I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Kaboom - pishaw

So, I'm cleaning today. Part of the agreement is that I clean the bathrooms. One hint on keeping things sparkly clean, clean them every week. Just saying.

Of course those who give advice rarely follow it. So I've found some good things to help out when I've let it go a few weeks. A while back I was buying some specialty cleaners at the grocery and decided to buy some Kaboom! I'm sure you've seen the commercials.

They lie like rugs.

Powers through tough soap scum? Sorry, try has trouble removing light dirt. The best thing this product does is make the surface slippery. That's not a plus, btw. And it clogs up the scrubber side of the sponge (which makes cleaning even more difficult).

Complete

Waste

of Money.

Thank the gods for local hardware stores still open and Lime Away. Not only did Lime Away help break up the dirt, the soap, the hard water stains (something Kaboom! is also supposed to do), but Lime Away breaks up the Kaboom crap left on the surface. (note, Lime Away is not for Stainless Steel. Keep the two away from each other).

So, end result, do not trust Kaboom! to clean anything. Including cleaning itself off whatever you've sprayed it on. (for quality control purposes, tried it on an single piece shower stall)

3 comments:

Jim Wright said...

LimeAway is good, but I like CLR better. I've got well water, with iron and calcium despite the reverse-osmosis whole house filter on the main line (speaking of which, hmmm probably about time for a change out).

Yeah, Kaboom is crap, basically colored dish liquid - that Billy Mitchell asshole from the infomercials is a menace to society. I'd like to drown him in that worthless crap. (yeah, I clean the bathrooms around here too, you're not alone, Steve).

Jim Wright said...

Oh, and CLR is most excellent at cleaning the drip coffee maker once a month. Diluted and about three fresh water rinses afterward and the thing works good as new. Also works good at cleaning the shower heads, I put them in the dishwasher, with a cup of CLR and run it on the "Heavy" cycle without heat dry. Cleans the calcium crud out of both the shower heads and the dish washer.

Steve Buchheit said...

Jim, that's good to know. I spent a few hours trying to clean off the dishwasher's sump screen of the calcium deposits (with a semi-stiff nylon brush). My wife doesn't think we need a new gasket, so I'm eliminating all else before I can get one to seal up the dishwasher. CLR might also help with the clothes washer (is not spinning, possibly having problems draining, I think it's at the inaccessible "self-cleaning" filter).

But, yeah, Kaboom! Colored water would work better.