Bottle washing

[Bill Harrison]

I picked up some beautiful brown lab bottles for photo chemistry. Any advice on cleaning besides the obvious brush, borax and elbow grease? Thanks, Bill

 

[MikeSeb]

Wonder if some of the elbow grease could be obviated by a long soak in hot soapy water (think Ivory liquid or the like) followed by repeated rinses; scrub out whatever's left.

Kinda depends what was in the bottles before you got them. If the contents were water-soluble, plain water rinse should do it. If not, then your job will be harder, and that's where some kind of detergent will be needed.

 

[Anscojohn]

If Mike Seb's solutions don't work, put a handful of aquarium-type gravel in with the hot solution and begin shaking. The old lab rats told me to use BB's, but I found that the gravel works better. You can get it at any supermarket, probably, in the plant department.

 

[Monophoto]

I think the amount of work that you need to put into these bottles can be assessed using two readily available tools - your eyes and your nose.

First, look carefully at them while holding them up against a light. Can you see any chemical residue on the inside. If so, John's suggestion of gravel make be required to scour away that residue.

Then, fill them with water, and then drain. While they are still damp inside, smell the bottles. Is there an odor of the former resident? If so, then you will need to do a sequence of soak and rinse steps.

But once they are look and smell clean, they are good to go. After all, you aren't going to be drinking anything from them. Or are you????

 

[Mike Wilde]

PPE and Sulphuric

Put on the lab coat, nitrile gloves, and plastic safety goggles ( I have a full face shield, but that is more for mixing lye when making soaps) About 10 ml of concentrated sulphuric slowly into about 1/3 of bottle worth of hot water.

Add to bottle, put lid on loosely, and while over a sink, gently agitate the contents, holding lid in place with gloved hand. Works wonders for taking off all sorts of stuff. I use it when recylcing small amber glass bottles that have previuosly held essential oils. Wash all surfaces liberally with fresh water after this treatment. If any spashed on clothes, start them into the laurdry right away.

 

[gordrob]

To rinse bottles or graduates I use a Jet Bottle Washer that you can get from a wine store for washing wine bottles. It attaches to your faucet and delivers a blast of water to clean bottles, it is made from brass and usually sells for under $10. Depending on the water pressure you have available it can peel most residues off glass bottles with little effort. Wine supply houses are a source of equipment that can be used in the darkroom.

Gord

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Back in photo school, we were told when 'recycling' an old bottle (plastic or glass) and after washing and rinsing, always to put in a little of the product we intended to store in and agitate it. Sort of 'conditioning' the bottle to hold the final product and to anticipate eventual reactions with chemicals left in the bottle due to careless washing. Then drain and rinse it again and put in the final liquid you want to store.

Good luck,

Philippe