What Does Sugar Soap do to Brass and Aluminium?

What does Selleys Sugar Soap do to brass and aluminium?

Selleys recommends that you do not use Selleys Sugar Soap on brass or aluminium. It can tarnish or discolour brass and aluminium metals if they are bare, and it can leave a hard-to-remove deposit if it is left to dry on hard surfaces such as glass or smooth metals.

If you have used it on brass or aluminium by accident, wipe it off immediately. That instruction appears on the product's own data sheet as well as in this answer.

"Have I done damage I cannot see?"

If your door handles and fixtures look undamaged, the two effects to watch for are the ones named above, and both are visible rather than hidden.

Tarnish or discolouration. This applies to bare brass and aluminium. Many brass door handles and fittings are lacquered or plated rather than bare metal, and where a coating is intact it stands between the cleaner and the metal. It is worth knowing which yours are — an unlacquered brass handle develops a patina and shows fingerprints, while a lacquered one stays uniformly bright.

A hard-to-remove deposit. Sugar Soap is a salts-based cleaner. Left to dry on a smooth metal surface it leaves cleaning salts behind, in the same way it does on glass. This is what usually shows up first: a dull haze or patchy film rather than any change in the metal itself.

Inspect the fittings in raking light — light across the surface rather than straight at it. Both a salts film and early discolouration are far easier to see at an angle. Where you find a residue, wipe it over with clean water on a soft cloth and dry it immediately; that deals with a deposit that has dried but not yet become entrenched.

Why an alkaline cleaner and bare metal are a poor match

Selleys Original Sugar Soap is a professional-strength cleaner with a pH of about 11 — a strongly alkaline salts formulation. That is what makes it so effective on grease and grime on walls and ceilings, and it is why bare non-ferrous metals such as brass and aluminium are singled out on the label.

The same caution runs through the range. Selleys Instant Sugar Soap carries a note that it may damage aluminium and brass surfaces, with the same instruction to wipe off immediately in case of accidental contact. The Original Sugar Soap Super Concentrate carries the same limitation.

It is not confined to the Sugar Soap line either. Selleys Oven Clean must not be used on aluminium, copper or chrome; Oven Plus Heavy Duty Gel excludes aluminium and copper; and Complete Clean Bathroom & Shower Cleaner is not suitable for use on aluminium surfaces. Soft, bare metals are a standing exclusion across strong household cleaners, so it is worth making a habit of checking before you spray.

What to do about it now

1. Wipe the fittings over with clean water on a soft cloth to lift any dried residue.
2. Dry them immediately. Leaving water to evaporate on smooth metal is how you get the deposit in the first place.
3. Check in raking light for haze or patchiness.
4. Do not scour them. The Selleys Wash Up Wiz scouring cloth carries its own warning that it may scratch or dull soft metals such as aluminium and copper, along with painted surfaces, soft plastics and very glossy surfaces. Abrasion turns a chemical mark into a permanent physical one.
5. Use a product made for the metal for any polishing, following its own directions.

Avoiding it next time

• Take the hardware off, or mask it, before washing doors and walls. It is faster than dealing with the aftermath.
• Keep a bucket of clean water and a cloth beside you so splashes on metal can be wiped off immediately rather than at the end of the job.
• Use the recommended dilution — half a cup into 5 litres of water. A strong mix carries more cleaning salts and leaves more behind.
• Rinse glass well before the product dries too. The same deposit that dulls smooth metal turns up on windows — see removing white Sugar Soap marks from glass.

Safety: the same chemistry that marks the metal

The damage described on this page and the hazard classification on the label come from the same property. It is worth saying plainly, because once you see it the safety advice stops feeling like boilerplate.

Original Sugar Soap is classified hazardous with the signal word Danger, and carries one hazard class: H318, causes serious eye damage (Category 1). Category 1 means the effect is not assumed to reverse — it is damage, not irritation that passes. The reason is the pH of about 11 named above. An alkalinity strong enough to tarnish bare brass and aluminium is strong enough to do permanent harm to an eye. The metal warning and the eye warning are the same fact stated twice.

That has a direct bearing on the remedial work this page asks you to do. Wiping fittings down with clean water on a soft cloth means working over surfaces with dried concentrate on them, at close range, often with a hand near your face as you inspect in raking light. Wear gloves and eye protection for the wipe-down, and resist rubbing an eye with a working hand. If product does reach an eye, flush for a full 15 minutes and call the Poisons Information Centre — a rinse at the tap is not the required treatment for a Category 1 classification.

The same logic applies to the dilution advice above. Half a cup into 5 litres is the recommended mix partly because a stronger solution carries more cleaning salts and leaves more behind — and partly because a stronger solution is a more concentrated eye hazard on a sponge held above your head.

Selleys Oven Clean, mentioned above for its own aluminium and copper exclusion, shows the pattern at full strength: signal word Danger, Poison Schedule S6, H314 (causes severe skin burns and eye damage), H290 (may be corrosive to metals), plus H223 (flammable aerosol) and H229 (pressurised container, may burst if heated). H290 is literally the classification behind the instruction not to use it on aluminium trim — and H314 is what the same caustic does to skin.

Lower-hazard alternatives, where the job allows. For cleaning around fittings you would rather not take off, Instant Sugar Soap is signal word Warning with H319 (serious eye irritation) as its only classification — no H318, and no bucket to carry up a ladder. And for light oven work, Oven Wipes are not classified as hazardous at all: no signal word, no hazard statement, not on the Poison Schedule.

Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand.

Common questions

Can I use Sugar Soap on brass?

No. Selleys recommends that you do not use it on brass or aluminium.

What does it actually do to the metal?

It can tarnish or discolour brass and aluminium if they are bare, and it can leave a hard-to-remove deposit if left to dry on smooth metals.

I have already used it and did not wipe it off — what now?

Wipe the fittings over with clean water, dry them straight away, and check in raking light for haze or discolouration.

Does it matter if the brass is lacquered?

The tarnish and discolouration warning applies to bare metal. Where a coating is intact it sits between the cleaner and the metal, but a dried deposit can still form on the surface.

Is the damage permanent?

A dried salts deposit is a surface film and can usually be cleaned off. Tarnish or discolouration of bare metal is a change to the metal itself and needs treatment appropriate to that metal.

Can I scrub the mark off?

Not with an abrasive. A scouring cloth may scratch or dull soft metals such as aluminium and copper.

What about stainless steel and chrome?

Sugar Soap's listed uses include stainless steel and chrome. The limitation named on the pack is aluminium and brass — and remember that anything left to dry on a smooth metal surface can leave a deposit.

Do other Selleys cleaners have the same restriction?

Several do. Oven Clean excludes aluminium, copper and chrome; Oven Plus Heavy Duty Gel excludes aluminium and copper; Complete Clean Bathroom & Shower Cleaner is not suitable for aluminium.

What can I safely clean with Sugar Soap?

Walls and ceilings before painting, floors, kitchen and bathroom surfaces, and general grease and grime. See preparing ceilings for painting and the full multi-purpose cleaner range.