Tsp Substitutes?

[Lord Bodak]

After searching a few local stores for TSP and only finding the phosphate-free substitutes, I did a bit of Googling and found that Virginia banned phosphates in household cleaners on July 1. Wish I had known this was coming, I could've stocked up three weeks ago!

So what is the prevailing opinion on the phosphate-free TSP substitutes for cleaning filters? If they don't get the job done, what other alternatives are there?

[chem geek]

As noted in this post at TFP, you can use dishwasher detergent instead of TSP for cleaning cartridge filters.

[Lord Bodak]

As noted in this post at TFP, you can use dishwasher detergent instead of TSP for cleaning cartridge filters.

Thanks chem geek. Does it matter if it's a phosphate-free dish detergent? One of the things specifically mentioned in the new law here was dish detergent, and it seems like phosphate is the magic ingredient in filter cleaning.

[chem geek]

I don't know how much that matters. It probably doesn't clean as well as TSP, but it still should be better than just rinsing.

[waterbear]

The important thing is you want a good degreaser. TSP is an excellent degreaser. The substitutes are usually either soda ash, sodium metasilicate, or sodium sequicarbonate (a double salt of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate). None of these work as well as TSP but they do work.

A phosphate free dishwasher powder is probably more effective than the TSP substitutes because of the surfactants (detergent degreaser) present in the formula.

Another alternative is tile soap from the pool store (sold in gallon jugs). It is an excellent detergent based degreaser and works very well as a cart cleaner. Either dilute it and soak the cart overnight or spray it on the cart and let it stand several hours then hose off. It is much more expensive, however (but usually not anywhere near as expensive as special "filter cleaners").