Best way to clean yellow power cables

sbw1 said:
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We power wash our dock each spring to clean up after the sea gulls live on it the better part of 6 months when the boat is not there. The day after the dock cleaning I clean power cords. I have it down to about 30 minutes a cord by laying out the cord the full length of the now clean dock. I put a chair at one end of the dock and use a clean white towel soaked in toluene. I pull the cord through the towel and coil it at the base of the chair. Working on a breezy day carries the fumes away. This stuff in highly flammable but works well. I store the can in a barn away from every thing else with the lid screwed on well. One can lasts 10 plus years.
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I was wanting to use toluene but in Ca just like MEK it is not available at retail establishments. Gotta buy it at commercial suppliers.
Love our Nanny State, I feel so well taken care of:D
 
sbw1 said:
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Most paint stores carry toluene in half gallon metal cans. It is cheap.
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I went to Ace Hardware (with the helpful hardware man...) and was told that they started pulling toluene a while back and replacing it with Xylene.... I will check my local paint store...
 
Lacquer thinner on rag makes them look brand new. Than I use WD 40 on a rag.
Works for me and they don’t get sticky
at all.
 
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Steve S said:
I went to Ace Hardware (with the helpful hardware man...) and was told that they started pulling toluene a while back and replacing it with Xylene.... I will check my local paint store...
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Xylene is similar chemically to toluene, but has one or two more or fewer molecules of some component of the compound. Not sure what it does to the protective cover on a power cord. You could try it on a small area and see what happens. Both are used to slow down the curing of paint. Not sure why that is a good thing but maybe makes painting in hot dry conditions easier. It does require care when used as it is toxic to lungs and flammable as well. With both products you need to dispose of rags safely. I hose them down with water, let them dry and either throw them away or launder them for use a cleaning rags.
 
I use Marine Strip as a couple others have mentioned every couple of years. I just cleaned my 50 amp x 75 foot cord this past Saturday, and it took me all of 15 minutes. Used maybe a cup or so with a micro-fiber towel, and rubber gloves. Looks, and feels like new.

-Tom
 
Blueone said:
I’m on a phone and my wife is still waiting for me to cook lunch or I would research that... if that’s the case $90 I would be investing in power cords that’s a really low price
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Yes the 30 amp is $90 and the 50 amp is $635 at fisheries supply. Both 50 ft.
 
After reading through this, I did my own un-scientific testing on a 50 footer that I cut into 2 25' lines. Wire still good, 5 years plus old, so I take my travel set and cut them up to make 4 25 footers. Only need 25 feet at my dock.
Anyways, the hands down winner was a combination of Harbor Freight orange hand soap, applied using a technique most of us learned at puberty, and then following up with a dollar store scrubby. Mine are used year round, with an unfair share of aviation exhaust settling on them. More like 30 minutes per 25 footer, but I am happy with the results. No worries about my skin, or what is going into the canal.
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sbw1 said:
Both are used to slow down the curing of paint. Not sure why that is a good thing but maybe makes painting in hot dry conditions easier.
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Also to allow moisture to escape as coatings dry to prevent blushing of the sheen as well as to allow brush strokes to flow out.
 
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