I've bought a lovely toilet roll holder with a stainless steel lid. Can any one tell me how to prevent the ss from rusting. I've bought stainless steel ones in the past and they all rusted after a few months from the steam in the ensuite
happychappy50,
Jan 24, 6:39am
I would suspect it is cheap Chinese ss,seen this before in many bathroom fittings as well as a lot of ss fixings (screws bolts)
Also harsh chemicals can cause some ss fittings to rust
bill1451,
Jan 24, 6:49am
if the stainless is quality it wont rust, If you check with a magnet and the magnet sticks, then possibly the quality is questionable, i.e too much steel, not enough nickel
bryshaw,
Jan 24, 6:48pm
We have an old tumbler dryer stainless steel drum which has sat outside for years without rusting. The Chinese stuff generally has very little chromium in it.
lythande1,
Jan 24, 7:50pm
It's junk stainless steel.
trade4us2,
Jan 24, 8:04pm
I bought a rubbish bin that claimed to be stainless steel. But I discovered that it is just chrome plated steel. Take a magnet when you go shopping for stainless steel.
supernova2,
Jan 24, 9:36pm
The magnet trick is doubtful as well. My Mitutoyo vernier calipers (an engineering tool) have suddenly become magnetic. They were top of the line tools when i got them back in the '70s and are most definitely Stainless steel.
I think a lot of household stuff, generally made in low budget countries, that is supposedly stainless is just rubbish dressed up to look like stainless. Even good name brands are producing this consumer grade rubbish these days. The likes of Bunnings/M10/Wharehouse have a lot to answer for IMHO as they shouldn't import this junk in the 1st place.
speeedy1,
Jan 25, 4:06am
Clean it, then treat with bees wax or similar.
ianab,
Jan 25, 4:19am
This.
If it's dodgy stainless, then a wax will protect it from the air and slow down any rust.
"Stainless" is a wide range of alloys, some are better than others at resisting corrosion. But that comes from exposure to air and water, which a wax based polish will help with.
cottagerose,
Jan 25, 8:47am
I will try the bees wax Thankyou for your help
marte,
Jan 25, 12:11pm
They use nickel in stainless steel and nickel is slightly magnetic. So low grade SS is strongly magnetic. High grade SS is not magnetic Very high grade SS is slightly magnetic.
Theres something about 'wiping a magnet across the metal' too, cannot remember the rules for that. '_Paramagnetic' or something, & dropping a strong magnet down a Copper tube. It falls slower than gravity would make it fall.
Phosphoric acid will eat rust stains on Stainless Steel. OK, its a strong acid, so it can be dangerous if missused. But its fantastic for cleaning Stainless. You can get it from a hydroponic supply place/garden centre. You would need gloves and eye protection, its a bit fumey too. I used it to 100% clean my pots n pans, put some in one pot and heated it a bit and swirled it around and (green) polyscrubbed a bit and then poured it into the next pot and kept doing that till I'd finished.
Fun thing to do. Drop a drop of it into a shotglass of water, taste it. Right away you will know that something you eat or drink tastes like it.
jack47,
Jan 31, 2:52am
Hi A good safe solution is to clean SS (esp benchtops) with a well used Scotch brite pad and Jif (or similar)
speeedy1,
Jan 31, 9:43am
Phosphoric will work well enough in its diluted form, even at 10% - 20%. Always use gloves and exercise caution and common sense.
flancrest,
Feb 4, 7:27am
A little too simplified. Some types of ferritic stainless steels, while containing very little nickel, contain chromium and molybdenum that provides superb corrosion resistance. And yet, due to their grain structure are strongly magnetic.
flancrest,
Feb 4, 7:35am
This is simply not true. In general, austenitic stainless steels are superior, but some ferritic stainless steels are of excellent quality, with compositions which make them equally as corrosion resistant as austenitics. A stainless steel’s magnetism owes more to it’s grain structure (fcc vs bcc) than it’s actual makeup.
ceebee2,
Feb 6, 9:44pm
I saw and tried a recipe for cleaning and preserving stainless and it is simply clean well with white vinegar on a soft cloth not paper towel / dry thoroughly / apply olive sparingly on a soft cloth and wipe off excess.
Did this on my all stainless BBQ and all stainless oven and range hood and wow what a beautiful finish which actually resists finger prints.
I then threw out the two commercial products for stainless cleaning / polishing and never looked back.
cleggyboy,
Feb 6, 10:30pm
The two main grades of St/St are 304 & 316 the first one is a lower grade which will attract a magnet the 316 is marine quality and also used in the medical profession, it will not attract a magnet nor rust.
flancrest,
Feb 7, 3:42am
Yes, but there are other stainless steels, such as 447, which are far more resistant to corrosion than 316, and yet will attract a magnet.
And, for the record, particularly in a marine environment, 316 can indeed rust.
cleggyboy,
Feb 7, 5:14am
Maybe now, but I have not been in the trade for 30yrs. I do have to laugh at These idiots talking about twist drills 'titanium coated' what a load of crap everything is titanium coated, these idiots would not know what titanium is.
marte,
Dec 30, 11:42am
Titanium nitrided coating.
OP, I found a tin of 'Stainless steel polish/wax' at home. They say its good for leather polish and some other surfaces too. That its got linseed oil in it.
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