Cleaning is an important part of maintaining the hygiene of lab glassware. It is extremely necessary to take care of the lab glassware because a lot of experimental results depend on that. Without cleaning the lab glassware properly, the results might get flawed and might mar the efforts of the experiments which are not only time consuming but also incur a good deal of cost.

There are some other aspects of cleaning laboratory glassware, which too should be taken into consideration in order to make sure that the glassware is cleaned and free from damage. On numerous occasions it has been found that in order to clean the lab glassware, people end up damaging them, which make them unfit for use.

Hence, here are some of the fundamental ethics of cleaning lab glassware effectively without damaging them. These tips will help in getting the best results. It must be noted that all residues on laboratory glassware are not clearly visible, hence the objective should not merely be to get a glassware that looks clean but is actually free from any impurities.

Dealing with Volumetric Lab glassware

For cleaning volumetric chemistry lab glassware, it is recommended to use elma lab clean A20sf which is formulated specially to clean calibrated lab glassware such as burettes, pipettes and other types of volumetric graduated glassware. It can be used effectively in immersion cleaning as well as cleaning in a labware washer. The recommended temperature to clean volumetric lab glassware is 50 to 70 degrees C.

Dealing with Greases, lime Soaps and oils

In order to cleanse laboratory glassware that has been tainted with grease, oil and lime soaps, it is recommended to use elma lab clean N10 which is foam inhibiting and is apt for cleaning not just glass but also light metals such as aluminum, plastic labware and ceramics. In order to remove mild taints such as labels, magnesium and calcium bound contaminations, this can be effectively used.

Dealing with stains that Require a Mildly Acidic Cleaner

Elma lab Clean S10 is perfect for prevention of redisposition and removal of soaps and lime scales in chemistry lab glassware. It can also be used to remove aqueous emulsions that are used for cooling, dust and fingerprints. For removing rusts add ‘protective elma KS' by 0.1 % and rinse the water.

Disposing off Cleaning Solutions

These can be disposed of in the public sewage system with permissions from the local authority. However before disposing it off, neutralize it with citric or acetic acid.