How to brighten up SS equipment

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

Hello folks. I am ready to fire up my new evaporator and hood for this year. Missed all of last year because of the deep winter cold we had and couldn't finish the shack plus out of town for work. I hope I am in the right forum for my question so if not I apologize. My brand new hood's Stainless Steel is foggy looking and not at all as shiny as my Lapierre Small evaporator. Is there a chemical or secret sauce that would shine it up without scratching it etc? Thanks in advance, Jack

[VTmaplehobby]

Nev-r-dull polishing wadding works amazing on stainless.

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

Well that was fast and I thank you. I will see if I can find that up here in Canada. $2.00 down there I suppose in the USA but with our dollar these days I'm sure it's $12.00 here. Too funny, thanks again

Update: Found the stuff on Amazon.ca for $9.98 so not so bad but after shipping and sales tax it's $33.52. Guess I had better search some more. lol

[Homespun]

Different types of Stainless Steel have different chrome %s in their composition. Some look like chrome, others are a dull gray color and not "shiny". You can't make a SS shine like chrome if it's not that type of product & is incapable.

Passivation is a process we use at work to bring SS back to it's best looking surface. Our SS piping is the type dairys & food plants would use.

Basically, the SS is cleaned with a warm detergent first and then rinsed well. A warm, fairly acidic solution (a product called CIP 200, diluted with water) is kept on the surface for several hours, refreshing it often. The warm acid solution brings more chrome out of the metal and redeposits it on its surface. It gets rinsed well and as air contacts the suface the fresh chrome gets locked onto the surface.

Some homeowners refresh the look of their SS kitchen sinks by rubbing the metal with the halves of lemons, or warm lemon juice, or warm vinegar.

[Tapped Out]

Try "Brasso". My dad uses it on our rig. We first clean with warm water/vinegar and then he goes to town with the brasso. This is just for exterior shining. Our pans and hood are bright annealed SS. Don't know how you would polish up a mill or dull finish SS.

[stoweski]

Barkeepers Friend is what I use. Works great for cleaning.

Also, I've heard plain white vinegar cleans them up nice. I Use it to clean the pans at the end of the season. Stuff I thought would never come off wipes off with a paper towel after the vinegar has had a chance to work.

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

Well thanks for all the help and suggestions. I did find the Never-dull here through a National chain store up here. Only 11 bucks so will give that a try. Interesting though CDL did polish the welds along the outside edges and they are like a mirrors so maybe it will work out. Lots of help as usual in the forums so I have lots to think about. Jack

[antelope76]

I use white vinegar to clean my pans every year and it will shine them right up and even remove the burnt sugar. When I was a kid my parents owned and operated an ice cream parlor. I remember we used to have spray bottles with a water/rubbing alcohol mix and we would spray and wipe all our stainless equipment to clean the exterior.