We have several restrooms with stainless steel wall partitions and sinks. The stainless is not abused with graffiti or etching/scratches, but simply stained from industrial dirt and neglect. Best method/products to use to clean?
With my company we use old english furniture polish. I had used stainless steel cleaners before but I found that they didn't always work well. I tried old enlgish becuase I found that a common ingredient in many stainless steel cleaners is mineral oil. Which is also in old enlgish furniture polish. I tried it and it works great. You don't need to use too much. We apply it with a microfiber rag. The other benefit to this is you eliminate a extra bottle in your cart becasue you now can polish furniture and stainless steel with the same product. Like any chemical though you might want to test the product on a small spot to see if there is any negeative reaction to the surface you are using it on. I haven't had a problem. Give it a try you may like it.
We have used an alkaline cleaner in the past to remove soils and a mild acidic cleaner to remove hard water and stains. On stainless steel such as partitions or elevator doors that we could not remove soils and stains we use emery cloth and re-polished them. This is a good method of removing small to medium scratches also.
wd-40
Oil definately will make it look nice, we use it for this purpose. However, it is not a cleaner/sanitizer (though the microfiber helps), so we use Sprayaway Stainless Cleaner. It is difficult to find (I find it on Amazon), but worth it. Let us know what you find works for you!
Hey Bob, I understand your issue. I have a very old hospital and my stainless is very old. You may have to try a really fine steel wool with a rubbing compound to get the stains removed, just remember go with the grain. I have tried several things to recondition the stainless in my hospital, my best result was with 3M chrome and metal polish for cars Model # 39527. You have to work in small areas but is will take the tarnish off of the stainless. You may also try a product called Bulldozer it is a Victoria Bay product. This is the private label company for Dade Paper. Bulldozer will clean your stainless and also take the tarnish off of it so it will shine. After you get it to shine then I would suggest Old English or Shiela Shine. Good luck I hope this helps.
Brasso
Flitz
WD-40 works on parts that are not normally touched by bare hands but collects dust.
As for water marks and mineral deposits, use a commercial dishwasher and ice machine cleaner, dilluted in a spray bottle.
Use WD 40 with a diaper. Spray it on a diaper then use the dry side of diaper to polish, You might have to do this a couple times to get the look your looking for.
Thanks all. Just fyi...WD-40 did not work well at all. Ended up using a generic stainless cleaner and elbow grease.