HELP! Bathroom cleaner broke a bunch of my parts

aadder

Hello everyone, 

I'm very paranoid about germs so i sprayed my MOC with bathroom cleaner after someone handled it. When i woke up, at least 14 pieces had cracked or broken entirely. 

I can order some new ones but i have no idea what to do with the remaining MOC parts. Are they all weakened and should all the hundreds or parts just be replaced? Should i wash the other parts to try to get the cleaner off? Can i trust these parts to stay strong in the future? I'm really upset about this. The active ingredient appears to have been n-alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride it that helps? 

aadder

560Heliport

I would definitely rinse the rest of the parts- leaving that stuff on can't be good.

truck730

Soapy water is the strongest detergent to use on plastic.Even putting lego into a washbag in a washing machine with anything above 40degrees all bets are off for a good outcome-clean and broken/deformed isn't a result

SumoLego

Huh.

I don't think I would have considered using anything caustic on LEGO.  I have reservations with running parts through the washing machine in a bag!

Modeltrainman

Huh. I've sprayed LEGO with Lysol before,(not enough to get them wet,) nothing like this happened.

LusiferSam

Based on what information you've currently proved I'm guessing you've caused irreversible damage to any bricks you've exposed to the this cleaning product.  I would speculate that you have some type of chemical reaction that is break off the benzene ring and creating some type of solvent.  The solvent is letting other things in to interact with the the ABS of the Lego brick.  The solvent likely evaporated quickly leaving behind what ever it took in with it causing the bricks to be come brittle.

If you need to clean your bricks here's what Lego has to say on the subject.  Unfortunately the best advise I can give you is to stop doing what it is your doing.

CCC

I'd be surprised if it was the benzalkonium chloride. There is likely to be a solvent such as ethanol or acetone, as BAC is not very soluble in water.

Most of these cleaners will also say you should wash off within X minutes.

CCC

I should clarify, it is soluble in water but it takes a long time to dissolve.

LusiferSam

If you get some reaction that gets toluene to form, you're in for a world of hurt.  Toluene is solvent for ABS, particularity the styrene.  I'm speculate it could form either from the benzalkonium chloride itself reacting with the brick or with some other cleaning product and the brick.  If I recall correctly methyls react with bromine in weird way when exposed to UV and/or sunlight.  Bromine is a common flame retardant found in many plastics including Lego bricks.

daewoo

Always test any cleaning product on a small sample of the item to be cleaned, especially when you're cleaning anything made of plastic.

SumoLego

daewoo said:

Always test any cleaning product on a small sample of the item to be cleaned...

That's what those extra cheese wedges and 1x1s are for!