Dishwashing Liquid Ruined Stainless Steel Sink

[WhiteEagle]

Although there are different grades of Stainless Steel (SS) it is considered corrosion proof. If this was advertised as SS then you should be demanding a true SS replacement.

[Wolverine 1945]

We polish ours with SS polish,,, comes in a spray can,,, you could get plastic or rubber sink set,,, to cover the bottom of the sink ???

[pmsherman]

I sympathize with you about your problem. I had a full very large bottle of Dawn develop a crack at the bottom of the bottle which drained into the basement storage compartment where I kept the bottle. I was shocked when I discovered that there wasn't any dishwasher liquid in the bottom of the compartment. After emptying the compartment out, I discovered that the Dawn had melted holes in the bottom of the plastic compartment and drained out!

Concentrated Dawn is apparently quite destructive.

Phil

[Desertsquid]

We set a bottle of Bath and Body works foaming hand soap in our sink. We went out a week later and when we opened the cover it had fallen over and dried on the sink bottom. Our sink now has some pitting near the drain on the sink itself. We dry it hoping it wont rust. Cheap sink I guess. I use dawn and Calgon in my tanks after dumping with a couple of gallons of water wow I'd hate to think that could eat a hole in the tank.

[Herk7769]

Same issue with a spot on our sink caused by Anti-Bacterial hand soap that leaked out when it was laid on its side for 3 weeks between trips.

Just going to leave it that way for now.

[NJKris]

If you ever want to remove all wax on a vehicle and start fresh, use Dawn diluted in bucket of water. It strips wax right off.

[mbbutler]

"Stainless Steel Finish"
Not "Stainless Steel".

[NJKris]

Stainless steel finish, lol. Is that like High Definition windows?????

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Stainless steel finish, lol. Is that like High Definition windows?????

I have High Definition windows at home. They need to be washed but I don't want to see what the neighbors are doing.

[VinceU]

Originally Posted by ShutterbugSue

We left one of those dish scrubbers, that stores dish washing liquid in the handle, in the bottom of our stainless steel sink. We didn't notice until about four months later that the dish washing liquid (Dawn brand) had leaked out of the scrubber and in to the sink. It has damaged the finish on the sink by causing erosion of the sink itself.

Is there any way to make this damage look less obvious? We really do not want to have to replace the sink as the trailer is only one year old.

I've attached a picture so you can see the damage that was caused by the dish washing liquid.

Thanks for your help!

I don’t think dawn caused this damage. Appears a sheet metal sink was fabricated and was clad with a stainless low grade alloy maybe 2-4 mils thick. There is failure all over the sink as pits and larger failed areas. Problem most likely the base sink was not cleaned properly before cladding and will continue to fail.
Cladding is bonding anti corrosive metal over a thicker base metal usually steel.

[5picker]

It likely isn't a stainless steel sink and may not even be cheap metal under the poor plating.

There's another thread going on now where someone in New Zealand is looking for a stainless steel sink that cracked and broke from something hitting it. On the surface it looks like stainless until you see the breakage similar to cheap plastic.

[IchLiebeBier]

Try barkeepers friend stainless cleaner. I use it to repassivate my brewing equipment. It may work for you. Put it on and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. You may need to do the whole sink to make it even.

[JohnD10]

Although there are different grades of Stainless Steel (SS) it is considered corrosion proof. If this was advertised as SS then you should be demanding a true SS replacement.

I'm not getting how something that would be our fault should be covered by the manufacturer's warranty

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

I'm not getting how something that would be our fault should be covered by the manufacturer's warranty

I agree with that sentiment, but I don’t think it really applies in this situation.

Bruce

[CC75]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

I'm not getting how something that would be our fault should be covered by the manufacturer's warranty

Not your fault. A sink has to be to be able to handle soap. It is not like you left hydrochloric acid in the sink.

You may also be reaching a conclusion that it is your fault that caused the failure, by not totally understanding the flaw of the material. No insult intended, chemical and physical properties are very complicated.

[Stevemc]

Personally regardless of whether or not you might win the warranty argument I would prefer to buy a better sink. I found a long time ago when something fails in an RV I am usually better off to buy my own replacement so I can get the quality I want. I wouldn't want to put the the same cheap quality sink back in even if they gave it to me.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by CC75

Not your fault. A sink has to be to be able to handle soap. It is not like you left hydrochloric acid in the sink.

You may also be reaching a conclusion that it is your fault that caused the failure, by not totally understanding the flaw of the material. No insult intended, chemical and physical properties are very complicated.

I think you may have missed my earlier post where I had a similar issue and owned it.

Leaving a chemical in a sink for days or weeks at a time is not the intended use of an RV sink, no matter what it is made of.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

I keep one of those small Bissell Pet carpet shampoo machines in my 5'ver, and in the hot Arizona heat this summer it made the bottle of carpet shampoo leak.

When I discovered it out in the storage lot before it made a big mess under the sink I put the bottle in the plastic kitchen sink to deal with later for a couple of days and it stained the sink.

I've tried scrubbing it out to no avail.

But...it is just a sink, so I've decided to just live with it.

You can fix this with a paste you can make with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. It takes a little elbow grease, but it will fix it.

The irony is, it was most likely the hydrogen peroxide in your carpet cleaner that caused the stain in the first place.

Bruce

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by nomad297

You can fix this with a paste you can make with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. It takes a little elbow grease, but it will fix it.

The irony is, it was most likely the hydrogen peroxide in your carpet cleaner that caused the stain in the first place.

Bruce

I'll try this next time I get the 5'ver out.

Thanx!

[ShutterbugSue]

Originally Posted by ShutterbugSue

This was the response from Forest River:

"Yes this is a stainless steel sink, i'm not sure what chemical compound was in the cleaner but this isn’t repairable, you would have to replace the sink"

I did email back to ask if this was covered by warranty and am waiting for a reply. I'm not too hopeful.

Final response from Forest River " . . . I haven’t seen a soap leave this kind of mark or damage before. Unfortunately something like this would not be covered under a warranty."