How To Remove Chemical Stains From Stainless Steel Sink?

Stainless steel sink is the top priority for many people for the sink because it is durable and easy to clean. Its body is resistant to scratches and stains. But with time, however, most durable sink materials can suffer from chemical stains. Chemical stains on the sink are not only unsightly but can also damage the sink if they are left uncleaned.

As soon as you see the chemical stains on the stainless steel sink, you should clean them otherwise later it will become more difficult to clean them. You shouldn’t use hard chemicals to clean the sink. Let’s see how to remove chemical stains from stainless sinks safely without damaging the sink surface.

How To Remove Chemical Stains From Stainless Steel Sink

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Why Does Stainless Steel Sink Stains?

Stainless steel is the most used material for kitchen appliances. Stainless steel material is built to fight rust and corrosion. In its name, stainless is included still chemical and other stains found on it, why?

Stainless steel material shines as new longer than other materials. Chromium oxide is part of stainless steel. Chromium oxide makes stainless steel rust and stains-free. Whereas other metal materials lack chromium oxide so they are easily exposed to rust and stains.

When people buy a sink in the starting, they properly take care of the sink. Over time they start to ignore the cleaning of the sink. They don’t clean the sink regularly. They leave food debris in the sink. This causes stains in the sink.

Also, people use the wrong chemicals to clean stainless-steel sinks and which causes chemical stains in the sink. Hard abrasive cleaners are not good for the sink finish.

Types of Chemical Stains on Stainless Steel Sink

To remove chemical stains from the stainless steel sink, it is important to know which type of stain your stainless steel sink has. Once you determine the type, it becomes easy to deal with stains. Different stains require different cleaning methods to effectively remove stains.

Bleach Stains

Bleach is a common cleaning product we use in the kitchen to clean different appliances. When you use bleach and don’t clean the sink properly then bleach remains in contact with the sink for a long time of period and starts creating stains on the sink. Generally, bleach stains are white or yellowish in the color.

Remove Bleach Stains From The Stainless Steel Sink

First, rinse the sink with water to remove excess bleach.
Create a paste of baking soda and water by mixing them both into equal parts.
Rub this paste on stains. For this, you may use a soft cloth or sponge.
Now, wait for an hour to paste its work.
Rinse the paste with clean water and dry the sink with a soft cloth.

Rust Stains

Rust stains are another common stain for the stainless steel sink. Rust stains especially occur in those areas where water quality is not good. Rust stains have a reddish-brown color. It may appear as splotches or streaks on the surface of the sink.

Remove Rust Stains From The Stainless Steel Sink

A mixture of baking soda and vinegar is good to remove rust stains from the stainless steel sink.
Take both into equal parts and make a paste of them.
Apply the paste on stains and leave it for a few hours. It would be better if you leave it for the whole night.
Now scrub the stains with a scrub brush to remove the color of the stains.

Instead of baking soda and vinegar, you may also use lemon juice and salt to remove rust from the sink. It is not as effective as baking soda and vinegar but it will work. You may also use commercial rust remover but you should carefully read their instructions. Not all rust removers are good to use.

Hard Water Stains

These types of stains occur in those areas where the water contains magnesium and calcium minerals of high quality. It creates white spots on the surface of the sink.

Remove Hard Water Stains From The Stainless Steel Sink

In the start, you should wipe down the sink with a dry cloth so any loose dirt or debris will be wiped out.
For this cleaning, you need to mix vinegar with water. Take both into equal parts. If stains are high in amount, you can increase the quantity of the vinegar.
Dip a cloth into the mixture and apply it to the hard water stains. Cover all stains with the cloth.
Let sit the cloth on stains for 15-20 minutes. So, vinegar will loosen the mineral in the buildup of stains.
After the solution does its work, scrub the area of stains with a scrub brush.
Rinse the sink thoroughly with clean water and wipe down it with a dry cloth to remove any remaining water or solution.

Acid Stains

Acid stains are caused by those chemicals or cooking ingredients that have acidic properties. It can damage the stainless steel sink body.

People use drain cleaners to clean up clogs in the drain pipe of the sink but some drain cleaners contain strong acids that can cause these stains.

Remove Acid Stains From The Stainless Steel Sink

To remove acid stains from the stainless steel sink, you may use hot water and dish soap.
Cover the drain of the sink with a drain cover.
Now fill the sink with hot water and add dish soap to it.
Leave it for 4-5 hours and then drain the water and scrub the sink with a scrub brush.
Rinse the sink thoroughly with clean water.
In this cleaning process, you may use vinegar instead of dish soap if stains won’t go on the first try.

