On 29/09/2017 23:33, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Does anyone here sort of 'make their own'?Â* I buy glacial acetic acid
off ebay, because the missus uses it (well diluted, of course) as fabric
conditioner, although it doesn't really condition it AFAICT, but she
seems to like it.Â* Anyway, it's not as good as I'd imagined at descaling
kettles, even though I thought it'd be stronger.Â* I think the bought
stuff contains citric acid, but I don't want to buy a load of ebay just
to have it sit on the shelf for the rest of my life next to the Bradex
Easy-Start.

Some interesting ideas - thanks all.Â* Interesting that these are all
organic acids.Â* I've no idea why that should be, but there may be a good
reason for it.

The point is that they are *weak* acids (Google for more), which means
they are less aggressive towards metals. A strong acid is not
necessarily biologically dangerous if it is sufficiently dilute (indeed
you have hydrochloric acid in your stomach) but even dilute strong acids
can have adverse effects on metals.