A few weeks ago I was talking about cleaning BBQs, for which I recommend either an oven cleaner, or caustic soda (for a large area) or soda ash (to act as a scourer for the hotplate).
I then had a bloke call in and recommend an IGA product which, he said, worked very well. So I had a look at it, and got a surprise.
Most BBQ cleaners (like noncaustic oven cleaners) use ethanolamines – alkaline amines that are strong enough to cut the grease molecule. And although they try to mask the smell with fragrances, the characteristic smell is still there.
But when I smelled the IGA product, it had the unmistakeable smell of eucalyptus oil, a superb natural cleaning chemical. The actual chemical is eucalyptol, a saturated cycloalkane with a characteristic ether linkage spanning the ring. Like other small, oxygenated organic molecules, this gives it the dual properties of being able to dissolve oils, while being miscible with water.
And it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t wash away properly, because your BBQ smells like eucalyptus oil afterwards. Hats off to IGA for producing such an innovative product!
I’d have a go at that with Coles Ultra enzyme laundry prewash. Wet it down, squirt it with the prewash and swab gently
I spilt some cream on my woolen carpet years ago but after trying many things could never completely remove the stain. I think I have heard you say that oven cleaner removes oil stains. My question is this. Could I use this on my carpet or would it burn a hole?