DANGER! Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaners
ULTRASONIC JEWELRY CLEANERS GET A BAD RAP.
If you search "how to clean jewelry at home" almost all of the results caution against sonic cleaners, and they good reason too, but they're not as dangerous to your jewelry as most people think if you're careful.
POSITIVES
- Ultrasonic cleaners do the scrubbing for you without any scrubbing.
- They clean in extremely or impossible to reach places.
- They're inexpensive. You can get one on Amazon for around $40.
- Modern at-home sonic cleaners are compact, quiet, and easy to use.
- They can clean more than just jewelry like: eyeglasses, collectibles, dentures, utensils, razor blades, etc..
- Simple to operate - just add water, jewelry-safe solution and go!
NEGATIVES
- Used improperly they can damage jewelry.
- Some of the bigger commercial units can cost a pretty penny.
- They do omit a soft "buzzing" noise when cleaning that some people don't like.
- Microscopic vibrations can over time loosen the stones in your jewelry. This is easily counteracted by occasionally having your jewelry inspect your pieces.
POSITIVES
Why pay for a beautiful D colored stone just to not clean it and have it look like a J?!?
It's pretty easy to see the positives of having an ultrasonic cleaner at home outweigh the negatives. We highly recommend them to all of our customers.
USE COMMON SENSE WHEN CLEANING YOUR JEWELRY WITH AN ULTRASONIC CLEANER.
- Don't put fragile stones in one (we wrote an article about fragile stones here).
- Don't submerse your watch heads in them, just clean the bands. Yes, we know your watch is rated for 300m underwater, but it's just a good idea not to test while sitting in a super vibrating bath.
- Don't use any cleaners or solutions in the ultrasonic that are not designed and labeled for that purpose.
Stick to those simple guidelines and your jewelry should come out of the cleaner good as new!