good guesses from someone who should know, but, city water often does often contain an excess of ammonia and is often vary alkaline, sometimes beyond what seems healthy. also, i know for a fact (because i've read the ingredients and it made holes in clothing, though the bleach component was probably also involved) that some of the current dishwashing liquid/gel products for automatic dishwashers do contain lye, i.e. sodium hydroxide. i'm sure it's not legal for use in soap to be used by hand( and shouldn't be) but it is in some dishwashing liquid. don't forget that chemical laws are in constant flux, and many things become legal and illegal every year, often for no logical reason.
i've worked in water purification so i know allot about that (by the way, it is a very corrupt industry with lots of idiots lying, but i'm highly technical and researched things for my employer who i left because he was indeed a crook!). most plants dump in chlorine and ammonia, usually not balanced and not necessarily close together so you wind up with chloramines and an excess of ammonia. the intent is to use less chlorine, which is very bad for you (though obviously better than cholera!). also don't forget, that many, many water treatment plants are badly out of date, using old suspect equipment, and not all technicians are as capable as others which is what led to the last large cryptosporidium outbreak when the operators didn't realize a new flocullent needed to be used in greater quantity than the old one and hence the bugs weren't all removed and they aren't touched by chlorine or ammonia. another problem with tap water is hardness, which in some places could leave insulating residue on the contact surfaces and of course ugly water marks. no offense meant to those with more or less current data, i could certainly be in error, and chloramines are probably the intent, i've i've seen it not always work that way, then again i've personally seen someone with city water that had no chlorine left by the time it got to them, many water systems are in vary sad shape and it's awfully expensive to build new ones and often impossible to update old facilities any more cheaply. i'm also not sure that the chlorine and ammonia stay bonded in the presence of organics and inorganics that are in some cities water. in any case, water is fine, and good detergents can be hard to rinse out completely, though a little won't hurt and will make the plastic more static dissipative. in any case, this has definately gotten way, way off topic. again, my intent is not to insult any one and i still think it's best done by hand with distilled water only or a least a good rinse or two with distilled when done. i also don't recommend blowing keyboards and computers off as it can generate static in dry areas and things still need to air dry and there's the risk of driving dirt etc. into crevices never to be removed. YMMV, IMHO ;) Begin forwarded message: > From: Eric J. Leopold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri Jan 24, 2003 1:06:18 AM America/Denver > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (G-List) > Subject: Re: Keyboard in the dishwasher (was Re: Apple Optical mouse > click button sticks) > Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (G-List) > > > On Thursday, January 23, 2003, at 09:56 PM, Philip Stortz wrote: > >> NO, don't use any, any automatic dishwasher soap! most brands are >> mostly lye, which is used to etch circuit boards by some companies! >> it >> ----------------------- >> > > No brands of automatic dishwasher soap have any lye. Lye is the common > name of sodium hydroxide and is forbidden in soap and detergent > formulations for consumer use. It's too caustic and harmful to the > skin alone. Ammonia is combined with chlorine chemically to form > chloramine for disinfection in water treatment plants so ammonia > doesn't exist in tap water by itself. > > All detergent formulations are mixtures of sodium phosphate, sodium -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
