In ,
jim wrote:
On Mar 22, 3:04*pm, Oren wrote:
On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 09:19:13 -0800, "Cheri" gserviceatinreachdotcom
wrote:
wrote in message ...
On Mar 21, 11:05�pm, "Cheri" gserviceatinreachdotcom wrote:
Oren wrote in message ...
On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:32:47 -0700 (PDT), jim
wrote:
Not meaning to be ignorant but so far all these experts have told
you
all the wrong thing !
Cheri, hallerb and Oren can say the acid works.
Oren won't pull a toilet; until he uses the water test - 5 gallons
forced in rapidly. If it goes down, there's not a clog?
AHR has experts?!
�The muriatic acid solution that was posted here was one of the
better
tips I've ever had, especially since I had spent $300.00 having my
lines snaked not long before that, and the toilet still wasn't
flushing right until I tried that tip.When I saved the instructions,
I
accidently cut off the part that said who suggested it, because I'd
like to give him credit. You know who you are, but I don't
remember...many thanks to you. Also, this group has been very
helpful
to me, and I appreciate it very much.
Cheri
no thanks necessary but its me bob haller.
I stumbled on to it for a friend who was afraid she needed a new
toilet, its nice to help people.
I also promote rock salt micxed with water to kill tree roots in
sewers. its cheap and works amazingly well.
glad i could help, bob
******
OK, thanks again. I have saved your name now, so when I post that info
I can give you credit.
Cheri
I read Bob's tip here. One day I was going to try it out. I use acid
for my pool and had some handy. My neighbor had a rental property
going on the market, so he asked me to do some handy stuff.
A toilet had a leak at the tank bolt - around the washer. It was a
slow leak. I found it using a paper towel and flushing the toilet a
few times. *BEFORE I could even work one this nasty thing I poured
some acid in the bowl to start a cleaning process :-))
So, I removed the tank for the bolt replacement kit. While I had the
tank off I poured muriatic acid directly in the (throat?) bowl rim.
Allowed that to work; suddenly I look down and see an object. Get my
glasses out, grabbed the needle nose pliers and then pulled a syringe
out of the rim of the bowl. The acid had floated the syringe back
towards the throat and I could see it.
We have hard water, and acid will cut it from the rim holes. Faster
than using a coat hanger
BTW, It was a drug house so I can see how they must have hidden the
needle in the tank and it found it's way into the bowl rim, past the
flapper. A bad flush can then be any object in the tank getting past
the flapper and into the rim.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Did they also tell you Muratic Acid will corrode China and abs pipe so
use carefully , not the best thing to do to often don.t recomend to
people as there is some danger of boil up in the boil if the water you
use is to hot . Also open your window as sulpharic acid fumes will be
produced. Have only used once in 27 yrs of plumbing if you know how to
snake you won't need to.
Muriatic acid does not affect any of the usual plastics, and I don't
see a problem with ABS. Once mixed with water, it produces only very
minimal fumes. (More concentrated muriatic acid produces more significant
fumes, though not in huge amounts.) Its fumes are not anything sulfuric,
but hydrogen chloride (which are harmful if inhaled in strong
concentrations - they form hydrochloric acid in lungs and anyplace else
wet/moist).
Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid. Freshman college chemistry classes
and some highschool chemistry classes have students using hydrochloric
acid in 6-molar concentration, which has pH less than zero. However, a
skin splash of this is pretty much a non-event if it is rinsed off right
away. I would not want to get it in my eyes - but they say it's not the
worst thing that can happen - they say strong alkalis are worse on skin
and eyes, and have greater urgency to rinse away and neutralize with weak
opposite. (Strong oxidizing acids such as nitric are worse, and
concentrated sulfuric also causes nasty dehydration reactions, including
carbonization of sugar. Battery acid is sulfuric, but not concentrated
enough to carbonize sugar. The bad effects here are mainly from chemical
aspects other than acidity, and not problems of muriatic/hydrochloric.)
I would worry about china, and use muriatic acid only rarely and keep
exposure to limited amount of time and still not be surprised if the
finish changes.
Muriatic acid will eat away at iron and most steels. It does not do
much to copper, but quickly dissolves copper oxide and a few other copper
corrosion products such as copper carbonate - and metal oxides and metal
carbonates in general. It very slowly attacks solder - so it should be
flushed away with very generous amounts of water after a reasonable amount
of time.
Copper pipes in older/worse condition may sometimes have a solder joint
crack or some other little gap plugged up with corrosion that is easily
dissolved by acid - and such flaws may start leaking when or shortly
after you use the acid. I don't consider this common, but still something
to watch for. (Though in my experience drain pipes are usually not
copper.)
A few municipalities (primarily Chicago and Philadelphia IIRC) have
plumbing codes requiring iron/steel drain pipes from homes to sewer lines.
The politically powerful plumbers union lobbies to maintain requirement
for heavier weight pipes that require more man-hours in those cities.
I would not leave acid sitting in one of those drain lines - flush away
with *a lot* of water after several minutes or a fraction of an hour, and
still use acid rarely.
Sulfuric acid is sold to plumbers for unclogging pipes. When mixed with
water to a concentration much less than something like 84% H2SO4 16% H2O
by weight, or close to 75% H2SO4 25% H2O by volume, it loses most of its
nasty effects other than acidity (pH probably still something like -.7 at
that point as an educated guess).
However, even still, strong acids when mixed with water may generate
enough heat to be a problem. But I see at most minor problem here from
muriatic, since it already contains a fair amount of water. Pure HCL is
not even liquid at room temperature and atmospheric pressure - it is a
gas, and liquid hydrochloric is a good part water!
========================================
Do as you oughtta - add acid to water
To get your eyes blasted, add water to acid
(Adding small amounts of water to strong acid can cause the mixture to
boil and spatter. Not-so-small amounts of water added to strong acid can
occaisionally still be a problem if boiling starts before enough water
mixes in to cool things. Even if you add acid to water, if you do this in
a chemistry lab you should stir/mix to whatever extent is feasible to
minimize significant "hotspots" of slightly diluted acid.)
========================================
- Don Klipstein )