Scrutable

From a friend who works on a large, posh boat:

The boat has silver ion addition to its fresh water. Sometimes shore water containing chlorides is bunkered. These two react with sunlight to form silver halides which cause discolouration of the jacuzzi. This is a bugger to get off. What's the best easy to get chemical to get rid of it?

Ideas?

Sodium or ammonium thiosulfate? It's what photographic fixer uses to remove remaining silver halide from film after development.

This is a chapter on cleaning silver from a manual about marine archeology. So admittedly a somewhat different context. But I notice that the section on chemical cleaning says:

- "A solution of 15 percent ammonium thiosulfate in distilled water with a 1 percent non-ionic wetting agent ... is effective for removing silver chloride"
- and perhaps more straightforwardly, "ammonia dissolves silver chloride"

IANA chemist.

A revolution of the proletariat would sort that little problem right out.

Mind you, that's my solution to everything.

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:18 pm

A revolution of the proletariat would sort that little problem right out.

Mind you, that's my solution to everything.

another semi thiological fix

Bird on a Fire wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:18 pm

A revolution of the proletariat would sort that little problem right out.

Mind you, that's my solution to everything.

One of the unspoken rules of the expat community here in Majawkah is that you don't speak ill of the rich, even if you don't work on the yachts or in high-end tourism. Plenty of people live hand-to-mouth, but the whole place runs on the basis that some people have more money than others to a greater or lesser extent. Many of the yachties are fun people who accept that serving canapés to internally dead rich people is the cost of having an interesting semi-nomadic lifestyle that beats working in an office.

bolo wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:33 pm

This is a chapter on cleaning silver from a manual about marine archeology. So admittedly a somewhat different context. But I notice that the section on chemical cleaning says:

- "A solution of 15 percent ammonium thiosulfate in distilled water with a 1 percent non-ionic wetting agent ... is effective for removing silver chloride"
- and perhaps more straightforwardly, "ammonia dissolves silver chloride"

IANA chemist.

You can’t just buy ammonia these days, at least not in the U.K. and I assume in the EU too.

Grumble wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 09, 2021 5:09 am

bolo wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:33 pm

This is a chapter on cleaning silver from a manual about marine archeology. So admittedly a somewhat different context. But I notice that the section on chemical cleaning says:

- "A solution of 15 percent ammonium thiosulfate in distilled water with a 1 percent non-ionic wetting agent ... is effective for removing silver chloride"
- and perhaps more straightforwardly, "ammonia dissolves silver chloride"

IANA chemist.

You can’t just buy ammonia these days, at least not in the U.K. and I assume in the EU too.

Google shopping search for "cleaning ammonia"
The thiosulphate is probably less objectionable and dangerous than aqueous ammonia, Google shopping search for that.

Photographic fixer is a little hipster-niche these days but still fairly easy to get. It's not ammonia smelling, IMO it's more like extra-strong salt and vinegar. Now I'm curious to know what that odour is.

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 09, 2021 5:19 pm

Photographic fixer is a little hipster-niche these days but still fairly easy to get. It's not ammonia smelling, IMO it's more like extra-strong salt and vinegar. Now I'm curious to know what that odour is.

It depends on the brand of fixer, but some do have quite a strong ammonia smell. Some others don't when fresh, but do when old.

Are you thinking of stop bath with the vinegar smell?

Dad had a little bottle of silver nitrate for medicinal purposes, if he needed to remove the silver stains on his skin he used plain sodium thiosulphate.

WFJ wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 09, 2021 5:54 pm

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 09, 2021 5:19 pm

Photographic fixer is a little hipster-niche these days but still fairly easy to get. It's not ammonia smelling, IMO it's more like extra-strong salt and vinegar. Now I'm curious to know what that odour is.

It depends on the brand of fixer, but some do have quite a strong ammonia smell. Some others don't when fresh, but do when old.

Are you thinking of stop bath with the vinegar smell?

No, I generally used Ilford Hypam fixer, and it used to put me in mind of salt and vinegar crisps (while not actually smelling of vinegar, oddly).

Might be sodium acetate being used as an acidity buffer?

shpalman wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 10, 2021 6:25 pm

Might be sodium acetate being used as an acidity buffer?

I should just have Googled the MSDS: the "Rapid" version is <2% acetic acid.

Martin Y wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 10, 2021 6:56 pm

shpalman wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 10, 2021 6:25 pm

Might be sodium acetate being used as an acidity buffer?

I should just have Googled the MSDS: the "Rapid" version is <2% acetic acid.

Just had a look at a bottle of Hypam sitting on the dark-room shelf in the bathroom but nothing to add I'm afraid.
"I love the smell of fixer in the morning"