Soda Crystals

purply

hi,
i put a handful in the soap dispenser with the washing powder-keeps drains clean and un-greasy and apparantly is good for getting the dirt out of clothes too.

Fastflys

I'm with Curry Queen on this one - Are Washing Soda and Soda Crystals different products?

I purchased the above product as I thought I read that it can be used to keep washing machines smelling sweet. Now I'm wondering if that was Washing Soda.

What about putting Soda Crystals down plastic drains? If it's corrosive could it damage the plastic?

Edinburghlass_2

well I would think all the pipes from my kitchen sink to the drains are probably plastic (where is robowen when you need him? probably making treacle toffee) and its not harmed them....

Pink.

Fastflys wrote:

I'm with Curry Queen on this one - Are Washing Soda and Soda Crystals different products?

I purchased the above product as I thought I read that it can be used to keep washing machines smelling sweet. Now I'm wondering if that was Washing Soda.

What about putting Soda Crystals down plastic drains? If it's corrosive could it damage the plastic?

The website mentioned on the pack of Soda Crystals that Fastflys illustrated is this one. I did a search on washing soda and it came up with this page.

Both have sodium carbonate listed as the main ingredient, so it looks as though they are the same. But then again, I could be totally wrong.

Pink

xueta

Yep ... washing soda and soda crystals are one and the same thing and perfectly safe in the laundry!

And although soda crystals are alkaline - they are not nearly as strong an alkali as caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) which really IS corrosive. As another poster has said, as long as it is used in suitably dilute concentrations soda crystals can be safely used as as water softener. It won't damage plastic.

Caustic soda on the other hand is highly corrosive. This might be the stuff you're thinking of to unblock drains?

apprentice_tycoon

The most impressive thing I use the crystals for is to clean the mesh on my cooker hood. Because it is what it is, it gets an all over coating of grease, I used to soak it with washing up liquid overnight and scrub it, it never seemed to get really clean but not any more - a 10 minute soak in the solution literaly melts the grease while you watch, it's fantastic to watch

Ticklemouse

I always use a couple of tablespoons of soda crystals in my wash - whatever the colour. Means I don't need to use as much expensive liquid (I use Ecover)

Cheers for the tip about the cooker hood, a-t, - will be giving that one a try in the very near future.

patchwork_cat

Soda crystals really are the best thing to use for grease on the side of the packet it should give you 3 different dilutions. For heavy grease use a very strong solution. My husband who is not a believer in green or old fashioned things was amazed when we cleaned the coving around the top of our kitchen cupboards after decorating.

There used to be lots of threads on this board a while ago about soda crystals which is where I originally found out about them and borax.

squeaky

I couldn't find much to help in terms of complete threads on washing soda, though it is mentioned in quite a number of different places for various jobs around the house.

The google page below makes it clear though that washing soda and soda crystals are the same.

Google washing soda

Curry_Queen

Thanks for clarifying that folks :T

I must say I hadn't considered using it for anything other than adding to the washing, and being as I'd decanted the bag into a plastic milk bottle to store easier I didn't have that or any instructions to refer to

Anyway, following some of the suggestions here, I've poured some down my sink with hot water as it's forever getting clogged and drains away v e r y s l o w l y and previous attempts to clear it with bicarb and vinegar weren't really very successful, not long term anyway. It worked like magic and I've just poured away a bowlful of water and it drained away within seconds instead of the usual 5-10 mins :T

I also give my cooker a quick wipe over ... hadn't done it for a couple of weeks and had grease splatters and food marks on it ... and it cut straight through the grease without even using any washing up liquid or anything with it :T

It will certainly be amongst my little bucket of cleaning stuff - vinegar, bicarb, lemon etc - to do the flat from top to bottom when I move out now

Only downside is that I forgot to wear gloves and my hands are quite sore and very dry now :doh: