How to clean your Christmas decorations - Part2

Sorting out the Christmas tree and all the decorations that go along with it can be a rather big job. I cannot stress enough how much easier this job is when everything is stored properly. Make sure that water cannot get near your decorations if you would like to put them out next year.

When you pull them out this year a quick clean before they get put out will go a long way to making everything sparkle. Make sure you have a feather duster, micro-fibre cloth and if you have really old and delicate decorations wear gloves while handling them.

Plastic, resin, ceramic and metal decorations can be cleaned by dusting them. If they are still dirty you can use a light spray of Blendwell Chemicals Window Cleaner as we discussed in part one. Be sure to wipe off a clean cloth afterwards. You could also clean them with a solution of Blendwell Chemicals Greendet and water. Simply squirt a little Greendet into a sink full of water and put a cloth in the solution. Wring out cloth and clean your decorations. Wipe all your decorations afterwards with another cloth to wipe away any residual chemical. Never soak decorations or allow them to get too wet. They are delicate so please don’t clean too vigorously.

A micro-fibre cloth will go a long way in helping you clean your decorations particularly your wooden ones. These cloths are very gentle and don’t tend to scratch so you can use them to clean most of your decorations even if they just need a wipe.

Garlands that are made up of leaves may need a little bit of a dust too. Shaking or using a duster will most likely break these decorations. Rather use a hairdryer on a low setting to blow dust off.

To make this job easier next year find dry, dust-free storage for your decorations when you pack away your decorations after Christmas. For more information on cleaning and cleaning products please visit www.blendwell.co.za Blendwell Chemicals has a factory near the Gautrain station in Midrand. We are your local cleaning chemical supplier.

How to clean your Christmas decorations - Part1

Maybe you’re a bit of a kid like me and you’ve already put up your Christmas tree. I like to have mine out for at least a month and really enjoy it. Putting it all up feels a lot like a military operation with all the boxes and boxes that need to come out of storage and there is a very specific order in which items are to be placed on the tree.

You’re going to save yourself a lot of time and energy by storing your decorations correctly. It’s really important that your decorations cannot be attacked by any damp and the more delicate ones cannot be broken. Getting a couple of big plastic boxes, bubble wrap and tissue paper could be very useful. Be very careful with any decorations with glitter on them as you may wipe off the glitter whilst cleaning.

Glass ornaments will need to be wrapped up individually and when they come out of their wrapping a quick clean with Blendwell Chemicals Window Cleaner will work beautifully. In a 1 litre spray bottle pour in 80ml of Window Cleaner and fill up the rest of the bottle with water. Spray the ornaments and wipe gently with a soft clean cloth.

Plastic baubles that have been attacked by the grubby hands of an overexcited 3 year old can be cleaned the same way. Please be sure not to rub these ornaments too vigorously as the paint can come off. A gentle wipe should be all you need.

Blendwell Chemicals manufactures Window Cleaner and many other cleaning products. To see their full range of cleaning chemicals please visit www.blendwell.co.za Blendwell Chemicals is near Pretoria in South Africa. We are your local cleaning chemical supplier.

How to clean your garden furniture

It’s almost time for the festive season and most of us will be starting our summer holidays soon. You may be lucky enough to be going away but if not then no doubt there will be many plans to spend some time in your garden. Garden furniture if not cared for regularly can wear quite quickly. Wooden furniture needs yearly oiling or staining. Follow manufacturer’s instructions.

Plastic garden furniture needs to be cleaned with very light detergents for time to time. You can use a product like Blendwell Chemicals Greendet. This dish washing liquid will be gentle enough not to ruin the plastic. Squirt some in a bucket of water and fill up with water. Use a sponge to clean the furniture and rinse off with water.

It will be necessary to clean up spills as they happen. You can use a damp cloth for this. When done using the furniture for the day tilt the chairs towards the table so that the seats do not get rain or dirt on them. Cover the table if you can.

Blendwell Chemicals has a factory in Midrand near the Gautrain station. For more information on this and any of their other products please visit www.blendwell.co.za Blendwell Chemicals is your local cleaning chemicals supplier.

How to clean your washing machine?

Your washing machine is one of those machines that probably seldom gets a second thought unless it’s broken and there’s school tomorrow and you have no clean uniforms and sports clothes. Every once in a while it is necessary to give your washing machine a quick clean. For the most part your washing machine will clean itself but it doesn’t hurt to give those other parts of it a quick once over.

Start with the outside of your machine. Mix up a solution in your sink of a squirt of washing-up liquid like Blendwell Chemicals Greendet and fill up sink with warm water. Then take a cleaning cloth that has been dipped in the solution and wring it out. Use this cloth to wipe down the exterior of your washing machine.  

Cleaning the inside of your washing machine will need a wipe down just like you did the outside. Don’t forget to do the inside of the door.  For the parts of the door that may have crevices you can use an old toothbrush or a pipe cleaner. The drum that your clothes sit in will get a good clean every time you use the machine.

If the machine has a musty smell to it still you may need to run a wash cycle without any clothes in it. When you do this, run at your hottest temperature setting on your machine. When your machine has finished this cycle leave the door open for as long as you can help the smell go away. Don’t forget to clean out the drawer where your cleaning chemicals go for each wash. You can usually remove this drawer completely and clean it. Chances are you will only need to clean with water but it may need a bit of a rub with a cloth. Also don’t forget to empty out the lint tray.

For more information on Greendet and all the other cleaning products that Blendwell Chemicals manufactures please visit www.blendwell.co.za Blendwell Chemicals has a factory in Midrand, South Africa. We are your local cleaning chemical supplier.

How to clean your bin

It’s been wonderful having these hot summer days. One downside of the hot weather is how quickly things we have thrown out begin to smell. Bad odours from bins especially our large outdoor black bins can be a real problem in this weather.

One way of dealing with this unpleasant problem is to use Blendwell Chemicals Black Bin Cleaner. This cleaning chemical is not classified as a disinfectant but rather a deodorizer. It should work brilliantly on your bin at home, office and any place where bins need cleaning.  Use rubber gloves and safety eyewear and avoid accidental spilling.

Mix 200ml of this industrial cleaning chemical with 9.8 litres of water to make up a 10 litre solution. Pour some into your black bin and it will probably be easiest to use a broom to then clean the bottom and sides of the bin. When all the grime has been washed away, empty the bin and rinse thoroughly with clean water.

Blendwell Chemicals manufactures Black Bin Cleaner and many other cleaning chemicals. To see what we manufacture please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Our factory is in Halfway House, South Africa. We are your local cleaning chemical supplier!

What is safety equipment? Part 2

In part one we looked at gloves and eyewear. Here we will look at other types of safety equipment that are often required when dealing with cleaning chemicals.

Often forgotten is safety footwear. Proper boots or shoes should always be worn when dealing with cleaning chemicals. Firstly, they will protect the skin on your feet from accidental spills. Secondly, they should have steel toe caps and these would protect your toes should you accidentally drop anything heavy on your feet.

Overalls are a very important part of safety gear. Wearing a suitable overall is imperative. Typically a blue overall has the same protection as wearing a pair of jeans. If dealing with harsh chemicals it may be better to rather look at an acid-proof overall which is usually bottle green in colour and if dealing with flammable materials you could rather buy a flame retardant overall (these are usually fern green in colour).

Safety respiratory masks may be required in conditions where products can be harmful to lungs. This may be because the dust off a powder product could hurt the lungs or the fumes off a liquid product could create a problem.  Where safety respiratory masks are required a dust mask will not suffice. These are simply ineffective and you would be better off with a proper breathing unit.  A safety respiratory mask could be a single or double depending on requirements. Cartridges will need to be replaced from time to time and the appropriate cartridges will need to be used. Cartridges are made for different proposes so be sure you have the right type.

When dealing with cleaning chemicals these would be the most common types of safety gear. However, there may be other requirements for specific chemicals. Product information should very clearly state if other types of safety gear is required. Please follow the advice given. If there is no safety advice given with a product, always get in touch with the manufacturer to make sure about what you may require.

Please visit the Blendwell Chemicals website at www.blendwell.co.za for information on cleaning chemicals that we have in our range. Blendwell Chemicals is a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals that has a factory in Midrand South Africa.

What is safety equipment? Part1

You’ll see in most of my blogs that I recommend that wearing of rubber gloves or even goggles. The recommendations can vary from wash hands after use to wear full safety gear including breathing apparatus and acid proof clothing. Thankfully, the cleaning chemical industry seldom requires the use of full protective gear. Although, from time to time there will be a need for breathing apparatus.

