De-greasing Plastic containers

[rhome]

A friend has collected some of those 3 gal. plastic containers that had used deep fryer oil in them.
He'd like to re-use these for water storage....yeah I know.

The only idea I had for cleaning was hot water and Dawn dishwashing soap.
However I suspect that the odor has permeated the plastic and no amount of cleaning will remove the odor.

Any suggestions???
Thanks

[Ronney]

It might just work you know. Do you know anybody who milks cows and will have some alkaline dairy detergent. I use this stuff for all sorts of things including what it is supposed to be used for Mix it up according to instructions and fill the containers with it. Leave it for 12 hours and do it again. Rinse well with very hot water, flush out with cold then fill the containers with water and leave sitting for another 12 hours. Then taste and see if it has worked. If there is still a residual oily taste, repeat the process. If the taste is still there, nothing is going to work.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[blooba]

For one, make sure they didn't get used for waste oil. When commercial places clean their fryers and grills they use a chemical cleaner that gets mixed in with the waste oil.

I would say try the dawn and boiling hot water first. That stuff is used in big oil tanker spills and is good at cutting grease.

[Harry Chickpea]

This is a bad idea for so many reasons that it is better to say that it can't be done. It can't - not safely for storing water or food. Odells used to ship pure butterfat to movie theatres in really heavy-duty plastic jugs. I tried everything to clean the oil out, including heavy duty industrial cleaners, but the best I can figure the oil (which is acid) actually attached to the plastic as some sort of hybrid molecule. Other than using them for shelf supports or holding metal parts, they ended up being worthless.

[rhome]

Harry, blooba, Ron, thanks for your replies, I'm with Harry on this one.
His little project just didn't seem right.
Best just to take them to the recycling center.
Buy some decent water storge containers... I'm sure ther're plenty of sources available.
Thanks again folks and have a good week.

[wyld thang]

for the sake of conversation, ammonia will degrease(tho be careful what you use it on) and borax will degrease--we use borax to clean the motorcycle airfilters(which are oiled with a nasty tacky oil)

[ronron]

I had some from a resturant and tried to clean one it never worked I tried everything the oil etched the plastic and was always there in form and flavor.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I have several I got from a resturaunt I worked at quite a few years ago. I had no problem washing them with hot water & dawn dishsoap. Still have some of them. Used them for water at deer camp, camping, etc. many many times with no problems.
I did have to wash them a few times but they work fine.

[7thswan]

The best degreaser I ever used is called -crudcutter or krudcutter. It's in the paint section of Home Depot. It will clean those screens over deep fryers.