Alkaline Stains

When any alkaline cleaning product comes into contact with the sink surface for an extended period of time, alkaline stains occur. When you use a harsh cleaning product, its alkaline elements may create alkaline stains on the sink surface.

Remove Alkaline Stains From The Stainless Steel Sink

Take equal parts of the baking soda and vinegar and create a paste of it.
Apply the paste on the stains of the sink and let it sit for a few hours.
Before rinsing the sink with clean water, scrub stains with the sponge.

Bonus Methods – How To Remove Chemical Stains From Stainless Steel Sink?

Stainless steel is resistant to stains at some limit but it is not completely stain-free. Over time you may see chemical stains on the stainless-steel sink due to the wrong use of cleaners. Here we are showing 5 different DIY methods for how to remove chemical stains from stainless steel sinks.

Method 1 – Hot Water Stem

hot water stains to remove chemical stains

This method is good to remove minor chemical stains. Those stains that are recently made and very few in number can be removed by using hot water.

First, you need to boil water. You can use a kettle or other utensils to boil water.
When the temperature of the water becomes too high, take off the kettle from the gas.
Now pour hot water on the stains in the sink.
Take a paper towel and place it on the stains.
Pour hot water on the paper and make it wet properly.
Now you have to wait around 10 minutes so the sink surface and paper towel temperature come to around normal.
Use a paper towel to rub the chemical stains on the sink.

Method 2 – Ammonia

Now you should know how to remove chemical stains from stainless steel sinks that are old and can’t be removed by the above methods. Ammonia is a good cleaning agent to remove old stains. Follow the below steps for good results.

Take ammonia and water in the same quantity and mix them well.
Clean stains with water.
Apply the paste on stains and let it do its work.
After half an hour, clean the paste with a towel or paper.
Clean the whole sink with water. Now there are no stains in the sink.

How To Remove Stubborn Stains From Stainless Steel Sink?

Stubborn stains from stainless-steel sinks are hard to remove. You need to do extra hard work for it. But with a little trick, you can remove stubborn stains.

Use vinegar to fight these stains. Vinegar has an acidic property that is good to remove stains but its acidic property is not harmful to the sink surface. It is considered a mild acid.

Before using vinegar, take baking soda and dish soap in equal quantities and create a paste of them. Apply the paste to the sink and leave it for 5-10 minutes. Now spray vinegar on this paste.

Vinegar will react to this paste and make it fizz. Leave it for more few minutes and then clean it with a dry cloth. At last clean, the sink with clean water and you will see that all stains are gone.

Avoid These Cleaning Methods on Stainless Steel Sink

You should not use standard abrasive cleaners on the stainless-steel sink. These cleaners when coming into contact with stainless steel they discolored the finish of the sink. Also, make stains on the sink.
People use different tools to remove stains from the sink. You should avoid wire brushes and steel wool to remove stains from the sink. These tools will make scratches on the sink. Instead of cleaning the sink, they will make the sink dirtier.

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Kraus Stainless Steel Sink – Durable and Stain Resistant Material (Best Selling)

Corrosion and rust-resistant, easy-to-clean commercial-grade satin finish, extra-thick pads

FAQ About How To Remove Chemical Stains From Stainless Steel Sink

How Do I Remove Harpic Stains From a Stainless-steel Sink?

You may use stainless steel cleaner to remove Harpic stains from a stainless-steel sink. It removes all types of stains from the sink. Make sure the cleaner doesn’t contain any abrasive cleaning agent. Follow the instructions on the cleaner to get a better result from it.

How Do You Remove Chemical Burns From Stainless Steel?

When the kitchen sink comes in contact with chemicals, there are chances that stains built on it. The acid in cleaners is responsive to chemical burns.
Baking soda with water is a good mixture to remove chemical burns from the sink. Take an equal part of both and after mixing it well, apply it to stains and leave it for 15 minutes. Then clean it with a dry cloth. All chemical burns will go.

Does Bleach Damage Stainless-steel Sinks?

Bleach that contains chlorine and acid is not good for a stainless-steel sink. It can rust or stain the surface of the sink.

How Do You Fix a Stain on Stainless-steel?

Fixing stains on stainless-steel sinks is not a big task. There are various non-harmful cleaners are available that can fix stains on the sink. Vinegar, baking soda, hot water, ammonia, etc. are good cleaning agents for stainless steel sinks.

Conclusion

If you become the right method, it becomes so easy to clean chemical stains from the sink. After reading the article, hope you are now aware of how to remove chemical stains from stainless steel sinks. All methods in the article are safe for stainless steel. Use these methods to make the kitchen sink new. Clean the sink regularly so you won’t get any stains and corrosion issues with it.

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