melted plastic-bag on stainless-steel pot; how to clean?
 

At Costo, I buy these large bags of spinace, broccoli, etc,
and then cook (steam) a whole bag-full at a time (then
put in refrig).

I get the water boiling first, then open the top and
dump a whole bags-worth into the pot (to rest on the
steamer-thing).

ANYWAY -- twice now (no longer!) I screwed up and let
the bag touch the side of the pot, once on inside,
once on the outside.

And now there's an (almost?) impossible-to-remove
stuck-on maybe two-inches-square piece of fried-on
plastic on inside and outside.

QUESTION: short of putting a metal-file to it (and
scratching up the nice finish), HOW TO REMOVE IT?

Scrubbing doesn't work, Nor does trying to (carefully)
use a sharp knife and somehow get it off that way.

Suggestions?

THANKS!

David

CLR + some very hot water should work fine.

"David Combs" wrote in message ...
At Costo, I buy these large bags of spinace, broccoli, etc,
and then cook (steam) a whole bag-full at a time (then
put in refrig).

I get the water boiling first, then open the top and
dump a whole bags-worth into the pot (to rest on the
steamer-thing).

ANYWAY -- twice now (no longer!) I screwed up and let
the bag touch the side of the pot, once on inside,
once on the outside.

And now there's an (almost?) impossible-to-remove
stuck-on maybe two-inches-square piece of fried-on
plastic on inside and outside.

QUESTION: short of putting a metal-file to it (and
scratching up the nice finish), HOW TO REMOVE IT?

Scrubbing doesn't work, Nor does trying to (carefully)
use a sharp knife and somehow get it off that way.

Suggestions?

THANKS!

David

Acetone, but use plenty of ventilation.

David Combs wrote:

Suggestions?

THANKS!

David

And now there's an (almost?) impossible-to-remove
stuck-on maybe two-inches-square piece of fried-on
plastic on inside and outside.

If you have nail polish remover..use that..or go buy a small bottle of
acetone from your local hardware store, put it on a rag and rub off the
plastic

David Combs wrote:
At Costo, I buy these large bags of spinace, broccoli, etc,
and then cook (steam) a whole bag-full at a time (then
put in refrig).

I get the water boiling first, then open the top and
dump a whole bags-worth into the pot (to rest on the
steamer-thing).

ANYWAY -- twice now (no longer!) I screwed up and let
the bag touch the side of the pot, once on inside,
once on the outside.

And now there's an (almost?) impossible-to-remove
stuck-on maybe two-inches-square piece of fried-on
plastic on inside and outside.

QUESTION: short of putting a metal-file to it (and
scratching up the nice finish), HOW TO REMOVE IT?

Scrubbing doesn't work, Nor does trying to (carefully)
use a sharp knife and somehow get it off that way.

Suggestions?

THANKS!

David


My wife used to do this regularly.

Steel wool is the answer.

We have a pot that formerly had a polished stainless steel finish, it
now has a brushed stainless steel finish.

Ken

IIRC from my decades-ago work in chem. labs, the solvent we used for
polythene was TetrHydroFuran (THF), but I have no idea how readily
available it would be, and I don't recall how toxic it might be.

But if these are the boilable bags they might be polyester.

Perce


On 05/01/05 08:17 pm David Combs tossed the following ingredients into
the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

At Costo, I buy these large bags of spinace, broccoli, etc,
and then cook (steam) a whole bag-full at a time (then
put in refrig).

I get the water boiling first, then open the top and
dump a whole bags-worth into the pot (to rest on the
steamer-thing).

ANYWAY -- twice now (no longer!) I screwed up and let
the bag touch the side of the pot, once on inside,
once on the outside.

And now there's an (almost?) impossible-to-remove
stuck-on maybe two-inches-square piece of fried-on
plastic on inside and outside.

QUESTION: short of putting a metal-file to it (and
scratching up the nice finish), HOW TO REMOVE IT?

Scrubbing doesn't work, Nor does trying to (carefully)
use a sharp knife and somehow get it off that way.

Suggestions?

Yeah, I'm in the acetone camp. Hadn't thougth of nail polish remover,
but that might do it.

And, not to sound like a smarta$$, but I always rinse veggies before
preparing them.

"Hopkins" wrote in
oups.com:

Yeah, I'm in the acetone camp. Hadn't thougth of nail polish remover,
but that might do it.

Cheaper to buy acetone from Home Depot or Lowes,than nailpolish remover in
those small bottles.


--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Hopkins wrote:
Yeah, I'm in the acetone camp. Hadn't thougth of nail polish remover,
but that might do it.

And, not to sound like a smarta$$, but I always rinse veggies before
preparing them.



