Neutralising Hutch - Post12 - Leave vinegar on or wipe it down after??

Right so my little girly goes away for bonding tomorrow and I was just thinking about neutralising things whilst she gone and there's a few things I'm unsure of (its been 5 years since I last had to think about these things):

Firstly I have a runaround pipe - how, on this earth, do I neutralise that??? :? Its 8ft long and I'm totally flummoxed as to how to neutralise the inside :?

Secondly - what about toys, those bendy wooden bridge things, chews, etc? Do all those need to go in the bin? Or would dropping them in boiling water and drying them out again neutralise them? Its just that most of the toys and chews were only replaced just over 2 weeks ago, and I've got two of those bendy wooden bridge things, and it seems so wasteful to bin them. If they do need replacing, would they be any good for a recues single buns or not because they are used. - as you can probably guess I hate waste.

Lastly I just wanted to check if the type of vinegar matters (i.e. white, brown, malt, cider, etc) and am I right in thinking that its 50/50 vinegar to water? Does the temp of the water matter - warm, cold, boiling? How best to use/apply it - with a cloth, in a spray bottle, scrubbing brush?

I used normal chip shop vinegar as I've got gallons of it at the shop :lol: I just diluted it 50/50 with water, can be any temperature. I used a spray bottle. I didn't give them any of their old stuff or toys until I was happy the bond was cemented properly. Could you do the runaround pipe with a steam cleaner/pressure washer, then spay it with some vinegar solution? Maybe for the wooden things could you soak them in boiling water and washing up liquid, scrub, rinse and then spray with vinegar solution? I didn't have any wooden stuff that was worth reusing so I don't know if that will be ok :?

Hmm... This pipe is going to be difficult. I dont have a steam cleaner or pressure washer (could probably borrow a pressure washer), BUT i dont have an outside tap -sounds nuts i know but its a new build terrace, with the kitchen at the front and the tight builders didnt put an outside tap in, so to do it now is expensive as the pipe would have to go through my internal walls to the front of the house.

Could you fill up the bath with hot water and washing up liquid and wash it in that, or take it to one of those car wash places where they have pressure hoses? (After shaking out any stray poos of course :lol

I put water and vinegar in a spray bottle and spray the pipes thoughly with that.

Zoobec said:

Could you fill up the bath with hot water and washing up liquid and wash it in that, or take it to one of those car wash places where they have pressure hoses? (After shaking out any stray poos of course :lol

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Must admit i was wondering on the way to drop her off if i could get 8ft of pipe in the stupid "space saving" (aka impractical) bath and where i could buy vinegar by the gallon from, to add :lol: - im sure hubby would be well impressed! - Do you think washing up liquid would be enough to neutralise it then?

Im just imagining peoples faces if i took it to one of those car washes :lol::lol::lol: - Might actually be a good option though.

Amy104 said:

I put water and vinegar in a spray bottle and spray the pipes thoughly with that.

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Does that get to the inside of the pipe properly though?

I boiled up some water in the kettle, mixed that with vinegar then poured in one of the pipe and rolled it around a bit. Then did the same from the other end. If you use enough, it doesn't ALL run out of the holes in the sides and some makes it down to the other end.

Runaround need to invent a pipe cleaner!

Confused_bun said:

Must admit i was wondering on the way to drop her off if i could get 8ft of pipe in the stupid "space saving" (aka impractical) bath and where i could buy vinegar by the gallon from, to add :lol: - im sure hubby would be well impressed! - Do you think washing up liquid would be enough to neutralise it then?

Im just imagining peoples faces if i took it to one of those car washes :lol::lol::lol: - Might actually be a good option though.



Does that get to the inside of the pipe properly though?

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I think washing up liquid and hot water would get it clean, then spray with vinegar and water to neutralise. I do things like that while hubby is out :lol: And I get vinegar by the gallon for my chip shop :lol:

esupi said:

I boiled up some water in the kettle, mixed that with vinegar then poured in one of the pipe and rolled it around a bit. Then did the same from the other end. If you use enough, it doesn't ALL run out of the holes in the sides and some makes it down to the other end.

Runaround need to invent a pipe cleaner!

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Definately!!! Needs a giant bottle brush style thing :lol: :lol:

I might try pouring a large bucket in fast and rolling it round then.

Thank goodness i didnt get the 12ft pipe, i was going to get!!!

What about the run???

I've just thought - what do I do about the run - its on grass?!?! The run is also frequently moved around the garden so they have been everywhere on the lawn at some point - and the patio is currently far too small to put a run on. Will this cause problems with the bond, because I cant neutralise grass?

Also I assume I should spray the wood frame and mesh of run with vinegar/water mix, like the hutch?

I don't think you need to spray the mesh as the rain will have washed it, it's more where they will be living really

I vinegared everything but the water bottles (bleached those) and the runaround tube last night (moms coming to help with run around tube tonight).

BUT once id vinegared it i didnt know if i was supposed to leave it on to dry or wipe it off? At the moment ive left it on everything except the run around connectors (we'd took those apart to vinegar). So should i now wipe every thing off with a damp cloth or leave the vinegar on? It still smells very very strong, even though its outside - id done it 50/50 vinegar to water but i used distilled malt (white malt) vinegar and i think it was a lot stronger than normal malt.

Also im still worried about the grass not being neutral.

I left the vinegar on when I neutralised my quads mini hutch (goes in the shed). As for the grass I wouldnt worry. You could spray water and vinegar solution on to it but I'm sure the rain will have sorted out.

Good luck!

Thanks for that. Ive left the vinegar on everything and we managed to do the tube (although i got rather covered in vinegar)!

They are coming home today!!! Fingers crossed all goes well.

Fingers crossed for them!

Coming in to a different space together could set up some chasing/fur pulling/humping so its a good idea to keep a close eye for the first couple of days - I'm sure you will anyway. Sooo exciting.

We will, ofcourse, need piccies.