Getting very old adhesive off of glass

[kestrell]

While I am washing the curtains I thought I would take another whack at trying to remove the very old adhesive from the duct tape I use to keep my air conditioner hose in the window. Nail polishe remover has not worked, and neither has soap and warm water or household cleansers.

I've looked this up on various DIY sites and have come to the conclusion that due to some mysterious properties of the Aerye, this is not your average adhesive removal problem.

I have also concluded that waaaaay too many people will use any excuse to play with lighter fluid, and I'm pretty sure that most university nuclear reactors should have better security measures in place, too.

So, short of playing with lighter fluid and/or nuclear reactors, do folks have any suggestions for removing this stuff from the window?

Comments

[rinue]

The only tool that's ever helped me get adhesive off a surface is a razor blade. Works brilliantly to scrape adhesive off glass. Problem is, you need to be trying to get something off a surface as hard as glass, and there's still a lot of elbow grease involved when the adhesive is old and has hardened. For other surfaces that are non-porous, you can try to find a sandpaper or other abrasive that will do more damage to the adhesive than the surface. For surfaces that are porous, you pretty much have to rip out and replace.

In summary, I've had much better results with mechanical means of removal than chemical ones, and they're still limited. Resins are really stable chemically, especially after they've been baked dry (say, by sitting on a window).

[kestrell]

Right, I'm prettys ure the adhesive has been throughly baked on, since it's not just a window which gets strong sunlight for the hottest part of the day, but the air conditioner exhaust hose raises the temperature even more. Still, one last try. Otherwise I just find some sort of black bats window decal and call it a day. Or night, as the case may be. Plus, I'm blind, so really, I can't even see the problem, but it bugs me knwoing it's there.

[jesse_the_k]

There is a loathsome substance available at hardware or auto parts store called Goo Gone. Not surprisingly, it works on gooey things: old bubblegum, duct tape adhesive, nasty grease that's insinuated itself into your boots.

Its a viscous liquid in a shampoo-size bottle. Hmm, the web site shows sprays and gels as well. At any case, it's deadly stuff: I wouldn't use it inside without a fan and all windows open.

[kestrell]

Hmmm, this reminds me that my friend Jeff, who worked as a car mechainc for many years, will be visiting next week, and he is often an expert on viscious liquids that remove other icky substances. I will ask him what he recommends or has anything to try. He does his own car work so perhaps he even has some of this stuff.