HELP! Bathroom cleaner broke a bunch of my parts!

[aadder]

Hello everyone, 

I'm very paranoid about germs so i sprayed my MOC with bathroom cleaner after someone handled it. When i woke up, at least 14 pieces had cracked or broken entirely. 

I can order some new ones but i have no idea what to do with the remaining MOC parts. Are they all weakened and should all the hundreds or parts just be replaced? Should i wash the other parts to try to get the cleaner off? Can i trust these parts to stay strong in the future? I'm really upset about this. The active ingredient appears to have been n-alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride it that helps? 

I'd upload an image but apparently i'm out of space which is weird because i think i've only uploaded 4 pictures ever

[AmperZand]

@aadder,

What cleaning product did you use? If you could provide the product’s name as well as its ingredients which should be listed on the back of the bottle, that would be helpful.

Even without knowing what the product was, I would suggest wiping exposed surfaces with cotton wool/cotton buds. Can’t do any harm and could help to soak up any residual product.

About posting pictures, rather than using your allocation of EuroBricks (EB) server space, try hosting your images on a dedicated image hosting site like Flckr. Then, to make your images appear in a EB post, copy the URL (web address) of the image, select the ‘Insert other media’ grey button at the bottom right of the posting entry’s field in your EB post followed by ‘Insert image from URL’. Then paste the URL in the pop-up’s box and click the maroon ‘Insert into post’ button. The image should then appear in your post.

Hope that helps.

[koalayummies]

Is this what you used: Benzalkonium chloride also known as alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride? Its listed as very soluble in water, but somewhat slow.

I think I would disassemble the whole thing then rinse and soak all the pieces in water overnight.

[MAB]

It is unlikely to be the "active ingredient" that does the damage. There will be other solvents (alcohols, acetone, etc) in the solution that will do the damage. Cleansers like this often say that they should be rinsed off after X minutes.

[koalayummies]

Its worth noting that the chemical they said that's listed on the product is one that is being used a lot more now specifically because of shortages of other ingredients, namely ethanol/alcohol.

"During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, from time to time there have been shortages of hand cleaner containing ethanol or isopropanol as active ingredients. The FDA has stated that benzalkonium chloride is eligible as an alternative for use in the formulation of healthcare personnel hand rubs.[9] However, in reference to the FDA rule, the CDC states that it does not have a recommended alternative to ethanol or isopropanol as active ingredients, and adds that "available evidence indicates benzalkonium chloride has less reliable activity against certain bacteria and viruses than either of the alcohols."[10]"

But I agree isopropyl is tricky because it can be perfectly safe for some plastics while permanently damage others.

[dr_spock]

Here is a compatibilty guide:  http://www.kelco.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/abs-chemical-compatibility-guide.pdf

 

[Toastie]

2 hours ago, dr_spock said:

Here is a compatibilty guide:

Holy Moly, that is quite the list!

BTW: Should anyone of you guys ever come close to 100% HF or 100% HCl, let me know. I would love to be part of the show.

It is good to know though that beer is excellently tolerated by ABS.

Best
Thorsten