usually
follow that with an isopropyl alcohol flush.

Possible problem... Aluminum can be attacked by ammonia and other
alkaline
solvents. So, be careful.

Thanks, anything else? Ammonia is restricted here. :-(

even household ammonia? sheesh.

Isn't acid the opposite of alkaline.......

Such as ordinary acetic acid (vinegar) found in any kitchen.

vinegar works great. and a lot easier to use than nasty ammonia with it's
fumes.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

William Sommerwerck wrote:

Ordinary household ammonia on a Q-tip with dissolve it. I usually follow
that with an isopropyl alcohol flush.

Possible problem... Aluminum can be attacked by ammonia and other alkaline
solvents. So, be careful.

Thanks, anything else? Ammonia is restricted here. :-(

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must order
dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Adrian Tuddenham wrote:

Plain tap water with a nylon scouring pad seems to work. Alcohol can
then be used to remove the water.

Thanks, I'll try that.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must order
dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

Ordinary household ammonia on a Q-tip with dissolve it.

Please note that I said "household ammonia". Not ammonia, not ammonium
nitrate fertilizer, not any other form of ammonia. Okay?

Although acids neutralize bases, I don't like the idea of using acids inside
electronic equipment. Acids are more-likely to attack metals than bases.

I've been doing this on and off for years, and never had the least trouble.
Household ammonia, followed by some neutral liquid to wash away anything
that might be left.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

As long as you don't make any ammonium nitrate fertilizer and diesel
fuel bombs. Be glad that it's restricted because the "ammoniated'
cleaner will streak the anti-reflective coating on some LCD displays.
It's almost impossible to find glass cleaner in the US that does NOt
have ammonia in the formulation.

It was restricted because there was a spate of people mixing chlorine bleach
and ammonia to clean their toilet. This is a country of immigrants, and
no one could figure out how to write the warning in enough languages that
it would be safe.

Luckily the glass cleaner here is made with vinegar.

The electrolyte in alkaline batteries is KOH (potassium hydroxide)
which is NOT very soluable in liquid ammonia. What does the cleaning
in most spray cleaners is n-PropoxyPropanol, which is a form of
alcohol. Looks like 409 spray cleaner has ammonia in the form of
ammonium chloride:
http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/products/msds/409products/formula409antibacallpurposecleaner807.pdf

Ok, there are some cleaners like that, and maybe one of those.

I use 409, Fantastik, or similar cleaner. If it foams when it hits
the KOH, it's working.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2341688_clean-battery-leakage.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Battery-Leaks/Spills

Great, thanks to you and everyone else for the info and the links.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must order
dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:29:04 +0000 (UTC), "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
<gsm@mendelson.com> wrote:

It was restricted because there was a spate of people mixing chlorine bleach
and ammonia to clean their toilet. This is a country of immigrants, and
no one could figure out how to write the warning in enough languages that
it would be safe.

Teaching them to read Hewbrew would be too expensive? Instead you
get a nation of dirty toilets. I would think that sacrificing a few
immigrants so that the rest could have clean toilets would be a
suitable exchange. I guess international safety symbols won't work
when mixing to non-toxic products. Maybe a toilet with a nuclear
mushroom cloud coming out of the bowl might work.

Well, maybe there's a chemical solution to the problem. Adding any
sulfur compount to the chlorine bleach would be easy. It would be
non-reactive until it hits the ammonia, where it's converted to
ammonium sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stink_bomb>

Luckily the glass cleaner here is made with vinegar.

I have to make my own for cleaning LCD's. Vinegar, filtered water,
cheap rubbing alcohol, a little dish washing soap (for the wetting
agent), and a few drops of kerosene. There are plenty of similar do
it thyself formulas on the web.

Great, thanks to you and everyone else for the info and the links.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

 

[Jerry G.]

I use plain water and scrub the surfaces. After, I rub in some contact
cleaner if there are contacts involved.


