A downside to muriatic acid.

for disposal find someone with a swimming pool as they use it for ph control , or see if your city has a disposalp lan for hazmat , otherwise dilute it with water as much as possible and then add baking soda or limestone to it and let it sit for a few days . or dilute and wash your driveway if its concrete or limestone as thats what driveway cleaner is made from .

when you dilute any acid its add the acid to the water , never water to acid ! the acid will react , get hot and spatter.

 

x2 on that! I worked in a chemical plant for 27 years. The same fumes of muriatic acid that rusted everything left an acidic (low ph) film on everything. Best to take the time to neutralize it. Baking soda dissolved in some warm water will do the trick.

As Saxman said, phosphoric acid is a better cleaner and doesn't off-gas a lot of fumes, but it is very "thick" and takes a lot of rinsing to wash off completely.

Good luck!

 

REPEAT-Do not store this stuff inside even in a closed container. The vapors WILL escape and WILL cause things to rust/corrode that you really don't want rusted. Don't ask me how I know this.

 

So I have a couple gallons of muriatic acid I have had for years intending to clean and paint the garage floor and now want to get rid of it.

What's the best way? Can I dig a hole and pour the stuff in it?

 

no, as the acid can stay dangerous for a long time as its concentrated ,

if your near a city see if they have a hazmat disposal program, often they will take it free of charge , or find a person with a swimming pool as they use it, or dilute and nuetralize with soda ash or baking soda , and when I say dilute read what I wrote earlier and the ratio is 10 gallons of water per 1 of acid then add soda or limestone it . if you have a concrete drive it will clean it up bright white and remove oil stains .

 

Dan spent last night at the shop with a DA , some Picklex, and Scotchbrite pads, getting the rust off the new back half parts he has for his Mustang. The parts I sprayed on my rpu with WD40 seem to be not rusting any worse, so I plan on cleaning them up with the Picklex this weekend.

Nasty stuff.

Don

 

I was wondering why every metal part was rusting on the shelves in then garage and noticed there were a couple bottles of that stuff on the top shelf and was coming through the plastic containers it was in,they must have been on the shelf for about 15 years and the plastic containers could not hold it in anymore.

 

Back in the 50s we used muriatic acid to clear the metal before leading. I had a small baby food jar setting on the shelf and I forgot to put the lid back on, rusted the whole body of my Model A. Small garage.

 

I just bought a gallon jug of hydroclouric acid, I'm going to try to eat the rust off my turtle deck this weekend. Outside of course.

 

Had exact thing happen to me, tightly capped jug in a metal storage cabinet, same results.