Kerosene soot inside of polycarb-how to clean?

A couple of years ago, I heated my Rion with a kerosene heater. The wick went bad and soot of course went all over. Getting it off the faces was easy. Unfortunately, it got in the channels of the polycarb. I took the whole thing down and am rebuilding it (combining two 12's into a 24'). I'd like to get the soot out. Any ideas?

maybe vinegar? it works on lots of crud around the house.

After trying many different things, I resorted to 24 gauge wire, made a loop on the end, started with cotton fabric and switched to soft clothesline. One )&@&$)$) channel at a time. Ugh. They sure look much better though. LOL I wonder why they don't seal the ends??

Wow, that was a job.

Still is... grumble grumble

I use mean green for all kinds of nasty gunk. I think I would make or get a trough so I could set one end in the mean green and then I'd apply a shop vac to the other end and suck the solution into the panels. You'd have to experiment with how much if any to delute the mean green and you'll have to play with the shop vac hose so that you suck the fluid almost through but not suck it all up. I'd then let it set awhile in the panel and see if it wouldn't loosen the soot. If it did you could just vaccum some of it through and then clear water to rinse.

Yesterday it was a bit warmer. I only had the short pieces of polycarb left to do. I shot it down the tubes so that it foamed up and ran down while they were standing. Then I shot them out with the garden hose. It worked! The greenhouse is back up, bigger than it was and ready for action.

That shop vac method probably would have worked pretty well.

Now I just need to swim out there. LOL Raining...again!

I put the older panels on the back side which is the shady side. All the panels I cleaned, are the newer ones so they went on the sunny side. This thing is staying put, whether I move or kick the bucket. I've now assembled a 12' Rion 3 times and a 24' once. That is more than enough for anyone. :P Since I put doors on both ends, I used the extra metal support bars in the door openings. Hope they don't sag this time.

It looks great! I was just out in my 8x8 and was thinking I sure would like a bigger one. My DH would probably wring my neck. One side is full of over-wintering plants, the other with trays of starting seeds. Not sure where I will put them all when I have to put some of them into pots.

What do you grow?

The first year we lived here, I had so much overflow that I built a cattle panel hoophouse that was 8x25 ish, to hold it all.

I grow a bunch of vegetable plants for the locals. I grow less usual annuals, perennials and tropicals for online sales. I usually have some herbs too. I'm also trying consignment growing this year. Up until last year, I primarily sold daylilies. I sold them all off last fall and am pretty much starting over. This year, I'm also getting more interested in trees and shrubs from seeds and cuttings and I'm sure that will lead to grafting. I try to keep myself focused but I'm usually running in 20 directions since I love everything plant wise. LOL

Aside from that, I put in 4 gardens for my neighbor last year and got all of his plants through trades and growing them myself. I had to purchase very little. He was thrilled.

Wow! You are amazing, and what a nice neighbor. I've had success with cuttings from my dappled willow, they are still little but it was so cool sharing them with friends who wanted them. My goal this year is to supply nearly all of the flowers for our church gardens. DH and I are in charge and there is no money in the budget, it all has to come from volunteers. We've changed all of the beds that are out away from the building over to perennials. Only the courtyard gets annuals now and I've added perennials to cut down on the quantity needed.

The other project is for the local food pantry. I will be supplying tomato and pepper plants for anyone who would like to grow them. The tomatoes are patio bush size, so they can grow in pots if needed. Another friend is doing the cukes.

I traded out a lot of a nice old Iris he had plus some plants of my own to get plants for him. He's 72 now and never had a flower garden. He'd only ever grown plants for food. Besides the four flower gardens, I put a veggie garden next to his front porch. He had more tomatoes and cukes than he could keep up with. :) He said gardens brought him more joy than anything he'd had in a long time. That was nice to hear. He's already excited to do more this year.

I bet the church gardens are amazing! Do you grow the annuals from seeds and cuttings or by them? Many of them are very easy and cheap if you do them yourself.

What type of patio tomato did you use? I'm trying a couple of new cherries this year plus picked up a Patio variety and some faves.

Bad, you have the wrong name, it should be NiceSeed. Your neighbor is lucky to have you. When I'm feeling blue, playing in the garden makes a huge difference.

I try to grow the annuals from seed and cuttings. Last year in March my Dad passed away, so I didn't start anything, just didn't have it in me. I was shocked at the cost of teeny little plants. I don't know that the gardens are amazing, but we do get compliments. The patio tomato was Bush with some numbers after it, I'll have to go out to see what they are. We did Millions Cherry last year, they held up nicely despite our terrible summer weather, the big tomatoes cooked on the vines. I will do them again but chop the tops off to keep them from getting so large. The Grandkids love the cherry tomatoes right in the garden.

Awe, thanks. :) People have ribbed me about that name for a long time. I wanted to change it a few times but everyone talked me out of it. Of course when I tick people off, they can make reference to bad seeds and BS so I guess it works out. LOL

I'm sorry to hear about your Dad. I lost mine a few years ago. Sometimes it's hard to bounce back and get moving with that huge of a loss hanging in your mind. I can tell you for sure, there is literally a LOT of blood, sweat and tears in my gardens. Ripping out weeds does a lot for the attitude!

I'm growing Patio tomatoes again this year. The are neat, stocky little plants. A couple of years ago I did Baxter's Bush Cherry. There was another that I can't think of...Tumbling or something Tumbler? Tiny Tim? Geesh. I know they were expensive because they were new. I used to grow Sweet 100's and loved them. This year I'm trying Sweet Million because they are supposed to have all of the same qualities along with being an improved version of the 100's.

I usually don't buy more than a flat or two of annuals just to finish off gardens. Now that I don't have window boxes, I don't need many. I do love my sun coleus and sweet potato vines though so I do those from cuttings.