Recently, we purchased a used toy kitchen for our daughter. Amidst the move (yes, I’ve neglected the blog during a move that I’m still unpacking and wading through) we happened to set the kitchen off to the side for later cleaning. Today I decided to take a break from the necessary to clean up the toy kitchen as a surprise after my daughter wakes from her nap.
To my surprise, replacing batteries in the “burner” wasn’t a simple job. When I finally got the screws loose, I turned the burner over to find some mild corrosion on the batteries and coils. I dumped the old batteries in the garbage can by prying them out with a screw driver, so as not to get the acid on my hands, then tapped the coils hoping to loosen the corrosion. When I replaced the batteries, only 1 of 2 burner sounds worked.
A quick internet search on cleaning corrosion lead me to learn that I would need a vinegar and water solution. Of course, I don’t have, or haven’t located, everything from our move, so vinegar wasn’t anywhere to be found. Instead, I made a paste of baking soda and water, gloved my hands, and dipped a cotton swab into the mixture then cleaned the coils, battery compartments, and any other areas that looked chalky or discolored. A quick wipe down with a paper towel to ensure the area was dry and replacement of batteries led to a clean and working burner.
I can’t wait for my daughter to wake up from her nap to discover the surprise.
In the meantime, I need to make a mental note that future projects like this deserve quick snapshots in case I decide to write about them again.
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