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White vinegar

 
 
White vinegar is sold in food section of supermarkets. Originally used for food (mostly canned food), it also offers many benefits for home care.

Its main asset is its acidity which allows you to easily remove scale deposits.

On the other hand, vinegar is much cheaper than the specific products and certainly more environmentally friendly as issued from a natural product.

The main uses are :
  • Descale chromed surfaces (faucet for example) by applying it pure with a brush. The advantage is that the vinegar dissolves the limestone but does not attack the chrome or metallic surface (except aluminium).
  • Renew faucets aerator by soaking it few minutes in a glass or other container


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  • Remove limescale glass surfaces (shower walls) by applying it with a sponge
  • Descale devices such as coffee makers, kettles, domestic irons (or iron steam station), steam cleaners, washing machine ... by operating the unit with diluted vinegar in water.
 

Acetone

Acetone is a solvent which may be useful for your DIY jobs. In most cases acetone replaces trichlorethylene which is hardly procurable.

Acetone has strong dissolving power.

The main uses are :

   • Clean and degrease mechanical parts
   • Clean surfaces before painting
   • Remove glue residue (before glue drying or curing)
   • dilute some paint (car paint ...), varnish, or resins (epoxy and polyester) before application
   • Clean utensils (brushes, spray guns ...) after use with the products mentioned above
   • stripping some paint after drying (ex: paint inspray)
   • peel off stickers

Warning : acetone dissolves some plastics including polystyrene and polycarbonate and can damage painted surfaces, if in doubt do a preliminary test.

Hydrochloric acid

 Hydrochloric acid is sold as household product in supermarket.

Caution : as it is an acid, this product is very agressive, you must wear adapted protections as gloves and glasses to avoid projections which could burn your skin. Do not breath vapours.
Never put water in acid. You must always put before the water and then add gently the acid (otherwise a chemical reaction will occur with heavy heat built-up and some projections of acid). Do not mix acid with other products.

Main utilizations of this product are :

  • Disolve scale deposit 
For example you can put some in your toilets and let the product for few minutes. Then simply brushing the toilet will remove any trace of scale, nomally very hard to remove. 
Note : if you use it on metallic parts as tap, you must dissolve the product in water (9 vols of water for 1 of acid) otherwise it will attack the chrome deposit and irremediabely damage it.

  • unclog used water pipes
Just put the acid in clogged sink. Acid will dissolve the clogging and clean the pipe
  • remove rust from steel
Pure hydrochloric acid is very efficient to remove rust from steel. Just dip the part in acid and check from time to time, as rust will dissolve first but if you let too much the part the base metal will also be attacked. THis method is good for ferous material but do not try with other metals as aluminium which will be dissolved by acid in few seconds (it will also emits somes dangerous gas as hydrogen).

Acetone

Acetone is a great product that can be usefull for the home.

It is a substitue to trichlorethylene which was very dangerous for environment and life.

Acetone is a very good solvent.

Major appliances can be :

  - clean and degrease mechanical parts
  - clean surfaces before painting
  - remove excess glue or resin before hardering
  - clean brush or spray paint
  - remove some type of paints or ink when they are dried
  - remove old stickers

But use it with caution as it can also damage or dissolve some plastics as polystyrene or surface painted / varnished. If any doubt do a test before use.