Nasty Chemicals are Great (used responsibly )

[GLS]

DCM is banned in Germany both for private and commercial use.

Chloroform will put you asleep in your workshop. But when you wake up the ungumming work is miraculously done...

For environmental reasons the use of chlorinated solvents is discouraged where possible, but DCM is still an absolutely standard solvent in every chemistry lab in the world, so I can't imagine it would be too hard to get hold of.

Also chloroform really doesn't have that effect on people in any kind of normal usage. If you were in a completely sealed environment with buckets of the stuff for a long time then maybe

 

[AgX]

My fault.
The ban in the EU exists, but only for paint-stripping compounds that contain DCM.

But of course one can conclude concerning health issues from use of a compound were only a fraction of the mass (1/1000 !!) is DCM to using pure DCM.
The concept of the restricted ban likely is based on the idea that for paint stripper chances are great that large evaporating surfaces are created in hard to ventilate spaces, creating an evaporation which for uses of the pure solvent would be less likely. A idea seen that 10-3 max. concentration that is surprising to me.

 

[BMbikerider]

Can you name more healthy "anti-stain" alternatives? My trays have stains (mostly from Amidol), I heard that 10% citric acid could do

I use domestic bleach. Diluted 50/50 and items left overnight clean up nicely. The same applies inside a NOVA deep-tank colour processor and the amount of sludge that it removes has to be seen before dismissing the idea. Badly stained spiral developing tanks, JOBO measuring beakers, can also be treated likewise.

I have also had a bit of success with dishes , but not with bleach I use instead I use a cleaning liquid called Milton, I don't know if it is available outside UK but that is a dilute bleach type of liquid and smell faintly of bleach but is safe to use even with out gloves. It took 24 hours to remove all but the most ingrained stains from my dishes. It is so cheap as well, around £1.20 for a litre.

 

[esearing]

The next step then would be combining Potassium Permanganate and Hydrogen Peroxide... I guess the cleaning effect would be thermal only...-

Every couple of months I use PP for killing algae bloom and parasites in my koi pond 1 tsp per 1000 gallons. It also removes organic build up on the inside of the pipes. It turns the pond purple for a while but then goes to a tea color when fully oxidized. A quart of HP will turn the water clear again. The fish don't seem to mind and they are 11 years old now.

 

[AgX]

As all in chemistry it is a mattter of concentrations.

 

[timmct]

I think it is all in the engineering.Those who understand the chemistry can figure out where it would best be applied.

The chemicals themselves are here on our planet, dangerous or otherwise,refined or otherwise, and may be used to wash our clothes or process our "precious" film/prints; depending on the engineers.