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Can you use an Ultrasonic Cleaner to often?

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I was searching the threads today because I was interested in an ultrasonic cleaner. Since everyone recommended the SI I looked on the website and for the month of May the deluxe was on sale for 1/2 price. (So it''s a good thing I did search today since it''s the last day!) I bolted over to the SI by my office and bought their last one. (The catch was you had to buy something else too, so I got some batteries for 3 bucks.)

Anyway, I came home and put all my jewelry in. All I can say is AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING! The side pears on my e-ring were awfully cloudy and I figured the problem must be coming from underneath where I can''t get at them with the toothbrush, so I was hopeful that the US would do the trick. AMAZING -- did I say that already?

Seriously, I feel like the last PSer in America to break down and buy one of these things, but I''m a convert. Every morning from now on the jewels get a cleaning while I''m in the shower.

WOW!

I can only imagine how spectacular my NEW daily-US-cleaned oval will look if I ever manage to find one... !
 
Just FYI, not to rain on anyone''s ultrasonic parade...but MOST jewelers do not love them since they can loosen stones. Especially pave...
 
I''ve read that about pave several times... a little scary. I think Tacori E-Ring even lost a stone out of her setting in her US. But no pave in my entire jewelry box, so I''m safe!
 
Date: 5/31/2006 10:14:11 PM
Author: diamondfan
Just FYI, not to rain on anyone's ultrasonic parade...but MOST jewelers do not love them since they can loosen stones. Especially pave...
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Actually, regular use should not loosen up properly maintenanced rings/prongs/stones. Pave is another animal and some don't recommend it. However, you should be getting your prongs and stones checked every 6 months, so if you do not do the maintenance, yes the stones can become loose, but the US is not the creator of that issue.

I have used my US daily religiously since late last summer when I got it and I have not had one issue with any of my melee or my regular stone becoming loose from the US. I absolutely love it and honestly I wonder how I ever got by without it. My stone has never looked better and I get tons of compliments about how sparkly and clean it looks all the time. DeeJay I so know what you are talking about, that US epiphany when you go WOW.
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Lastly, I don't know about 'most' jewelers not liking them, because out of everyone I have ever asked...only one or two don't recommend them and that is only for use on lots of micropave, not regular set stones. Some jewelers even say that it should be fine to use the US on properly set pave stones. There is no one definitive answer. But as some others have said, they'd rather lose a loose melee or stone in the US than out somewhere in the street.
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My Sharper Image one is making weird sounds...the normal zapping sound, plus extra like when the bugzapper zaps the bug! I''m going to have to exchange it!
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I''m afraid of ultrasonics, especially their long-term effects on the prongs. I won''t use one.
 
I have no issues if someone wishes to use them. However, after having a family member in the jewelry business for 20 years and asking many jewelers, including Tiffany''s and local people, this is the consensus. Of course prongs should ALWWAYS be checked, you never know when a prong can loosen (hopefully you hear the rattle first!) but most high end stores use steam and so I use warm slightly soapy windex or Mr. clean, rinse well and use a hair dryer and I think it works well!
 
Oh my... well now I''m stressed out over the stupid thing. To use or not to use...
 
Honestly DJ if your ring is well taken care of, use the US. There are tons of us here on PS using it...probably over 50 people by now? And I think we have only heard of one lost melee?

I personally am not a fan of 'scare tactics' based on hearsay information. We all hear various things in our daily grind about jewelry and bling, imagine if we believed all of them? We'd all be shopping at Tiffanys or the local maul store. PS'ers can think for themselves.

I have used my US daily (and sometimes 2-3 times a day) on my rings which have melee that are well-set and have not had ONE problem with them. I honestly don't know what I did before it because hand cleaning my diamond no matter what I used NEVER got it this clean. And because of that I am a customer for life, regardless of what others may say. Sure steam cleaning in the local jewelry store is nice but US's are fab for consumer use. And just take care of your ring and get the prongs checked.

It's sad to see your excitement dimmed...don't let it happen.
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OK, I''m just going to take my chances and keep using it. My jewelry looks too good right now not to do this every morning. I''ve been in the ladies room so many times to check out my diamond studs that someone actually asked me if I was feeling OK!
 
Date: 6/1/2006 10:37:40 AM
Author: Dee*Jay
Oh my... well now I''m stressed out over the stupid thing. To use or not to use...
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use it !!! use it !!! if an US can loose up your stones that easily,you shouldn''t be wearing those rings.
 
