Corrosion

[Dreamboat]

What magic potion does everyone use to get rid of the green corrosion on bronze and copper fittings?
I had read somewhere about a mixture of vinegar and baking soda, that didn't work that good for me.

 

[SEVEN]

I use 100% vinegar and soak the area. Sometimes it will take two or three applications to resolve it. Good luck.

 

[SEVEN]

Damn spell check. Desolve.

 

[Dreamboat]

Thanks. I'll try that.

 

[bobk]

Lemon juice ought to work better than vinegar. Lots of folks like bartenders friend.

Bobk

 

[GJH]

How about "nothing"? What's the point other than cosmetics?

 

[Dreamboat]

I guess that is the point "cosmetics". I just like having things look neat and clean. In terms of the copper bonding wires and crimp-on terminals, it's easier to see what shape the connections are when they're clean.

 

[holtcl]

Someone recently told me Coke and something else but I can't remember what that something else was. Sorry to only be half-helpful. Maybe it was baking soda.

Cheryl
Cinderella
1971 53 MY

 

[rsmith]

I use vinegar on my thru hulls and seacocks when they turn green but you need to hit them with a small wire brush to work in the vinegar. Put the vinegar in a spray bottle to douche them down.

 

[GJH]

I use vinegar on my thru hulls and seacocks when they turn green but you need to hit them with a small wire brush to work in the vinegar. Put the vinegar in a spray bottle to douche them down.

Agree with this approach, using distilled white vinegar. Straight Coca Cola works too but messier to clean up (and you sure don't feel like drinking one again after seeing it eat through that stuff).

The OP didn't mention connectors and bonding wires, those must be 100% clean and a superficial brush up is not sufficient in my opinion. Cut off, strip to clean wire, reinstall with heat shrink terminals and coat exposed connection with Corrosion X or similar. For those working on cosmetic items, I'd advise spraying with Corrosion X after the clean up so you don't have to do it again.

 

[magnawake]

I use the t toilet bowl cleaned called " the works". I'm sure it has some form of acid in it. It will make it look brand new. Then I spray corrosion X on it and it looks great for a long time. I just put a few gobs of vasiline on the threads of the strainers. I'm not telling you its the best product but it seems to work.

 

[bobk]

I'm trying to give my fellow HOFers ER friendly advice. Use non-volatile acids in your ER. Coke has phosphoric acid, non-volatile, but will leave sticky sugar. Hydrochloric acid, AKA muriatic acid is the worst. It's fumes WILL cause corrosion. In my case a "DD mechanic" cleaned my HE's in place with it, and I had rust on all sorts of stuff. Following season, four of 144 stainless steel hose clamps parted. Vinegar, acetic acid is weak, but also volatile. Lemon juice which has citric acid works like, or a little better than vinegar. Phosphoric and oxalic are non-volatile. Citric acid has very low volatility. Caution, the oxalic is toxic but is a weak acid that will also clean the ICW mustache w/o harming the Imron!

Bobk

 

[magnawake]

I looked on the container. The active ingredient is hydrogen cloride @ 9.5%. So I was wrong it doesn't have acid. I could cause a hydrogen explosion like fucishemia nuclear plant or the hindinburg blimp. I better be careful. We'll at lest it doesn't have a skull and cross bones like the rust remover "Wink". Boy that stuff works good but is very dangerous.

 

[Boatsb]

I use a more effective acid that does not cause corrosion and non toxic.

It's hard to find though.

Lysergic acid diethylamide.

It makes everything look better too.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Bob can weigh in on this but mixing cleaners, especially in a closed space like a Hatteras engine room, could have some nasty consequences. We don't want to lose any owners.

Isn't HCl hydrochloric acid? Or did I miss something?

 

[Boatsb]

Bob can weigh in on this but mixing cleaners, especially in a closed space like a Hatteras engine room, could have some nasty consequences. We don't want to lose any owners.

Isn't HCl hydrochloric acid? Or did I miss something?

Hydrogen. Chloride is a gas. That is until mixed with water and then yes it's hydrochloric acid.

 

[bobk]

OK, chemistry 101 again.

Hydrogen chloride is a gas which is acidic if moisture is present. When it is dissolved into water it becomes hydrochloric acid, the same stuff that is in your stomach. Impure hydrochloric acid is referred to as muriatic acid. The sharp odor is hydrogen chloride.

Any acid reacts with active metals (think iron, zinc etc) to produce hydrogen. That is not much of an issue in this discussion. Strong acids such as hydrochloric react faster than weaker acids such as citric or vinegar.

