Cleaning stone with Muriatic Acid

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Sunday, August 12. 2012

Cleaning stone with Muriatic Acid

It's the best stone- and brick-cleaner, but it has to be handled carefully. I am cleaning a hearth with it.

When you buy it, buy goggles and gloves. It's actually a solution of hydrochoric acid - same thing your stomach is full of.

You can't let it near bleach - the combo produces chlorine gas which will kill you. So it is fun to use. You really do not want it on your skin either.

Posted by Bird Dog in Gardens, Plants, etc., Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 13:24 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

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Also good for cleaning aluminum boat hulls.

#1 Tom Francis on 2012-08-12 13:23 (Reply)

You can get it at a marine store, called "On And Off". It's the only thing I've ever seen that'll actually remove rust.

#2 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2012-08-12 13:40 (Reply)

That lethal mix --iirc it was part of the fuel mix for the Me 163 Komet --which from engine off to 30,000 ft took about three minutes.

#3 buddy larsen on 2012-08-12 14:38 (Reply)

Ha! For whatever reason I happened to be reading about the Komet recently, and googled up some Youtube videos on it. You can find film clips that were evidently made by the Nazis during testing and development; some of the film clips seemed to have been taken just to show how dangerous the fuel mixture was and how careful you had to be. The stuff was so toxic even the pilot had to wear special protective clothing in flight.

#3.1 T.K. Tortch on 2012-08-12 22:18 (Reply)

You're getting crossed around with hydrazine hydrate...

Bleach and household Ammonia produce hydrazine -- which BLINDS you first -- and eventually kills you.

2NH3 + NaClO = H2NNH2 + NaCl + HOH

I've never run across the hypothetical reaction:

NaClO + HCl = Cl2 + NaOH
NaOH + HCl = HOH + NaCl

But it does seem reasonable.

#3.2 blert on 2012-08-12 22:20 (Reply)

I tried your idea, blert --the sheriff says we can probably all get back into that side of the county by Thanksgiving, depending on the wind currents.

TKT --wow --a LOT of Komet film. One old feller --an ex-Komet pilot, said the biggest combat flaw was synching the descent-only attack angle --the cannon could be dead-on but the B-17 could fly along between the cannon shell trajectories.

Dead motor to 30,000 ft in three minutes, and the twin 30mm cannon @ 450 rounds/minute = 900 rounds/minute, a B-17 flies through aimed fire not like a propeller blade thru cammed machine gun fire but because Komet is so short its tail is always in turbulence and so close to muzzles the pilots were basically spraying and praying.

#3.2.1 buddy larsen on 2012-08-13 01:08 (Reply)

Telling the Bitter Clingers how to make chlorine gas.

Wonder if that will put Maggie's on a DHS watch list?

#4 feeblemind on 2012-08-12 18:17 (Reply)

Oxalic acid is another potent cleaner -- especially for iron stains on concrete

#5 Dr Bob on 2012-08-12 19:48 (Reply)

Muriatic acid is what I always used for spring cleaning of the swimming pool back when I had a pool. So it does a good job on plastered concrete, too.

Around these parts, you could buy it at any pool supply store. I assume that's still true. (Got a gallon jug sitting in the garage as I write.)

You're right about the chlorine interaction. I once got a highly acidic solution mixed with some chlorine tablets and the mixture turned my gold wedding band bright orange for a couple of days.

#6 jhc on 2012-08-12 21:39 (Reply)

Don't use it in any closed spaces. It is a very powerful corrosive and even the fumes will give everything it touches a corrosion/rust coating from tools to machine parts.

#7 Kurt on 2012-08-13 00:15 (Reply)

Any suggestions for removing stains of turpentine/woodstain on concrete?

#8 Gringo on 2012-08-13 13:57 (Reply)

well-matched oil-based enamel, applied as a scumble (very-lightly-loaded stiff brush -idea is to not to cover the stain with a visible blob of paint, but to keep the eye from focusing on the area --think 'camo').

#8.1 buddy larsen on 2012-08-15 16:19 (Reply)

Muriatic eats mortars and concretes up - do not use it concentrated and/or for long duration if you want your masonry to stay smooth and not convert into exposed aggregate.

Also, contained vapors will knock you out and if you're out cold, will kill you. Needs no other combination to prove lethal.

#9 Ten on 2012-08-13 21:38 (Reply)

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Sunday, August 12. 2012

Cleaning stone with Muriatic Acid