At the risk of "me too-ing" NaOH based over cleaners are very nasty indeed. I cleaned our over for the first time in eight years the other week. Hardened animal fat dissolves very quickly in that stuff. I am a major geek (I'm a CR listmember after all) so I wore a shop apron, goggles and nitrile gloves. A small amount of the cleaner got on my inner forearm right above the glove. I ignored it for a few minutes assuming that it couldn't be too caustic or they wouldn't sell it in grocery stores. Then it really started to hurt. I though I had "tough skin," because I used to use varsol, kerosene, and other petrol solvents with bare hands. I also have had 20% peroxide solution on my skin, but the NaOH is far worse. I went to rinse the stuff off and that disturbing soapy feeling wouldn't go away for several minutes. The more I rinsed, the the more of my skin's lipids combined with the lye to form soap. Just like they used to make soap in the olden days, except they used tallow or lard, not human skin. The (minor) injury was really creepy when fresh becuse you could see where the lye attacked at the edge of each pore, eating outward. I ended up with dozens of approx. .5 mm openings in my skin which eventually formed a big (4-5 cm) scabby wound. Next time I will try the no fumes stuff, the stuff that I originally dismissed as whimpy. Don't eevn get me started on how the NaOH aeresol feels in your lungs. Oh yeah, I also got some diluted material on our deck when I rised the oven racks. I dissolves deck stain very readily. Keep this stuff away from kids, spouses and selves... all humans for that matter. Tom "joel metz, ifbma/sfbma" <magpie@messengers.org> wrote: corneas dont regenerate, as far as i know.
active ingredient in oven cleaner? sodium hydroxide (i beleive)
active ingredient in some drain cleaners? sodium hydroxide
active ingredient in hair removal creams like nair? sodium hydroxide
hmmm...
its a strange world we live in, but you can only protect people from themselves so much.
that being said, eye protection while using oven cleaner is indeed an excellent idea. having accidentally splashed a drop of the stuff on my arm, id *never* want it in my eye.
instructions on the can say to use eye protection, but what red-blooded american reads instructions, anyhow? :)
-joel
>How can they sell this stuff in the grocery store for folks to spray all
>over their oven. And you know they don't wear any of this protective gear!
>
>John in Boise
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Randy Nelson
>To:
>Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2002 8:33 PM
>Subject: [CR]removing anodizing-WARNING WARNING
>
>
>I'm a chemist...so I got to warn people who try removing anodizing with oven
>cleaner or custic materials...not only do you wear gloves (neoprene or
>nitrile
>not latex) YOU HAVE TO WEAR GLASSES AT ALL TIMES. ONES WITH SIDESHIELDS ARE
>EVEN BETTER.
>
>Reason:If the stuff sprays or glops into your eye you have probably
>nanoseconds before your cornea starts dissolving and is etched.
>Translation..painfully blind or sight impaired and you won't be able read
>the
>Campy label any more. BTW, I don't believe corneas regenerate either.
>Randy Nelson
>Seattle
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>
>_______________________________________________
--
joel metz : magpie@messengers.org : http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
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