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Karen Wheless
 
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Default Stronger Than Dawn Power Dissolver?

> Oven cleaner is stronger than DPD. It works on non-reactive surfaces like
> stainless steel, glass, ceramics, and Corningware. You can't use it on
> aluminum or copper. The active ingredient in oven cleaner is lye (sodium
> hydroxide). You can get lye in the supermarket on the shelf with the drain
> cleaner. I have considered mixing up a solution and keeping it in a plastic
> container so I can use it as a bath. I suspect that you could use it over
> and over. Lye is very caustic, so be sure to wear skin and eye protection
> and keep it away from children and pets.


This is pretty common in chemistry labs - to keep a relatively mild
solution of sodium hydroxide (mild by chemistry standards - still pretty
concentrated by kitchen standards) and to throw glassware into it and
let it soak for days or weeks.

The problem is that it tends to damage many surfaces - plastics, some
metals, etc. (Even stainless steel will be damaged eventually.) In the
lab, most glassware is just glass, but in the kitchen, you have many
items that have handles, finished surfaces, etc. that would be damaged
by soaking in this kind of bath. But if you wanted to clean plain
Corningware that way, it would probably work - it would probably strip
off any decorative finish on the outside, but it would probably work.

I'd still be interested in alternatives to Dawn (that could be generally
used for all cookware, particularly plastic). Ever since Dawn changed
their formula to "ultra" Dawn, it hasn't been the same, especially in
cleaning grease on plastic. It just doesn't do as good a job any more -
and I've heard this from other people as well, so I don't think it's my
imagination. I don't have a dishwasher so this is really an annoyance
in the kitchen - getting plastic freezer containers clean has become
much more of a chore.

Karen