I found out too late that my electric kettle was full of ants - not sure why anyway after l had boiled them up then rinsed out kettle a few times,but there is still a smell of ants - formic acid. If l keep boiling with fresh water will it fade?
articferrit,
Apr 14, 2:47pm
x1
try boiling it again with a good slug of white vinegar in it, then add some baking soda, it will fizz and expand, let it cool down, rinse it, fill and boil again and empty to clean. No sure how it will work on the formic acid, but its how I clean my jug and youve got nothing to lose.
gpg58,
Apr 14, 3:10pm
I prefer cleaning my jug with a tablespoon of citric acid crystals(boiled- likely a teaspoon or 2 would be enough though), gets rid of the scale really well, never noticed any after taste (do boil again with plain water and dump). May be worth a try for your issue.
wembley1,
Apr 14, 4:02pm
Got any Nappisan in your laundry? Nappisan has the same active ingredient, Sodium Percarbonate, as home brewers use as a no-rinse sanitiser. It breaks down to hydrogen peroxide which breaks down to oxygen and water and it is the free oxygen that does the cleaning.
(BTW Sodium Percarbonate is also the active ingredient in Wet & Forget "Hit the Deck" deck cleaner but Nappisan is around ten times cheaper).
oh_hunnihunni,
Apr 14, 4:24pm
Hydrogen peroxide is in the beauty aisle at supermarkets, little white bottle, around $3. Very useful stuff.
wembley1,
Apr 14, 4:32pm
Nappisan cleaned up our old weathered deck a treat.
marte,
Apr 14, 6:45pm
Baking soda & water & boil it. You want something that crosses the pH range over from acid to alkaline to remove the acidic. Then vinegar. Baking soda again.
susievb,
Apr 14, 9:41pm
thanks all, will try tomorrow
koru67,
Apr 15, 7:19am
You can buy sodium percarbonate on Trade Me. I have used it for our deck too. Seems to be a very popular cleaning method in the USA and is environmentally friendly.
lynja,
Apr 16, 6:45am
Wembly1, how did you apply the napisan? Did you sprinkle the powder on the deck or did you water it down?
pauldw,
Apr 16, 8:17am
From an Aus forum post "Mix 1/3 of the Napisan container into half a bucket of warm to hot water and break down the napisan. Dampen the deck with water Apply the cleaner with the deck scrub broom giving a light scrub at the same time Let sit for 15 minutes without drying ( best to do with sun off the deck ) add more cleaner or a light water spray to keep wet Once 15 Mins is up apply a small amount of extra cleaner to make it easier to give a scrub. Give a really thorough scrub Rinse really well Leave to dry usually 24 hours"
You do need to scrub. It isn't something that you spray on and it works by magic.
wembley1,
Aug 1, 6:45pm
We made a solution and washed the deck with that, soaked, and then scrubbed, and rinsed.
I don't remember the dose exactly to be honest but pauldw's post sounds like far too much.
I think we might have just used the W&F suggested dosage.
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