Mixing an acid and a base, in this discussion hydrochloric acid and ammonia, produces a salt - ammonium chloride.

Now getting a bit more complicated, 'bleach' like the large jugs from the supermarket (Clorox etc.), is actually a 5% salt solution. NaOCl from NaOH + HOCl. The bleach you buy is about 5% NaOCl and the solution itself has a complex chemistry which exists in the following equilibrium which cannot write correctly without access to super and subscript numbers. NaOCl + H2O <=> NaOH + HOCl <=> Na+ OH- Cl- + O. That last 'O' is called nascent oxygen and most chemists believe this is the active bleaching agent.

When you mix bleach with ammonia, you form one or more of the chemicals we call chloramines. These are all toxic, but are also produced deliberately in small amounts to purify drinking water whose source is surface water, i.e. reservoirs, rivers and ponds. See the following from a more in-depth discussion, but there is some misinformation in there re hydrazine formation. http://chemistry.about.com/od/toxicchemicals/a/Mixing-Bleach-And-Ammonia.htm

Bobk

 

[rsmith]

OK, chemistry 101 again.

Hydrogen chloride is a gas which is acidic if moisture is present. When it is dissolved into water it becomes hydrochloric acid, the same stuff that is in your stomach. Impure hydrochloric acid is referred to as muriatic acid. The sharp odor is hydrogen chloride.

Any acid reacts with active metals (think iron, zinc etc) to produce hydrogen. That is not much of an issue in this discussion. Strong acids such as hydrochloric react faster than weaker acids such as citric or vinegar.

Mixing an acid and a base, in this discussion hydrochloric acid and ammonia, produces a salt - ammonium chloride.

Now getting a bit more complicated, 'bleach' like the large jugs from the supermarket (Clorox etc.), is actually a 5% salt solution. NaOCl from NaOH + HOCl. The bleach you buy is about 5% NaOCl and the solution itself has a complex chemistry which exists in the following equilibrium which cannot write correctly without access to super and subscript numbers. NaOCl + H2O <=> NaOH + HOCl <=> Na+ OH- Cl- + O. That last 'O' is called nascent oxygen and most chemists believe this is the active bleaching agent.

When you mix bleach with ammonia, you form one or more of the chemicals we call chloramines. These are all toxic, but are also produced deliberately in small amounts to purify drinking water whose source is surface water, i.e. reservoirs, rivers and ponds. See the following from a more in-depth discussion, but there is some misinformation in there re hydrazine formation. http://chemistry.about.com/od/toxicchemicals/a/Mixing-Bleach-And-Ammonia.htm

Bobk

Are you the real Hiesenberg?

 

[Boatsb]

OK, chemistry 101 again.

Hydrogen chloride is a gas which is acidic if moisture is present. When it is dissolved into water it becomes hydrochloric acid, the same stuff that is in your stomach. Impure hydrochloric acid is referred to as muriatic acid. The sharp odor is hydrogen chloride.

Any acid reacts with active metals (think iron, zinc etc) to produce hydrogen. That is not much of an issue in this discussion. Strong acids such as hydrochloric react faster than weaker acids such as citric or vinegar.

Mixing an acid and a base, in this discussion hydrochloric acid and ammonia, produces a salt - ammonium chloride.

Now getting a bit more complicated, 'bleach' like the large jugs from the supermarket (Clorox etc.), is actually a 5% salt solution. NaOCl from NaOH + HOCl. The bleach you buy is about 5% NaOCl and the solution itself has a complex chemistry which exists in the following equilibrium which cannot write correctly without access to super and subscript numbers. NaOCl + H2O <=> NaOH + HOCl <=> Na+ OH- Cl- + O. That last 'O' is called nascent oxygen and most chemists believe this is the active bleaching agent.

When you mix bleach with ammonia, you form one or more of the chemicals we call chloramines. These are all toxic, but are also produced deliberately in small amounts to purify drinking water whose source is surface water, i.e. reservoirs, rivers and ponds. See the following from a more in-depth discussion, but there is some misinformation in there re hydrazine formation. http://chemistry.about.com/od/toxicchemicals/a/Mixing-Bleach-And-Ammonia.htm

Bobk

OK Bob so how does Oxclean work?

 

[bobk]

OK Bob so how does Oxclean work?

The Oxiclean products are not all the same. I have never seen one with sodium hypochlorite, but have see different peroxides. Some simply have hydrogen peroxide.

Bobk