Date: 6/1/2006 1:32:49 PM
Author: Dancing Fire

Date: 6/1/2006 10:37:40 AM
Author: Dee*Jay
Oh my... well now I''m stressed out over the stupid thing. To use or not to use...
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use it !!! use it !!! if an US can loose up your stones that easily,you shouldn''t be wearing those rings.
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exactly.
 
Definitely - use it!! Still no problems, have had mine for over a year and a half now, not a single lost stone from any jewelry including melee, the halo, etc. If a stone is so loose that the cleaner would cause it to come out, better to find out at home.
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OK, I bit the bullet and bought a SI refurb on ebay. It looks a bit discolored, but other than that was packaged fine.

I have only had my ring for a month now and have cleaned it daily. It''s just a solitaire so I didn''t know quite what to expect and if it makes THAT much of a difference vs regular hand cleaning.

It does! I used the windex/dawn formula (I''ll probably go get some Mr. Clean though) and not only does it look clean, the plat is so SHINY! Like it was polished. I only needed to dry it off with a regular towel vs my poishing cloth. The diamond is so clean, it almost doesn''t look right!

Thanks for the tip! Since I have no pave, I feel pretty comfortable using it regularly. I''ve read this entire thread b/c it was interesting (only to a pricescoper, right?
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). Do most of you use the high setting or normal? I got the feeling reading the thread that you do use high, but I read it a couple of weeks ago and can''t remember now, and it''s a lot of pages to reread!
 
Date: 6/1/2006 11:11:54 AM
Author: Mara
Honestly DJ if your ring is well taken care of, use the US. There are tons of us here on PS using it...probably over 50 people by now? And I think we have only heard of one lost melee?

I personally am not a fan of ''scare tactics'' based on hearsay information. We all hear various things in our daily grind about jewelry and bling, imagine if we believed all of them? We''d all be shopping at Tiffanys or the local maul store. PS''ers can think for themselves.

I have used my US daily (and sometimes 2-3 times a day) on my rings which have melee that are well-set and have not had ONE problem with them. I honestly don''t know what I did before it because hand cleaning my diamond no matter what I used NEVER got it this clean. And because of that I am a customer for life, regardless of what others may say. Sure steam cleaning in the local jewelry store is nice but US''s are fab for consumer use. And just take care of your ring and get the prongs checked.

It''s sad to see your excitement dimmed...don''t let it happen.
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I''d emphatically agree with Mara. We both bought at the same time.....a little trip to WF opened our eyes LITERALLY.

I had hand-cleaned my earrings that very morning prior to visiting WF, and Mara asked to compare my earrings to another stone. Next to it, my stone looked like ca-ca! I couldn''t believe it.....and Brian said, oh, it''s dirty. He had one of the guys run my earrings through the ultrasonic, and WOW! what a difference! I wouldn''t have believed it if I hadn''t seen it myself. From that point on, Mara and I were positively born-again converted singing the praises of the US. LOL

Like her, I''ve used mine nearly daily for my 3-stone ering, my shared prong w-ring, my HALO pendant, and a bunch of other stuff. Never a problem.

For me, jewelry is meant to be worn AND cleaned! If I have to wear dirty jewelry just to protect it, that''s not a solution. If a stone comes out, I''ll just have it reset.

Interesting, every fine jewelry store I''ve been to here has them, so I''m not especially convinced that the industry eschews them.
 
Have been using mine daily since I got it. How did I ever think my stones were clean before I got this thing???

I even brought one of my coworkers rings home last night and cleaned it. She was skeptical, so she just let me have her soap/lotion/crud encrusted princess set wedding band, and when I have it back to her today she was like, "Can you do my engagement ring too?!?" That will be next week's project (she's only in on Wednesdays and Thursdays). I was so disgusted by her ring when I saw the underneath that I really thought, no way is this US gonna make a dent in that... But 10 cycles later (yes, literally) it is a sparkly wonder. You should have seen the waves of stuff coming off that ring--Yuck!!!

By the way, I want to clean my sapphire and diamond ring too. I'm not afraid of putting my sapphire in the US, but can I use the same amonia/water/dish soap solution on it too or do I need something gentler for the sapphire?
 
Date: 6/8/2006 7:59:03 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Have been using mine daily since I got it. How did I ever think my stones were clean before I got this thing???