Jerry G.



On Aug 28, 2:39 pm, "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <g...@mendelson.com>
wrote:

Between the combination of the hotest day in many years and really bad batch
of alkaline batteries, I have several devices with a crystaline residue from
the batteries leaking.

Besides brushing with a succession of stiffer brushes, is there some chemical
that can safely remove it? It's all on metal contacts in plastic, but some are
surrounded by anodized aluminium.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must order
dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Teaching them to read Hewbrew would be too expensive? Instead you
get a nation of dirty toilets. I would think that sacrificing a few
immigrants so that the rest could have clean toilets would be a
suitable exchange. I guess international safety symbols won't work
when mixing to non-toxic products. Maybe a toilet with a nuclear
mushroom cloud coming out of the bowl might work.

Teaching them Hebrew is a national industry for the last 15 years the cost
of abosrbing new immigrants has exceeded the defense budget. Schools of
Hebrew are called "ulpan". There are ulpan for free, subsidized uplan, private
ulpan, people giving uplan lessons in their home, an Ulpan High School, and
the "Wall Street Institute" an ulpan which teaches English to Hebrew speakers,
plus Berlitz and other international schools of language.

The problem is how do make the point to someone before they learn Hebrew.

We don't have dirty toilets BTW, there are lots of other cleaners, including
"mai cham" (literally hot water), which is a dilute muratic acid solution.
The most common is "economica", which is a brand name that has become a
generic term for cholrine bleach with soap and optional lemon scent.

I was here for five years before I found out you can buy plain bleach with
no soap or lemon in it, and most immigants never learn that.

I like the mushroom cloud idea, but I'm not sure everyone would recognize it.
It's become a cultural icon in the west, but I'm not sure about rural China,
India, or Africa.

We also get most of our batteries from Singapore and mainlaind China, often
sold as well known "American" brands. The particularly bad ones were Office
Depot house brand, made in Hong Kong, but some were Duracell or Energizer
brand, made in various western European countries (or at least claimed to be).


Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must order
dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

We don't have dirty toilets BTW, there are lots of other
cleaners, including "mai cham" (literally hot water), which
is a dilute muriatic acid solution.

I use Sno Bol, a hydrochloric acid solution. I cuts right through the
schmutz, something chlorine+determent products cannot do.

 

[ian field]

"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:i5e2hg$cbe$1@news.eternal-september.org...

We don't have dirty toilets BTW, there are lots of other
cleaners, including "mai cham" (literally hot water), which
is a dilute muriatic acid solution.

I use Sno Bol, a hydrochloric acid solution. I cuts right through the
schmutz, something chlorine+determent products cannot do.

A while back Harpic released an acid based bog cleaner that they claim to be
best on the market for shifting limescal, I've found if the limescale is
stained at all it takes an awfull lot of bog cleaner to shift it - whiten
the limescale with bleach first.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

I use Sno Bol, a hydrochloric acid solution. I cuts right
through the schmutz, something chlorine+determent
products cannot do.

When I say "schmutz", I mean hardened fecal schmutz.

A while back Harpic released an acid based bog cleaner
that they claim to be best on the market for shifting limescale,
I've found if the limescale is stained at all it takes an awful lot
of bog cleaner to shift it -- whiten the limescale with bleach first.

There's an American product called CLR (calcium-lime-rust) specifically for
such stuff.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:24:04 +0000 (UTC), "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
<gsm@mendelson.com> wrote:

We don't have dirty toilets BTW, there are lots of other cleaners, including
"mai cham" (literally hot water), which is a dilute muratic acid solution.

That will etch the surface of the porcelain, which will cause
particles of defecant to stick to the surface. It's much like using a
chemical sandpaper.

The most common is "economica", which is a brand name that has become a
generic term for cholrine bleach with soap and optional lemon scent.

Lemon is a nasal desensitizer. Add lemon scent to anything and all
you small is lemon. That's why there are so many "lemon fresh"
products on the market. For an example, put a lemon under your nose,
while biting into an apple.

