I unfortunately left my crock pot of pickle plugged in for 4 days in
my studio. This was a very dangerous thing to do I know, having
propane and oxygen near by.
Now that I will have to change my pickle solution, I don’t know how
to dispose of the crystals that have formed in my crock pot. Is this
toxic to put down the drain? This will be my first time disposing of
this material. I would like to be as good to the environment as
possible. What is the best solution to dealing with old pickle?
Wether it’s liquid or solid?
This was a very dangerous thing to do I know, having propane and
oxygen near by.
It feels dumb, yes, but was likely not dangerous. The crock pots
have thermostats that keep them from overheating. The solution may
boil dry, but that doesn’t mean the crock pot is a fire danger. (I’m
assuming you’re using one with a U.L. label…
Now that I will have to change my pickle solution
Boiling the pickle dry doesn’t change the chemistry, nor ruin it.
Some degredation may occur, so you may have some brownish
discoloration, but you’ll find if you just add water again, and heat
it up so it re-dissolves, you’re pickle will still be working fine.
It might not look quite so pristene, but it will work. If you insist
on tossing it and starting fresh (which you can do if you like), then
you can dispose of it the same way you’d get rid of it were it merely
old used up pickle. I’d suggest simply flushing it down the toilet,
(several flushes, so it’s fully rinsed from the house’s plumbing,
and fully diluted too. Sodium bisulphate itself (the main
chemical),in small quantities (a quart of pickle, which is a dilute
solution, isn’t a lot), when further diluted a lot (like adding
several flush tanks of water), is safe and acceptable for the vast
majority of municipal sewer systems. If you’re unsure though, or are
on a septic tank system, then call local waste disposal authorities
to find out how to dispose of it. If the pickle has large amounts of
dissolved copper (it’s a nice blue color), then you may also need to
inquire as to how to dispose of it. Same thing if you’ve not
dissolved and diluted it, though I’d guess that most of the time,
bagging up the dry chemical and disposing in the trash would usually
be OK (but ask).
I too have been concerned about disposing of my pickle. I use PH
down, and a gardening friend suggested that I dilute it and pour it
on the soil around my Azaleas, camellias, and Rhododendrons which
thrive on acid. However, before I do so, I thought I had better check
around. Any suggestions about this??
I had a pot that got left on over the weekend by accident once. When
I got back there was a solid wafer of crystallized sodium bisulfate
about half an inch thick on the bottom, not a drop of water to be
seen. It was caked on there pretty good, so I just filled the pot
back up with water, plugged it in, and it eventually dissolved
again. The pickle seemed to work just fine after that. The lucky part
was the crock pot’s heating element not burning out after being hot
and dry so long.
I have dried my crock pot out a few times as well. I usually just add
more water and reheat it, it dissolves the crystals. Then I
neutralize the pickle with baking soda before diluting it with a lot
more water. Then down the drain it goes. When you add the baking
soda it foams up a lot when the reaction takes place so do this in
the sink!
a gardening friend suggested that I dilute it [pickle] and pour
it on the soil around my Azaleas, camellias, and Rhododendrons
which thrive on acid.
I’m not sure about this, but a while back, it was suggested here that
it could be used, diluted, to kill parasites or fungus or something
on roses, and undiluted to kill weeds. I did try the latter-- I
poured it on my patio, and it killed the weeds between the bricks.
The extent that it bubbles is a measure of how much effective use
remains in the product. Too much bubbles means that you are wasting
pickle. I guess you could experiment to see how much baking soda is
needed to neutralize fresh pickle and compare it to “old” stuff.
Por dilute pickle over your plants and they’ll probably die.
Rhododendrons and their ilk are calcifugous (lime hating) not “acid
loving.” The soil needs to have a very, very sightly acidic ph. not a
load of free radicals.
I dunno if this actually works but I’ve heard from plumbers that you
should flush a teaspoon of copper sulfate crystals down the toilet
once a month to keep tree roots from growing into your sewer line. I
use Sodium Bisulphate for pickle and dump the used pickle, that
pretty saturated with copper, down my toilet. Haven’t had any tree
root/sewer line problems for the 17 years I’ve been in my present
home…