Somebody let me know if acetone actually works for that, I seriously
doubt that it will.

Because....

Sometimes I need to rejuvinate a paint brush thats gotten hard because I
didn't do as good a job of cleaning it as I thought before putting it away.

The technique I use is to slip the brush into a kitchen Baggie and pour
a small amount of acetone in with it, then smooth the Baggie up around
the brush handle, snap a rubber band tightly around it, and stand the
bagged brush in a coffee can just in case a leak develops. I leave it
that way for a day or two and when I remove it, the brush is fine, and
ready to rinse in paint thinner and wash out properly. That approach
econimizes the amount of acetone needed and also keeps it from evaporating.

I've never had a Baggie leak or disolve while doing that, which is why
I'm dubious about the effectiveness of acetone for solving the OP's
little problem.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"

And now there's an (almost?) impossible-to-remove
stuck-on maybe two-inches-square piece of fried-on
plastic on inside and outside.

QUESTION: short of putting a metal-file to it (and
scratching up the nice finish), HOW TO REMOVE IT?

Scrubbing doesn't work, Nor does trying to (carefully)
use a sharp knife and somehow get it off that way.

Depends on what the pot is made of.
Solvents(Acetone?), fire(Propane torch),
abrasion(fine sandpaper steel wool, or a wire brush),
and cold (Like, dry-ice cold. freeze the spot
until frost starts appearing on the rest of the pot,
and then whack it with a stick.)
are your choices;

wrote in message
...
On 2 May 2005 06:52:21 -0700, "Hopkins" wrote:

Yeah, I'm in the acetone camp. Hadn't thougth of nail polish remover,
but that might do it.

And, not to sound like a smarta$$, but I always rinse veggies before
preparing them.


Nail polish remover IS acetone

a lot of them aren't.

In article , Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

Hopkins wrote:
Yeah, I'm in the acetone camp. Hadn't thougth of nail polish remover,
but that might do it.

And, not to sound like a smarta$$, but I always rinse veggies before
preparing them.



Somebody let me know if acetone actually works for that, I seriously
doubt that it will.

Because....

Sometimes I need to rejuvinate a paint brush thats gotten hard because I
didn't do as good a job of cleaning it as I thought before putting it away.

The technique I use is to slip the brush into a kitchen Baggie and pour
a small amount of acetone in with it, then smooth the Baggie up around
the brush handle, snap a rubber band tightly around it, and stand the
bagged brush in a coffee can just in case a leak develops. I leave it
that way for a day or two and when I remove it, the brush is fine, and
ready to rinse in paint thinner and wash out properly. That approach
econimizes the amount of acetone needed and also keeps it from evaporating.

I've never had a Baggie leak or disolve while doing that, which is why
I'm dubious about the effectiveness of acetone for solving the OP's
little problem.

I'm curious about this, too. I often use plastic containers of the
Tupperware variety for washing parts in acetone, with no ill effects to
the containers.

I've used acetone in the past for melting & fusing various styrene
products, but most plastic food storage bags are polyethylene. I don't
have any acetone nearby (I'm at work) but I do have some
trichloroethylene and methyl chloroform. Neither of these will disolve
a plastic shopping bag.

-Frank

--
fwarner1-at-franksknives-dot-com
Here's some of my work:
http://www.franksknives.com/

Don't do that! Acetone is highly explosive and flammable. Just rub tunafish
on, and let the neighborhood cats lick it off. Works as well as removing
duct tape.

Seriously, have at it with the acetone. Hope that helps.

--

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"Rudy" wrote in message
news:NOlde.1192970$8l.810360@pd7tw1no...
And now there's an (almost?) impossible-to-remove
stuck-on maybe two-inches-square piece of fried-on
plastic on inside and outside.

If you have nail polish remover..use that..or go buy a small bottle of
acetone from your local hardware store, put it on a rag and rub off the
plastic

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Don't do that! Acetone is highly explosive and flammable. Just rub
tunafish
on, and let the neighborhood cats lick it off. Works as well as removing
duct tape.

Seriously, have at it with the acetone. Hope that helps.

Acetone will easily dissolve styrene plastic. I don't think it is going to
do much with the polyethylene from a bag. The tuna oil may give better
results.

--
reply to:
"Goedjn" wrote in message
...


And now there's an (almost?) impossible-to-remove
stuck-on maybe two-inches-square piece of fried-on
plastic on inside and outside.

QUESTION: short of putting a metal-file to it (and
scratching up the nice finish), HOW TO REMOVE IT?


Enough heat to soften it up so you can scrub it off..
Pour some boiling water over it and start scrubbing and scraping. Works for
me everytime.

Thanks, one and all.

Will study it all and then attempt to clean it,
and will report back.

THANKS!

David