I like the mushroom cloud idea, but I'm not sure everyone would recognize it.
It's become a cultural icon in the west, but I'm not sure about rural China,
India, or Africa.

I was mostly serious. It's a difficult problem, but attempts have
been made by people with more imagination than me.
<http://davecurran.blogspot.com/2009/04/chemical-safety-symbols.html>
<http://images.google.com/images?q=chemical+safety+symbols>
Something showing two bottles of whatever, mixed together, and
creating a mushroom cloud, might be effective as a general warning not
to mix anything together. Whether they understand the point, might be
debatable. I suspect the difficulty of the problem resulted in the
ban.

We also get most of our batteries from Singapore and mainlaind China, often
sold as well known "American" brands. The particularly bad ones were Office
Depot house brand, made in Hong Kong, but some were Duracell or Energizer
brand, made in various western European countries (or at least claimed to be).

You're getting our rejects and counterfiets. I never realized how bad
they can be until I bought some fake Duracell batteries at a local
thrift shop. Some had leaked in the package, which should have given
me a clue.
<http://www2.electronicproducts.com/The_dangers_of_counterfeit_battery_packs-article-fapo_MicroPower_mar2009-html.aspx>
<http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/lut-news/Fake-Duracells-energize-Town-Hall.3622528.jp>
<http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/03/28/battery-fakes-could-have-put-trader-in-a-cell-of-his-own-judge-91466-23251370/>
etc...

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[William Sommerwerck]

We don't have dirty toilets BTW, there are lots of other cleaners,
including "mai cham" (literally hot water), which is a dilute muratic
acid solution.

That will etch the surface of the porcelain, which will cause
particles of defecant to stick to the surface. It's much like using a
chemical sandpaper.

I don't think that's correct. I don't think most acids will attack
porcelain.

This is all I could find. It isn't clear what the relationship between
"porcelain enamel" and the porcelain used in bathroom fixtures is.

http://www.porcelainenamel.com/pei503.htm

 

[Adrian Tuddenham]

Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:

On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:24:04 +0000 (UTC), "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
gsm@mendelson.com> wrote:

We don't have dirty toilets BTW, there are lots of other cleaners, including
"mai cham" (literally hot water), which is a dilute muratic acid solution.

That will etch the surface of the porcelain, which will cause
particles of defecant to stick to the surface. It's much like using a
chemical sandpaper.

The most common is "economica", which is a brand name that has become a
generic term for cholrine bleach with soap and optional lemon scent.

Lemon is a nasal desensitizer. Add lemon scent to anything and all
you small is lemon. That's why there are so many "lemon fresh"
products on the market. For an example, put a lemon under your nose,
while biting into an apple.

The by-product from air oxidation of lemon oil (d-Limonene oxide) is one
of the most allergenic chemical known. It forms in part-used bottles of
lemon-scented products and I have seen the horrible results of the
sensitisation it causes. (One of my work colleagues lost most of her
facial skin to it)

Even if you aren't allergic to it, other people may be, so please don't
use it.


--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

 

[Jim Yanik]

"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in
news:i5evld$8nu$1@news.eternal-september.org:

We don't have dirty toilets BTW, there are lots of other cleaners,
including "mai cham" (literally hot water), which is a dilute muratic
acid solution.

That will etch the surface of the porcelain, which will cause
particles of defecant to stick to the surface. It's much like using a
chemical sandpaper.

I don't think that's correct. I don't think most acids will attack
porcelain.

This is all I could find. It isn't clear what the relationship between
"porcelain enamel" and the porcelain used in bathroom fixtures is.

http://www.porcelainenamel.com/pei503.htm

acids are what's used to etch porcelain bathtubs for "refinishing" with
epoxy paints. even leaving chlorine bleach solution puddled on the tub
surface will etch it,I found that out the hard way.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com