I've started this thread as a means for discussing various compounds used to clean traps by boiling. This is not a discussion on the merits of cleaning traps by other methods.

For years, lye was the standard. But lye is getting harder to find. I've advocated powdered dishwasher detergent, but it is hard to find an unscented kind.

I like the dishwasher soap because it is not so caustic and not so dangerous to work with as lye. I buy mine at Krogers, it is called "Everyday Living" brand. I'm sure it is generic. Maybe there is a little confusion. Some of these detergents might be called "Regular" scent, rather than "Unscented". Regular Scent means they smell like the chemicals that make them up. That's not a problem. Lye smells like lye too.

Maybe I should also mention that I think you should rinse your traps off after you get them "cleaned" no matter what kind of compound you use for a cleaner. The fact is, I have, in a pinch, used lemony-fresh dishwasher detergent for a cleaner. But the traps go from that cleaning barrel, into a second barrel of clean boiling water that is my rinse barrel. There is no discernible odor left on the traps when they come out of the rinse.

Some folks use toilet bowel cleaner. Again this is a dangerous caustic like lye. However, I'm curious as to whether these people are finding unscented toilet bowl cleaners. They all seem to have a perfume-like smell to me. Again, that wouldn't matter to me because I'm going to rinse my traps anyway. But do other folks who use perfumed toilet bowel cleaners also rinse their traps?

I'm not sure these kinds of odors even matter. I know of folks who contaminate their wax pots with "piney" type smells, and they don't seem to have an inordinate problem with critters digging up their traps. So maybe these tree fragrances, like pine, or even lemon, don't seem to arouse too much interest.

So, the question is, what do you clean traps with? Is it unscented? Where do you get it? Please be brand specific, and don't neglect to name the store where you found it.

-- Hal

I ran most of my traps thru the dishwasher. My wife buys an unscented Cascade Powder detergent from Miejers, and that's what I used. While I certainly do not posess the ofactory range of a fox, I could detect no smell other than, well, steal.
After removing, I rinsed again with the garden hose, then later, dyed and/or waxed.

I used this same method the previous year with no problems.

'Automatic Dishwashing Detergent, original scent' put out by 'Great Value', bought at our local 'Piggly Wiggly'. This scent does smell like the chemicals that make up the detergent, but the next step in preparing the traps is to boil them in logwood dye, so am not too concerned about odor. Frank.

Automatic dishwasher detergent that I got at Dollar General.

Can't remember the brand name though. Maybe it was Dollar General store brand.

I think I paid $2.00 for the box, and if I remember right the unscented detergent was more expensive than the lemon scented. Go figure. :rolleyes:

Mike

Would Drano crystals work in a pinch? Basically lye and some other chemicals right?

So you have 4 pots?
1 for cleaning, 1 for boiling, 1 for dyeing, and 1 for waxing????

For me it is "Sun Sations" from walmart and "automatic dishwasher detergent" from Dollar General
No fragrance listed on the ingrediants or label of either

I don't think anybody here is using 4 barrels.

Personally, I use two boiling barrels. The first is for "cleaning" the traps. That is the barrel that contains the cleaning agent, in my case dishwasher powder. The second is for rinsing them. If I am going to dye the traps, I'll put the dye in the rinse barrel. I wouldn't want the dye mixed with the contaminants I've boiled off the traps.

Wax is an entirely different process for me. I use a 10 quart container filled with pure melted wax. There is absolutely no water involved in my waxing process.

And... Yes, Draino will work for cleaning traps. However it is very caustic, like lye, and it is dangerous to work with. Be careful with it.

-- Hal

I'm gettin old, but if memory serves me Drano and Saniflush have as their active ingredient Sodium Hydroxide...aka Lye.

You folks that wax need something that will emulsify the wax, ergo the strong base (caustic). If you get your ratios of trap wax to lye just right you might could make soap.

Dish detergent is just that, a detergent and boiling with wax should allow it to disolve the wax by converting it to miscels. Have any tried or considered Automobile Detergents? They chould give you more bang for your buck and I wonder why they would be scented.

"I'm gettin old, but if memory serves me Drano and Saniflush have as their active ingredient Sodium Hydroxide...aka Lye."

Your memory is quite intact. In fact, plain old lye was the standard drain cleaner for years. (And still is for some of us. ) Saniflush and Drano are little more that hopped-up lye.

What exactly do you mean by automobile detergent?

-- Hal

The stuff you buy at pep boys etc. for washing cars.