# Is it safe to use CLR on a bottle?



## LisaTammy

Got a medicine bottle yesterday and it has some light rust stains inside and out. Can I use CLR to clean it.  It is clear with no color. Thanks,Lisa


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## Robby Raccoon

It didn't work for me. I got better results with sulfuric acid till the explosions... *Laughs*


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## mctaggart67

Tammy: I've had mixed results with CLR. It usually removes rust, though it may require a day or two of soaking. Sometimes the rust deposit is too "stubborn" and CLR merely reduces the deposit's intensity but doesn't make it vanish. The biggest problem with CLR happens when using it to clean dug bottles which are stained with deposits of calcium, etc. on the bottle's surface. Sometimes CLR will increase the milkiness of the stain. I'm not a chemist but I know it has something to do with how the acid(s) in CLR react with bases, such as calcium deposits. This reaction is what cleans, say, a mesh water filter. What I think happen with old glass is that the staining deposits leach into the glass surface and the CLR can't react with all the mineral deposit, leaving a darkened stain instead. Robert: Be careful with sulphuric acid. Splashed droplets and vapours are dangerous. Another danger is the exothermic (heat producing) reaction which occurs when you add water to the acid to dilute the acid. If you do this to an old bottle into which you've poured sulphuric acid first, you may crack the bottle because you'll create a rapid temperature differential which will cause the heated part of the glass to expand quickly, if even microscopically, meanwhile the non-heated part of the bottle won't expand. The crack will be along the heat-line. I know this from experience.


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## Robby Raccoon

McTaggart, trust me, I've learned how to deal with sulfuric acid in bottles. I experimented with heavily stained '50s ketchup bottles. Disaster for two of them. Thankfully, the only ketchup bottle  that wasn't worthless came cleaner and didn't explode! Nor did the two bottles that were embossed (one from about 1910, another from the '40s) even though the '40s one didn't come as clean as I'd hoped. I started laughing when one bottle exploded, then another, then one cracked and leaked all over--each after the other. I learned my lesson. And gained knowledge. But thank you for the warning and physics on what I had done wrong.


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## mctaggart67

Robert: I thought you were joking about explosions, at first.


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## Robby Raccoon

McTaggart, it's not something to joke about unless it happened. It happened.


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## LisaTammy

McTaggart67, Thanks for the info on the CLR> I am just not sure what to do with this bottle.  It's not that valuable but I really like it and wanted to clean it up . I don't know if it was dug or not, the guy at the "pickers" shop through it in with some other purchases for 50 cents. I wonder if soaking in vinegar would help? Or maybe that iron out stuff that you can use in laundry?Lisa


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## ACLbottles

Lisa, I've had success removing rust stains with Lime-A-Way.


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## LisaTammy

Cool I have some of that in the cupboard! Thanks ACL.Lisa


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## mctaggart67

Lime Away seems to be "softer" than CLR.


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## ENCPearce

CLR is a strong base so it works well when trying to dissolve a base (chemistry law "likes dissolves likes"). 
My favorite acid to use is muratic acid (mix of sulfuric and hydrochloride) which is brick cleaning acid. If your unsure of the substance staining the bottle, which I am all the time, just soak it in acid for a day then CLR for a day. Once your done soaking rinse very well and use ammonia shine it up.


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## hampy

hi lisa,re the use of clr what I sometimes do is to sit the bottle in the toilet cistern for a few weeks maybe a month and you will be surprised as to how it comes out,hope I have been of help,rob.


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## LisaTammy

Thats a cool idea Rob.  I ended up using baking soda mixed with a little vinegar to make a paste and scrubbed with my bottle brushes.  came out nice and clear,Lisa


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## splante

I have  had bad luck with clr, sometime it seems like it etches the glass leaving little flea bite marks (for lack of better term) all over the bottle. I still prefer bar keepers friend. On the inside you can buy the soft liquid let it run down the inside over the stains let it sit for a day the rinse and brush it out. On the outside barkeepers friend powder make it into a paste..let it dry on the bottle then wet,wipe and rinse


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