I even brought one of my coworkers rings home last night and cleaned it. She was skeptical, so she just let me have her soap/lotion/crud encrusted princess set wedding band, and when I have it back to her today she was like, ''Can you do my engage ring too?!?'' That will be next week''s project (she''s on in on Wednesdays and Thursdays). I was so disgusted by her ring when I saw the underneath that I really thought, no way is this US gonna make a dent in that... But 10 cycles later (yes, literally) it is a sparkly wonder. You should have seen the waves of stuff coming off that ring--Yuck!!!

By the way, I want to clean my sapphire and diamond ring too. I''m not afraid of putting my sapphire in the US, but can I use the same amonia/water/dish soap solution on it too or do I need something gentler for the sapphire?
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Your sapphire will be fine in amonia/water/dish soap solution. Isn''t it fun to clean other''s rings?? I am always amazed at how dirty some rings can get and a few cycles later viola. Or maybe a lot of cycles later in some cases.
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I use mine every day. How I got along without it I have no Idea. Guess my rings must have looked like Caca ( SP?) as Aljdewey said!!! Hehe.
 
OK, well then Big Blue is goin'' in for a bath tonight! Thanks!
 
Date: 5/31/2006 10:24:15 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
I''ve read that about pave several times... a little scary. I think Tacori E-Ring even lost a stone out of her setting in her US. But no pave in my entire jewelry box, so I''m safe!
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I did!
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Maybe I was getting a little out of control because it was when I used it on "high." Since then (which was months and months ago) I have only used it on my e-ring twice on the "normal" setting. Both times my ring came out fine. So maybe the stone was just loose and would have fallen out sooner or later. My jeweler reset it for free so the only draw back was the 20 min drive there and a naked ring finger for a few days. No biggie. My ring (no matter what, soaking, hand cleaning, even steaming) looks the BEST after I use the US.
 
I so rarely leave the bride forum, not sure why... there''s so much good stuff out here on PS!
I just ordered my refurbished US from SI. I am eagerly awaiting its arrival. Aint nothing like a clean ring!
Can''t wait!!!!
 
You will be pleasantly surprised with the results...I''m sure!!
 
Can''t wait, I mean SERIOUSLY can''t wait. I keep looking at my hand and thinking about it.
That''s pathetic man, pathetic! Tee hee!
 
I like my SI cleaner I wish it would stop BREAKING!!!! Husband bought me one for christmas, I barely used it. Well, it broke so we exchanged it, again, it broke. I am going to have my husband return it and see if we can get our money back.
 
breaking as in cracking? cause that''s what mine is doing! i need to exchange it.
 
i keep waiting for mine to take the dive because i microwave water and put it into the little cup and it totally crackles and snaps and i''m sure one day it''s going to explode but so far nothing. knock on wood. i''ve had it for a year now i think? or just shy of a year. not a bad value for $40! hahaa. it''s sooo invaluable. now if there was just an even more mini ''travel size'' one.
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Yes the tank keeps cracking. I do put hot water maybe I need to stop that. Maybe I am getting something wet underneath that when I put the tray in causes it to crack? Who knows but I am annoyed.
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Not sure how I made it through this thread. I would have been so happy to just get the SI Ultrasonic cleaner. MY FFIL has an ultrasonic cleaner and we love to stick all sorts of things in it and watch the grime come off. So my FI insists the US must be large enough for our sunglasses and it must work with the lid off so we can watch the action. He does have a good point - the sunglasses were always the most fun to watch in the US as they had the most junk coming off of them. We also have more sunglasses than jewelry so it makes sense on that front too. It looks like there are a few other US pricescopers are happy with that do fit glasses, but they cost a bit more. I''ll have to look these up and see what I can find.
 
Ok, so I finally took everyone''s advice & ordered my own SI US cleaner off ebay. I am a lil nervous since my ring has pave or bead set or whatever it''s called all over it, but like some of you said...better a stone fall out in the cleaner than on the streets. Plus if one falls out then it obviously wasn''t set too well to begin w/ & it was only a matter of time. So hopefully I will get it in next week. I dunno if I''ll notice a huge dif in my ering as it is only ab a month old & I clean it almost every other day. i will let ya know what my opinion of it is when I get it & try it...I may not clean my ring for a few days so maybe then I''ll really see the results better.
 
Seb, congrats on joining the US club! I think you will definitely notice the benefits of US-ing your ring, as intricate as that setting is. You will be amazed at how much oil and random gunk gets into all those little crevices (sp?) in just a short time. Let us know how it goes!
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I will def keep you posted...I''m just a lil worried ab my pave & one of my stones coming out.
 
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