droppers

[RosalieM]

Thanks to someone's bright idea in another post, I have ordered the screw on caps for our dropper bottles and am slowly changing them over from the droppers to the caps. I decided that I may as well wash all the spare droppers and then the currently-in-use ones as I go. I took them apart and washed the plastic bits and the teats on Friday and left the glass tubes soaking in H2SO4 over the weekend because some of the ones that have been sitting in the drawer since forever have crusty bits inside. This didn't seem to do the trick, and the insides of the tubes are still dirty. Is there a simple way of cleaning them? Or should I just throw them out to avoid contaminating whatever solution they end up being used for?
Rosalie

[estelle]

Hi Rosalie,
I thought changing droppers for lids was a good idea as well so I am going to do the same and then spend a bit extra and invest in nitrile black droppers as I need more. Where did you get the screw on lids for the dropper bottles from?
I found that HCl sometimes removes iron stains so maybe that would work for your droppers also somewhere else on the forum others swear by napisan as a glass cleaner.
Estelle

[RosalieM]

Hi Estelle,
I tried Napisan first... (forgot to mention that - it's my first try with everything now! - THANK YOU!!! to whoever it was who discovered this marvellous fact that napisan is good for things other than clothes. My distillation equipment looks like new.) I got the dropper lids from Serrata for $2 for 10 for the small bottles (25ml) and $3.50 for 10 of the ones to fit the 50ml bottles. Certainly works out cheaper than replacing the whole dropper when the teat fuses to the glass tube over time! I'll try some HCL overnight tonight... If that doesn't work they can go in the bin!!
Rosalie

[Labbie]

when the teat fuses to the glass tube over time!

Do try a little vaseline gel onto the rubber teat. Works very well.

Cheers

[rae]

Have you tried a weak solution of oxalic acid soak overnight and then wash??
I have found in the past that this can remove stubborn stains.

Lorrae

[JudyM]

Try washing them in Pyroneg & use a pipe cleaner to clean the inside of the glass tube.
That's what I use & it works pretty well.
Any that can't be cleaned easily get chucked.

Cheers
Judy