Drano does indeed include an awful lot of sodium hydroxide, which is part of
the reason it sinks down to the bottom where the clog is and also why it
dissolves the organics (slime and hair) that is plugging the drain. It will
most
certainly strip paint over time but it shouldn't hurt the plastic badges with
some limited exposure. I don't know for certain what plastic is used to make
the badges but I wouldn't be too awfully suprised if it was some sort of PVC,
as it is easy to mold and holds the electroless nickel (chrome) and paint well;
PVC will hold up to NaOH fine with the limited exposure but will become
brittle over time as the plasicizers are leached out. The sodium hypochlorite
(bleach) is no real problem, but the "surfactants" - as mentioned, really
detergents - could be a problem, but again with limited exposure shouldn't be a
problem. The silicates add weight to the solution (so it sinks) and also helps
"scrub" the surfaces being cleaned. Chemically this stuff isn't that active at
room-type temperatures; when it goes down the drain and sinks to a clog it
starts to exotherm (generate heat) as the NaOH reacts with the water and this
heat
accelerates the dissolving process and voila! the clog opens up. Without the
water to react with and the subsequent heating it'd just kinda sit there and
react very slowly.
But it really wouldn't be very nice to take a "bucket" of Drano, strip a
bunch of paint and grease in it, and then dump it down the toilet! The
question
is; what are you going to do with it when you're finished? Enviromentally it'd
be a lot nicer to send the parts to someone professional with a real
wastewater treatment system where the stripping solution would at least be
neutralized
prior to discharge.
Fred "chemical geek" J.
WI (well, Germany right now)
'69 2000
'64 1500
"Results not typical, milage may vary, etc etc etc..." In other words, I
don't KNOW that the plastic is PVC, it could be a polystyrene-type material or
something like that, in which case it would dissolve much more rapidly in the
NaOH-based solutions. If you're desparate to try it, put some on the back of a
badge where it wouldn't be noticable if it damaged it!
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