How To Polish Old Copper Pipes

Use as little or as much polish as you need - plenty of polish may be needed to cut through heavy tarnish easily.

How to polish old copper pipes. As ketchup or tomato paste its already at the ideal consistency. One thing to keep in mind is if there are any fittings in the lines that old boiler pipes were probably soldered with lead. Also realize that copper used for heating is usually a thinner wall than piping used fof.

Just rub it in with a clean rag let sit briefly then polish rinse and dry. Ammonia 1 cup calcium carbonate available at art and hobby stores and 1 pint of soap jelly made from 1 cup shaved soap melted in a quart of boiling water advises University of Florida professor Marie Hammer. Make your own copper cleaner to avoid the harsh chemicals and expense of commercial copper cleaners.

Stir for a minute until the salt dissolves. Cut the lemon in half and dip it into the salt. Ketchup is full of acid that works well to clean and polish copper piping.

Dip a cloth into the solution and wipe the copper. Copper is a good conductor and will therefore conduct that heat quite efficiently from the corner youre torching to the opposite corner youre holding it by. Do not use abrasive cleaners or steel wool to clean copper.

If you find that the salt and vinegar method is the best way to clean copper pipes for you but you think your pipes could benefit from longer treatment add flour to the salt and vinegar mixture to make a paste. I repeated this process twice leaving the copper in the bag for 1-3 hours each time. You can now apply the paste to your pipe and let.

Old ones will have picked up abrasive particles. How to Clean a Copper Pipe with Ketchup. Its magic how it immediately removes the tarnish.