# What Do I Use To Clean Beakers For ReUse?



## Anonymous (Jan 17, 2013)

Hello members,

I'm wanting to know what should I use to clean my beakers so I can reuse them.

The beakers I'm referring to at the moment were used to refine silver from keyboard mylars. 

What has been used....

* Nitric Acid (69.5%)
* Peroxide (3%)
* Distilled Water.

I'm trying to reuse the beakers to start working with my sulfuric cell. 

Thanks

Kevin


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## cnbarr (Jan 17, 2013)

Typically, if nothing is stuck to or caked on it, you can rinse it with tap water then two rinse with DI water will suffice. Then resuse or let it air dry. Otherwise you you can use a detergent like alconox, bonide, or barkeepers friend, all of witch are non abrasive. Alconox is specifically for lab glass the others yo can get at the grocery store.


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## Anonymous (Jan 17, 2013)

cnbarr said:


> Typically, if nothing is stuck to or caked on it, you can rinse it with tap water then two rinse with DI water will suffice. Then resuse or let it air dry. Otherwise you you can use a detergent like alconox, bonide, or barkeepers friend, all of witch are non abrasive. Alconox is specifically for lab glass the others yo can get at the grocery store.


I'll go check them out. Thanks for the info.

Kevin


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## NobleMetalWorks (Jan 17, 2013)

Harold suggests Bon Ami, I have been using it ever since I saw his post suggesting it. Works great, no scratches and everything comes out nice and clean.

http://www.bonami.com/

Also, you may want to separate your beakers according to what you use them for. I keep the beakers and reactors intended for final purity refining separate from beakers I dissolve base metals, or dirty metals in.

Scott


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## cnbarr (Jan 17, 2013)

Thanks for the correction Scott, I did mean to write bon ami it just came out wrong on my phone. Please don't use bonide or you will essentially be washing your glass with Smb!


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## butcher (Jan 17, 2013)

http://apps.risd.edu/envirohealth_msds/BonAmi.pdf


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## cnbarr (Jan 17, 2013)

Interesting, I've never actually used bon ami., I've just heard Harold advocate it, I use alconox myself for anything caked on, other then that tap water then DI water is usually enough!


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## butcher (Jan 17, 2013)

I have not tried it but I keep thinking, Bon Ami might be able to use it in a flux.

I have used Bon Ami as well as straight soda ash to clean glassware, and used the soda ash from automatic dishwasher soap to clean glassware, and well as using it for the soda ash in a flux.


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## lazersteve (Feb 4, 2013)

For yellow tungsten oxide(s) 'ring around the beaker', I use a diluted sodium hydroxide solution. 

For normal beaker clean up I use a little clean water and a 'rag in a box' paper shop towel. 

Like Scott, I designate certain beakers (and buckets) for specific tasks.

Steve


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## Anonymous (Feb 15, 2013)

lazersteve said:


> For yellow tungsten oxide(s) 'ring around the beaker', I use a diluted sodium hydroxide solution.
> 
> For normal beaker clean up I use a little clean water and a 'rag in a box' paper shop towel.
> 
> ...


That sodium hydroxide is no joke. A few times my kitchen sink was backed up and using drain opener didn't do the job, so one day I decided to take two teaspoons of sodium hydroxide and poured it in the drain, ran some hot water, and BAMM, the sink started draining again. I also used it to take off some solder mask in an old pot I had, and at the same time I heated up the pot, it started eating away all the caked on burnt bottom of the pot. When I dumped everything out, the bottom of the pot was down to the bare metal.

I too, started marking my beakers and glassware and I only use them for certain metals. I have Au beakers, Au funnels and Au glassware. The same for Ag. Doing that makes it much easier to clean, as I know what chemicals have been in there and I don't cross contaminate anything.

For the most part, I've been using distilled water and clean paper towels to clean my beakers since I am only putting certain chemicals in them. They turn out nice and clean, without any rings or spots on them.

Kevin


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## kane333 (Apr 16, 2013)

After seeing a post about Bon Ami, I've been looking high and low for the product. I even went to Bonami.com and they have a Store Locator where to look for it in your state. No luck. There was only one place listed in all surrounding states (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia) that wasn't an online store and it was a Hardware store named Do It Best Hardware. I've never even heard of that store. I checked Weis Market, Food Lion, Home Depot, Lowes, Kmart, our local Walmart, even Walmart online store. No luck. Then I went into another Walmart over in Martinsburg with the intent of buying Bar Keepers Friend and right next to it were (5) 14oz canisters of Bon Ami. $.88 cents a can. Needless to say, I'm now stocked up on Bon Ami. At that price, it was even cheaper than Bonami.com prices and no shipping costs.


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## Anonymous (Apr 18, 2013)

If I can remember the next time I go to the store, I'm going to look for that Bon Ami. I hear it's good. Now I need to get me some.

Kevin


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