Cleaning a Norgie

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ONE

Old, grumpy & largely unrepentant.
Nov 21, 2019
307
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N. Ireland
I have one here that's near to perfect. Except for a heavily stained inside lid. When I say heavily, I mean it. Like a limescale but made of cofftea.

Tried various acid/baking soda pastes, kitchen cleaners, scourers but nothing's shifting it.

Any "magic" formulae?
 
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White vinegar always works for me.
Put it in let it soak then put it on to boil.
Then let it cool and scrub it out.
Probably 50/50 water and vinegar.
Jon
 
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Vinegar hot, cold and otherwise isn't bothering it in the slightest. It's really odd because the rest of the interior is pristine. It's just the inner lid. You could almost think someone had painted it beige emulsion.
 
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It might have been something like hot tomato or turmeric rich stuff, and the lid ends up the hottest part. The staining is just wear and tear, but you could try bleach on it. That shifts turmeric.

You might need to make the bleach up into a paste and let it sit on it for a little bit. Flour and runny bleach works as a paste.
The smell will disappear in a couple of days after washing off. It's bleach that used to sterilise baby bottles, just it's called a posh name and costs a lot.

M
 
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I don't have anything else to suggest.

The thing is, either it's a chemical staining, or it's an organic one.

Chemical is probably something to do with the material the lid is made from, while an organic one is a 'stain', and either it'll scrub off...and didn't....or it needs to be bleached or 'biologically' as in washing liquid type biological stuff used. Vinegar didn't work so that chemical option's off the board.....kind of leaves bleach really, because biological washing liquid always leaves a taint of soapy perfume, while bleach does eventually dissipate.

You could try salt, but salt can be very damaging, moreso than a short bleaching.

:dunno:

Sorry not to be of more help.

M
 
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Would denture cleansers work at all? I was watching a Mythbusters the other day and stale urine seemed to work well on some stains...
 
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That's bleach :)....of the same variety used for baby's bottles.

For stale urine substitute ammonia. Might do it....bottle of ammonia cost about £1.49 round here.

M
 
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White vinegar always works for me.
Put it in let it soak then put it on to boil.
Then let it cool and scrub it out.
Probably 50/50 water and vinegar.
Jon
A Norgie is a British Army cooler and that method won't work at all on a plastic container.

All OP will end up with is a melted lid
 
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You could try that Astonish Paste, I find it quite good for getting stains out , it's only a £ in the pound shop.
 
This is exactly what you need, I use it when home brewing and for other purposes too like my coffee flask https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/pbw-five-star-450g.html

Powdered Brewery Wash.
That's basically waterglass, sodium silicate, metasilicate.....and they add sodium percarbonate....that's Oxyclean, the stuff that's used to pre-soak whites before washing.
Together they're awfully useful for removing crud/crusty stuff from bottles, tubes, etc.,

Might well be worth a try :) be interesting to hear how you get on if it works, because if I mind correctly, pbw is really good at removing smells/taints from vessels, and often folks ask what's best to clean out flasks, mugs and the like.
 
You could try that Astonish Paste, I find it quite good for getting stains out , it's only a £ in the pound shop.

I swear by that stuff :) that and the Pink Stuff that does the same job. Great for scouring if something needs something stuck on removed, or the surface cleaned and polished up, but it didn't take out turmeric stains, just removed the curry splashes from the cooker.
 
Just to give you an idea of the level of gunk, I've just had a go at it with a plastic paint scraper and it lifted off a few 'chips'.
 
Ah, so it's not just staining. My mistake, I thought that it was staining after you'd gotten the crud off.

The powdered brewery wash will really help soak that off. No idea what it'll do to the staining, but it'll help shift the stuck on stuff. I know I've used it for the plastic brewery tubing, but I don't know about the Norgie lid plastic......up to yourself on that, but if it were mine and the lid was so badly caked up, I'd give it a go.

I don't know if it's the same as the Bar Keepers stuff that Mesquite suggested.
 
I have Bar Keeper's Friend that I use for my copper pots! Might be my next port of call.
 

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