Dumb question.... Where do you get ammonia?

[encremental]

In the UK, Jeyes sells a plain ammonia with the brand name 'Kleen Off'. I had no joy finding any of it in a supermarket, but eventually tracked down a bottle in the local hardware shop for what I thought was a rather pricey £3.25 ($6.50). This place had a wonderful range of excitingly specialised cleaning products, including gravestone cleaner. Strangely, no TV ads for that one yet. Regretfully passing over such an interesting shoppertunity, I did however bag half a litre of sticky label residue remover, which should see me out and also prevent a lot of bad language.

 

Has anyone else noticed that since starting with this hobby, you have accumulated a huge assortment of junk you didn't own (or even know about) before? There's the ammonia of course, then the tube of silicone grease (enough to lubricate at least 123,004 pistons), the carnuba polish, the square of brass shim, the jeweller's loupe, the microfibre cloth, the utrasonic cleaner, the sheets of mylar, the Simichrome and so on. Then there's the cupboard to keep all this in, and another cupboard for the inks, something else for the pens (and of course the attendant specially imported flock-lined plastic trays), the pen pouches, the travelling inkwells, the blotters, the blotting paper that goes in them ......

 

I think people who own horses have it easy, frankly.

 

John

[ppenloverr]

other names are

Ammonia

Hydrogen nitride

Spirit of Hartshorn

Nitro-Sil

Vaporole

it is similiar name in many european languages.... not sure how to help....

and yes you get it in places where they sell cleaning products... same place where you might find washing powder etc....

[JayKay]

Ammonia is one nitrogen bonded to three hydrogen atoms. It is NOT bleach, and you should be advised that due to the chemical properties of bleach and ammonia, a toxic release of chlorine gas will result from mixing the two together. Use them one at a time.

 

Ammonia is present in urine, though I think for obvious reasons you'll want to find a purer source.

 

+1

 

If you have ammonia in the house, keep it far away from the bleach. If you go and clean your pen, dont use bleach. If you clean anything in your house, choose bleach or ammonia. If you use bleach or ammonia, you WILL release chlorine gas. This is an irritant, burns the skin, attacks mucus membranes, and is fatal from only moderate doses inhaled a few times. Its an oxidizing agent. Dont mix it with anything but water. Vinegar and even lemon juice can cause the reaction.

[JDlugosz]

The "ammonia" referred to is not pure NH3, but rather is "Household ammonia cleaner", of which Parson's is the archetype. See, for example, here. Buy it online here.

 

I don't know what the concentration is, if you were to mix your own from chemicals. And it also contains a surfactant.

 

--John

[piembi]

Had a hard time to find ammonia in Germany. Finally I checked the hardware stores and found it standing beside paint thinner and petroleum ether ....

[christob]

I thought it was easy: Ammonia comes in GREEN bottles, Chlorine in BLUE bottles. Both are found in your local shop. Or is this only a Norwegian thing?

[BillTheEditor]

I thought it was easy: Ammonia comes in GREEN bottles, Chlorine in BLUE bottles. Both are found in your local shop. Or is this only a Norwegian thing?

Must just be in Norway.

 

That color coding isn't very helpful to men with blue/green color blindness. If they were looking for a good contrast, they could have made a better choice. Something like 5% of all men are affected by color blindness, and blue/green is pretty common among that group.

 

On the other hand, since ammonia is generally used for household cleaning, maybe they figured the chances of a man trying to find it were pretty slim.

[DavidH]

Salut, JFT!

 

Do they sell the product After-Bite in Montreal? It's ingredient list includes only ammonia 3.5% and 'natural oil.' Don't know if it's pure enough to work for what you need, but it's worth considering.

[RLTodd]

Misc.

 

(1) Parsons was the predominate brand of household ammonia in the States for years.

 

(1a) Didn't buy any for pen cleaning because the only version carried at the local markets was the lemon scented version and I didn't want to run the scent oil through the places I would use it.

 

(2) It is a cheap and effective cleaner. A half to a cup of ammonia to a gallon of water is a traditional floor cleaner. Stuff evaporates so you don't have to rinse the floor.

 

(2a) Heavy advertising for premium products like Spic N Span has made this a far less common application than it was when people watched their pennies.

 

(3) Usually you can pick up 1/2 gallons at places like Wal*Mart, Target, and other warehouse stores.

 

 

Good luck

 

 

[Gcouch]

At any old grocery store. Some say Windex, but don't use it because it has a host of other ingredients in it. Just don't mix with bleach.

[jkingrph]

Ammonia is correctly referred to as ammonium hydroxide, which is ammonia gas, NH3 dissolved in water to form the hydroxide NH4OH

 

Bleach is sodium hypochorite.

 

A previously mentioned do not mix the two as large quantites of toxic chlorine gas will be released. When using bleach a small amount of chlorine gase is liberated as the water solvent evaporates or warms, usually not in quantites to be dangerous unless used in very tight closed spaces. If inhaled it forms hypochorous acid which is very damaging to lungs and bronchial tissue.

 

Ammonium hydroxide, especially in higher concentrations, always liberates ammonia gas, which when inhaled recombines with water in lungs to again form ammonium hydroxide, which is highly alkaline, the opposite of an acid, but still highly damaging to the tissue.

The common household strength is usually 3%, but sometimes up to 20% can be found. It is an excellent degreaser, an alkali plus a fat(oil) forms a soap.

Edited June 9, 2012 by jkingrph

[Brian K]

<!--quoteo(post=664904:date=Jul 9 2008, 08:28 PM:name=Garageboy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Garageboy @ Jul 9 2008, 08:28 PM) 664904[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Is there such thing as brand name ammonia?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

No.

 

In the U.S., after the store brands, the most common brand of household ammonia is Parsons.

[htom]

For our purposes, you want "household ammonia", which will be available in a grocery store with the cleaning products (or a hardware store or maybe a paint shop.) You do not want a product with foaming or sudsing or scent, just plain household ammonia (which is, indeed, mostly water.) You don't want to use the industrial chemical or lab grade supplies.

[SamCapote]

It's even sold at Amazon.com but its cheapest at grocery store. Couple brands. I would avoid the "lemon scented" one on the left.

 

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/pike444/21D1haEINuL.jpg http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/pike444/21oHwSM6b0L-1.jpg

Edited June 9, 2012 by SamCapote

[beluga]

At any old grocery store. Some say Windex, but don't use it because it has a host of other ingredients in it. Just don't mix with bleach.

 

 

Happy Birthday!

We successfully revived a thread that was dormant since August 1st, 2008.

 

I just hope the original poster is still checking the replies.

Edited June 9, 2012 by beluga

[SamCapote]

At any old grocery store. Some say Windex, but don't use it because it has a host of other ingredients in it. Just don't mix with bleach.

 

 

Happy Birthday!

We successfully revived a thread that was dormant since August 1st, 2008.

 

I just hope the original poster is still checking the replies.

 

Why are you bothering us with such minor technicalities? :roflmho:

[lapis]

I think they just opened up a new grocery store.

[JimB]

At any old grocery store. Some say Windex, but don't use it because it has a host of other ingredients in it. Just don't mix with bleach.

Bah, humbug! I've used Windex since I ran out of Pen Flush and it is just fine. No issues in months and months of use. Even my vintage pens that I ink up with iron gall.

[brewerjeff]

Anhydrous ammonia is ubiquitous in farming country where it is applied to fields as a fertilizer. It is also used in the illegal production of Methamphetamine so be careful what you ask for or someone might think you're starting a meth lab.

 

It could happen.

[goldiesdad]

I have used Windex with no issues also found Ammonia at Dollartree for a buck Great deal ...