At Blendwell Chemicals, we would rather have you use too much safety equipment than not enough. We would always rather be safe than sorry. Please do not take this as an opportunity to not use safety equipment because you think we might be overly cautious. Please understand that people can respond differently when exposed to exactly the same thing. Many people have absolutely no problem washing a couple of sinkfuls of dishes without using household gloves and have no problems afterwards. The same experience for another and they may well have an outbreak of eczema so bad that it requires months of treatment with a cortisone cream. Please do not make the presumption that you may not be affected badly as you won’t know until you react.

When the recommendations are for gloves these would not be household gloves that one would wash the dishes with – they are usually yellow. These gloves wear down very quickly and tear extremely easily. The gloves required are thick rubber gloves. These gloves are usually a reddish colour and should either have an elasticated wrist or should come up to the elbow. The ones that are elasticated at the wrist are suitable for when the hands will not be submerged in the cleaning product and the user is wearing a suitable overall.

Safety eyewear would normally be a pair of safety goggles. Ideally, this would be a pair of goggles that would fully enclose the eye and make contact with the skin all the way around the eye. Wearing normal glasses is not enough. Normal glasses might prevent some minor splashing to reach the eyeball but that’s about it. A major splash and any dust and the eye would not be protected. It is possible that the eyes can start itching and burning in the presence of some chemicals, even when there is no direct contact, if goggles are worn you can protect your eyes.

Blendwell Chemicals is a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals that is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Please visit our website at www.blendwell.co.za for information on all our cleaning products. Please look out for the second part of this article.

What is a MSDS?

MSDS is an acronym for material safety data sheet. A MSDS is a very useful document that contains all sorts of information about a chemical. This chemical can be a raw material or ingredient or it could be a finished product.

The information one would find on a MSDS can vary slightly from country to country but generally a MSDS will provide information on the chemical and specify safety requirements when using that chemical.

A MSDS will have information on how to handle the chemical and what someone working with the chemical needs to be aware of. How toxic or poisonous the chemical might be and what safety gear would be required would be found on the MSDS. You can also expect to find information on any health effects and what first aid procedures should be followed if someone came into contact with the chemical.

Details of the chemicals boiling point, melting point and flash point would be on the MSDS. As well as how to store the chemical, what to do if it spills and how it would react if the place it is stored is on fire.

It is very important for anyone who is handling chemicals to know how to treat each one as they all have different requirements depending on their specific make-up. Blendwell Chemicals has MSDS’s for each product they manufacture. For more information on the cleaning chemicals made by Blendwell Chemicals please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals has a factory near the Gautrain station in Midrand South Africa.

Blendwell Chemicals – your local chemical supplier!

How to clean your cooler box

With the holidays just around the corner, it may just be time to haul out your cooler box and give it a good clean. There’s always a good chance that when you do get it out to use it, when you open it you’ll find it has a rather musty smell inside.

It is always a good idea to clean out the cooler box straight after use. If you have used it only for some drinks and nothing spilt then a simple rinsing out will do. If you used it for storing some meat you would be better off disinfecting it first or if it wasn’t cleaned properly after last use. Easiest way to do this would be to start with making sure the cooler box is empty and no food particles remain. Then take 5ml of Blendwell Chemicals Bleach and add one litre of water. You can either wipe this on with a rag (remember a cloth is likely to get bleached too) or you could put the solution into a spray bottle and spray it into the box. Make sure you have wiped the inside of the box thoroughly and then rinse with clean water.

Now that you know how to disinfect the cooler box you should also know how to clean the inside too. Use a dishwashing liquid like Blendwell Chemicals Greendet. Simply squirt some dishwashing liquid into a sink and fill up with warm water. Using a sponge or cloth wipe the inside of the cooler box with the solution and clean thoroughly. Rinse with clean water.

Whenever you clean out your cooler box be sure to dry thoroughly after cleaning or disinfecting. It would be a good idea to leave it in a sunny spot for a few hours to make sure it dries out.

For more information on these and other cleaning chemicals please visit www.blendwell.co.za Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a huge range of cleaning chemicals and have a factory near the Gautrain station in Midrand. We are your local cleaning chemical supplier!

What is REACH?

REACH is an acronym for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances. In 2007, this law was introduced in Europe as part of the European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use. REACH aims to identify chemical substances earlier to improve human health and the environment. As well as, improve competitiveness within the chemical industry.

REACH has intended that chemicals are stored and transported in a safe way and that information on safer chemical substitutes be more easily available. The Delphis Eco range of cleaning products complies with REACH and is now available in South Africa.

Blendwell Chemicals manufactures the Delphis Eco range under license to the UK. Blendwell Chemicals is in Johannesburg and you can visit our website at www.blendwell.co.za