SMOKE and SOOT

Steven Barbour

New member
I did an exhaust system today that came out great. Problem is, this organization has a barbeque hut with 5 grills in it.They want it cleaned
and the grease came off pretty easy, but the soot or smoke stain stayed.
I used heavy sodium hydroxide bead but not much luck. Any ideas on what might take this off? Tried a search but came up blank. Thanks!!
 
There is a commercial smokehouse cleaner made by Zep which is said to be effective. It is not the stuff sold by HD - in our area I would need to go to their warehouse. I have not tried it but my source said to get the pink color and use full strength. We have a job coming up I dread due to the hugh amount of carbon and burnt-on grease. I hate scraping - we'll try the Zep and/or Bonzi. Any suggestions about anything else that will work on carbon?

Richard
 
When you cross the line from cleaning ducts to cleaning the bbqs (or equipment/ floors etc) there is no turning back. Kinda like driving off a cliff.

The work changes and becomes cosmetic and the definition of a "good job" or "clean" be very subjective. :eek:

Just my 2 cents.
 
How about "this is clean enough" and if you want it to look better get out your checkbook.

This type of work should always be hourly only.
 
I bought a product called Crud Cutter from Sherwin Williams. The salesman
said it should do the job. I'll see Monday. :rolleyes:
 
Josh,

Can we get a phone number in your signature line please?

Celeste
 
Butyl based degreasers do a good job on combustion residue. I had a customer that used to clean for Tumbleweed. He told me his caustic would get rid of the grease, but had to use butyl to get rid of the black discoloration from the wood smoke.
 
Citrus cleaners are butyl.

Solvent-based cleaners and degreasers do not have a pH and are commonly classified by their KB value. KB is the acronym for Kari-Butanol and is a test of a solvent’s power to dissolve a specific rubber in a specific test condition. Numeric values range from 1 to 400. Low numbers indicate the solvent did not dissolve the rubber quickly or efficiently, while high values reveal the test solvent dissolved the rubber to a high degree. These KB values give us a relative understanding of the solvent’s cleaning power.
 
Ok, now you've got me searching. My Stainless steel polish is flammable. Are there any that aren't?

Would the citrus cleaners still burn when diluted 10:1, or even 5:1? I would think they wouldn't. Sounds like an excuse to experiment :D .
 
Diesel is combustible, not flammable. ;)

I attempted to start a fire with diluted orange cleaner by Zep, no flames. It actually put the flame out. I then poured a small amount undiluted and attempted to light-no burn. Turned out to be a pretty boring experiment.
 
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