Detergents

Q. We manufacture solar modules for building components. During the manufacturing process we are required to perform a “Wet Hi Pot Test.” The modules are immersed in a solution and tested. The manufacturer of the test equipment said that some of his customers are using the Liquinox detergent in a 300 to 1 ratio for the solution. Would this give us the required: 0.03 N/m surface tension 35 ohms/m resistance? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The washer unit we are using at our hospital appears to have had it’s Pasteur-Sol detergent made no longer available. What does Alconox, Inc. recommend to replace it? We were using a powdered detergent.

Q. Specifications indicate that “Solujet is inhibited for Aluminum. Corrosion testing is advisable.” What does this mean?

A. Solujet contains sodium metasilicate which acts as a corrosion inhibitor to stop alkaline attack on aluminum. Solujet would not cause alkaline attack on aluminum as long as the bath is not overused and the metasilicate depleted. Learn more.

Q. I am a research tech in a new lab where we will be housing mice and rats for our studies. Since we are a small lab, I will be hand washing polycarbonate cages, wire lids, and water bottles by hand. I would like to know what type of cleaner that I can use that is safe for myself to clean with and safe for the animals. I currently have alconox in powdered form. If I can use that, I also would like to know how much I would dilute it.
A. We recommend using 0.5% Detojet® solution with polycarbonate. Regular detergents like Alconox® or most other detergents and solvents are low surface tension solutions that can cause stress cracking …

I am using reusable cell culture tubes for boiling urine samples at 121°C with 8M NaOH solution. After this application, there is a white stain inside, which I can’t scrub off. I used Alconox at the concentration on the container: 3-5 Tbsp/gal. I’ve soaked them, scrubbed them, and then also sonicated in a cold Alconox solution for 30 min….