Re: Ammonia in the washing machine

In article <Xns976ADAE224940351D7E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, David Peters <no-email@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article David Peters <no-email@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have been told to use a cup of ammonia in the washing machine
to cleanse my clothes (of mould). Ammonia sounds a bit drastic.

I am not enough of a chemist to know if the ammonia will attack
any metals or rubber in the machine. Can someone advise me if
this is likely.


On 14 Feb 2006, Bruce Sinclair wrote:

Given that household stength ammonia is about 5 % and your
washing machine will likely contain a few L of water, a cup
(about 250 mL IIRC) will be be seriously diluted - probably 1/10
at least. I shouldn't think that one wash in weak ammonia would
do it any harm. Whether it will help with mould is another
matter. :)

A web site specializing in mould suggested ammonia in the washing
machine.

Fair enough.

They said it was better than bleach for killing mould/fungi on
clothes.
The spores are far more resistent than the fungi and I don't know if
the ammonia deal with them too.

Sure are. Probably depends quite a lot on the final concentration. of the
ammonia - did they say (apart from "a cup in the machine") ?

I would suggest also hanging the clothes in the sun - it's a pretty good
steriliser :)




Bruce

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