{"id":625,"date":"2008-09-27T13:40:05","date_gmt":"2008-09-27T03:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/?p=625"},"modified":"2008-09-17T13:43:19","modified_gmt":"2008-09-17T03:43:19","slug":"the-2008-big-clean-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/2008\/09\/27\/the-2008-big-clean-off\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2008 Big Clean-Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s get all domestic, and scientific.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h4>\n

I have a cleaning problem area in my bathroom; the glass shower screen. No, I don’t think it is covered in mould. Instead, it appears to be covered in tiny round marks where drop have dried up and left behind grey discolouration. I suspect it is salts from the hardness in the water (Calcium? Magnesium?), but the water isn’t that hard here, so maybe I am mistaken and it is soap scum. Wait… maybe that’s the same thing? I forget my Year 10 chemistry.<\/p>\n

Until now, I have thought that the best product for removing it has been CLR. It is also has the most obnoxious fumes, to the point of giving me coughing fits.<\/p>\n

I was recently<\/a> given a sample bottle of a cleaning product that was recommended for this problem. <\/p>\n

Does it really work better? That sounds like a scientific hypothesis.<\/p>\n

There is only one way to find out. Time for an experiment.<\/p>\n

Method and Results<\/h4>\n

I sectioned off areas of the glass, wiped them down quickly with a paper towel to remove any dust, pulled out all the cleaning products from under my sink that I thought might help, and gave them each a try. I followed the directions, let them sit for a few minutes then rinsed off the glass, let it dry, and rated the results by appearance and by the amount of ardour and hardship I had to go through to achieve that result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Product<\/th>\nActive Ingredients<\/th>\nApplicator<\/th>\nApplication<\/th>\nArdour Endured<\/th>\nResult<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Control 1: No action<\/th>\nplacebo<\/td>\nnone<\/td>\nno action<\/td>\nnone<\/td>\nno change visible<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Control 2: Water and scrubbing<\/th>\nH2<\/sub>O and elbow grease<\/td>\nscouring pad<\/td>\nrubbed the glass with wet scouring pad<\/td>\nmild physical effort<\/td>\nslightly cleaner than Control 1, but not much.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Windex Window cleaner<\/th>\nunspecified (believed detergent and alcohol)<\/td>\nspray gun + paper towel<\/td>\nsprayed the glass, and then immediately wiped with towel<\/td>\nlight physical effort<\/td>\nthere appeared to be a change to the pattern of the marks, but it wasn’t much of an overall improvement.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CLR (Calcium Lime Rust, Bathroom and Kitchen Cleaner Deodouriser)<\/th>\nGlycolic Acid (?)<\/td>\nspray gun<\/td>\nsprayed glass patchily (ran out of product), waited few minutes and rinsed off<\/td>\npungent fumes took layer off my lung linings<\/td>\nwhere the foam had touched the glass, it was quite clean<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Generic-Brand White Vinegar<\/th>\nAcetic acid<\/td>\npaper towel<\/td>\nwiped glass with product-soaked paper towel<\/td>\nlight physical effort<\/td>\nno change from control 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Generic-Brand Mould Killer<\/th>\nSodium Hypochlorite, Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Chloride<\/td>\nspray bottle<\/td>\nsprayed glass, waited a few minutes, rinsed off<\/td>\nunpleasant odour<\/td>\ncleaner than control 1 & 2, but not clean<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Generic-Brand bleach-based Domestic Cleanser<\/th>\nSodium Hypochlorite and Sodium Hydroxide<\/td>\npaper towel<\/td>\nwiped glass with product-soaked paper towel<\/td>\nlight physical effort, unpleasant odour<\/td>\ncleaner than control 1 & 2, but not clean<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
HypoKlean<\/th>\nunspecified (but includes some bleach)<\/td>\npaper towel<\/td>\nwiped glass with product-soaked paper towel<\/td>\nmild physical effort<\/td>\ncleaner than control 1 & 2, but not clean<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Generic-Brand Cream Cleanser<\/th>\nunspecified (presumably detergent and grit)<\/td>\nscouring pad<\/td>\nrubbed the glass with product-soaked scouring pad; once rinsed, it needed another wipe down with a clean cloth to remove the filmy white residue<\/td>\nmild physical effort<\/td>\nquite clean<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Discussion<\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. For years I have been annoyed at anti-mould product labels that warn to only use them in a well-ventilated area. If it was well-ventilated, I wouldn’t need the product!<\/li>\n
  2. CLR fumes have the power to force me to evacuate the room, gasping for fresh air. Yet its label claims that it “deodorises” and that it has a “fresh scent”. Bah!<\/li>\n
  3. I am not sure about the active ingredient in CLR. It claims not to contain any ammonia, phosphate or bleach. It mentions containing Glycolic Acid<\/a> in the poisons information, but I am not sure if that is a cleaning agent.<\/li>\n
  4. Us scientists aren’t scared off when the instructions say not to mix the cleansers!<\/li>\n
  5. White Vinegar did nothing. Take that, all those hippies who recommend vinegar to solve virtually every cleaning issue.<\/li>\n
  6. Scrubbing (with water) doesn’t help much, so elbow grease alone isn’t the answer.<\/li>\n
  7. CLR really does work, and without requiring physical effort.<\/li>\n
  8. HypoKlean may smell better than bleach, but it doesn’t clean any better in this application; certainly not worth a special trip to buy it.<\/li>\n
  9. Mould killer, while not successful, did have some effect over Control 1. Does that suggest that the stains are mould-related, despite my beliefs? Or does the active ingredients in mould killer have an effect on non-mould-related stains?<\/li>\n
  10. Cream cleanser was a surprising success; I really didn’t expect it would do better than the bleaches (including the mould-killer).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Conclusions<\/h4>\n

    If I want my shower glass clean, I need to either use CLR and risk emphysema, or go to the old trusty bottle of cream cleanser and start scouring.<\/p>\n

    As you may have guessed, the entire experimental area has been re-cleaned with the cream cleanser.<\/p>\n

    Anyone who wants to reproduce these results is welcome to come and clean my bathroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is the best cleaning solution for glass in my bathroom? No, seriously! <\/p>\n

    I take a science geek view.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,47,27],"tags":[303,230],"class_list":["post-625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geek","category-review","category-thoughts-from-the-shower","tag-domestic-science","tag-experiment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}