Mopitup absorbs 5 litres of water from a broken down or leaking appliance (and has other uses)

I’ve just discovered a new product, which looks very useful indeed. Mopitup, is a large thin sheet filled with a highly absorbent gel. It is capable of absorbing up to 5 Litres of water, or any water-based liquid. That’s almost 9 (UK) pints of liquid (or 11 US pints).

The technology behind Mopitup comes from the medical profession but its inventor has rightly seen that it’s use could extend to many different areas. It is most useful to plumbers and heating engineers who wish to protect their customers floors when cutting into pipework, removing radiators dealing with header tanks etc.

Its inventor has brought it to my attention because he thinks Mopitup could also be useful to white goods engineers and the general public. My immediate thoughts were how useful one would be if a dishwasher or washing machine broke down full of water, or if a kitchen appliance had leaked all over the floor. I decided to test them out and publish the results.

What does the Mopitup look like?

The approximates size of the sheet is 700mm x 370mm (28 inch x 15 inch) and it is very thin indeed, I would say about 1 mm thin. it’s hard to imagine such a thin sheet being capable of absorbing 5 L of water. I’ve seen the official promotional video and it looks impressive but I’m always cautious about shiny video promotions so I decided to test it myself.

Test one: Broken down dishwasher full of water

I started my dishwasher on a normal wash cycle and after a few minutes I opened the door and turned it off. I removed the lower basket leaving the dishwasher full of water as it would be if it had broken down leaving water inside. (If this was a real situation and the water was very hot it would be best to wailt until it’s cooled down of course). I placed one Mopitup sheet inside and waited just under a minute. You can see a condensed video of this test here (I edited about 30 seconds out because it’s boring) – Mopitup dishwasher test (NOTE about this video: There is no sound. It’s 4.06 Mb and should play in Windows media player)

Test two: How much water can I pour onto Mopitup sheet?

For this test I simply placed a Mopitup sheet into an empty bowl and turned the tap on. The tap was turned on so there was a reasonably fast flow but relatively slow. A Mopitup sheet cannot absorb a cascade of water although it coped well with a steady run of water as you can see from the short video I made. In hindsight I think I could have put even more water in it. You can see from the video that when I stop the test there is still a fair bit of white material that hasn’t absorbed any water yet – Mopitup sink test (NOTE about this video: There is sound. It’s 14 Mb and should play in Windows media player)

This video shows the impressive absorbency of a Mopitup sheet. Each time I thought it had had enough and turned the tap off I added more water and it soaked right in. At the end I was able to lift out the Mopitup sheet leaving a virtually empty bowl. The Mopitup sheet becomes a containing bag which as you can see from both videos holds the water very well and does not release any water while being carried to the bin where it can be safely disposed of.

Test 3: Unintentional test (not videoed)

This test was forced upon me when I unfortunately discovered a nasty leak at the back of my built-in dishwasher. I won’t bore you with too many details but the leak was only discovered when I noticed a few raised tiles on the kitchen floor. After removing the plinth at the base of the kitchen units I could see the floor was wet through all round the back of the dishwasher and under the sink.

Reusable until fully saturated

I had used up all of the five Mopitup sheets in the pack although the last sheet was in my garage and had been partially used last week when I used it to soak up some water that had leaked onto the floor. Remembering that another Mopitup claim is that each sheet can absorb 5 L of water and will continue to absorb up until that limit even if it had been absorbing water previously I fetched it in. I then placed it at the back of the dishwasher whereupon it absorbed more water for me.

My only regret was that I didn’t have another sheet because after fixing the leak (which was from where the fill hose connects to the water valve) I would have felt much happier being able to place a Mopitup sheet at the back of the dishwasher in case the leak had not been cured or started again. It would be able to protect my already wet floorboards from further saturation.

Summary

Although Mopitup sheets have many uses for tradesmen they are potentially very useful for anyone to keep handy for cases where water needs to be absorbed quickly and without any mess or spillage. Removing water from broken down appliances, toilets, systems, header tanks, mopping up water when removing radiators or mopping up large spillages of water are all things that spring to mind.

If you have any difficulty viewing any of my videos please let me know.

• Mopitup dishwasher test (NOTE about this video: There is no sound. It’s 4.06 Mb and should play in Windows media player)
• Mopitup sink test (NOTE about this video: There is sound. It’s 14 Mb and should play in Windows media player)
• Official Mopitup site hosting an official video demo (Win & Mac)

Where to buy Mopitup sheets

Buy Mopitup sheets

Written By - Washerhelp on April 18th, 2008 with 3 comments
__
Read More Articles on Accessories for white goods appliances and General laundry or white goods topics |  Subscribe | Please Report any broken links - pretty please :-)

Why not add your comment? click the comment link above or scroll down to the comments box

Related articles

• Washing nets: Net to protect bra whilst washing (June 24th, 2008)
• Raise a washing machine off the floor (April 5th, 2008)
• Tumble dryer stacking kits: Stack a tumble dryer on top of a washing machine (October 9th, 2007)