Technical Does anybody have a definitive "recipe" for mixing citric acid?

econd day

No 1 Still some left
No 2 Still some heavy spots left
No 3 Some heavy spots left but less than 2
No 4 Some heavy spots but less than 3
No 5 Some heavy spots but less than 4
No 6 4 heavy spots about 2 mm dia
No 7 rust completley gone
No 8 all light rust gone but still some heavy spots , almost same as No 2
No 10 rust completely gone
No 11 All light rust gone but still some heavy spots like No 3

Test No 10 with small amount of citric acid & vinega gives same results as No 7 with 5 times more citric acid , so work out the cost for quicker results , update again tomorrow.

Next test will be like No 10 with 1/2 the citric acid and water / vinega to compare to this test

Todays photo result

 

day 3
No 1 still has rust
No 2 clean but lots of sopts of heavy rust
No3 6 spots of heavy rust
No 4 few spots of heavy rust
No 5 2 spots of heavy rust
No 6 completley clean
No 7 Completley clean
No 8 6 spots of heavy rust
No 10 completley clean
No 11 2 spots of heavy rust

2 days 7 & 10 completley clean
3 days 6 completley clean
3 days 5 & 11 almost the same

I will up date in another week and let you know which No is clean on which day
I will check every day and note details

By the time I build a soaking tank this week I will know what ratio of citric acid to use

Today's photo results

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choppmyride
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hope some of this is helpful....as you can see i found the thread i was looking for

 

Just thinking aloud here. It looks like 1 lb per 5 Gallons (or 1/2 kg per 20 liters or 25 kg per 1000 liters) is a good ratio for general use. As I computed before, using the 5 lb bags from Amazon results in a solution cost of about $2.00 (US) per gallon. That's significantly better that "Evaporust" at $18 (US) per gallon or even "Rust-911" at $3.75 (US) per gallon. Test #7 looks like it is the optimal mixture ratio, and according to my math is 1 lb per 1 gallon. That puts the cost at about $10 per gallon, which is a bit high.

Looks like the 1 lb per 5 gallons is the way to go. From the post #30 above : "24 hours in the tank with 1000 litres and 25kg of citric great results."

 

DON'T KNOW IF YOU GOT MY REPLY EARLIER
I'VE BEEN USING THE CITRUC "SOUP" FOR YEARS NOW. RECIPE = 8OZ. CITRUS POWDER WITH 1 GALLON WATER - HAD GREAT RESULTS. JUST DONT PUT ANY "CAST, MAGNESIUM, PIECES LIKE SUNVISOR BRKTS IN - IT WILL DESINIGRATE THEM. POT METAL IS OK.
I LEARNED THE HARD WAY. OTHER THAN THAT HAVE HAD GREAT RESULTS

 

I started a thread about metal prep and ended up using Citric Acid to remove mill scale from hot rolled steel.....https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/bare-metal-prep-question.999841/#post-11361615

 

What I always did with parts pulled out of my vinegar bath was, with hose pressure washed all of the acid off of the parts. Then immediately after that washed them with soap and water, then you have no flash rust. After they dry, there seems to be a blue cast on the parts and they don't rust. I have parts sitting in my garage for years that have gone through that process that haven't rusted.

 

Well, to tie a bow on this. I think I have determined that "Evaporust" and similar products are NOT citric acid based. I bought some citric acid and experimented with various strength solutions. In short, nothing I tried worked nearly as well as the commercial products, plus it looked completely different and "fizzed". I bought a bunch of pH test strips and dropped a sample of each solution on them. The results? My citric acid solution had a pH of about 1.5 (very acidic), while both "Evaporust" and "Metal Resuce" tested out neutral (pH around 7). There is no way I can see that they are even vaguely related. I am abandoning my experimenting with citric acid and will continue on with my quest for a cheaper chellation regimen.

 

A lot of that stuff is proprietary but I'd want to look at the safety data sheets if I were trying to recreate their recipe, these are required by federal law.

 

Just for information, Harbor Freight sells Evaporust and there is a 25% off coupon for this Sunday and Monday 12/31 - 1/1. That would bring a gallon down to about $19.50

 

These are readily available in several places and I have looked at a bunch of them, but other than saying the stuff is utterly safe, they have no information on the active ingredients at all. I did see that there is a "patent pending", but there was a guy that looked for it and couldn't find it anywhere. A real "secret formula" (I wouldn't let it out either; you can buy "bar pour" whiskey cheaper than that.)

 

I have a 250 gallon tank similar to this one. with the lid cut open. I use 30 pounds of citric acid and water. I always have something soaking in it. I leave very rusty things in it for a week on average. Works good. Sometimes longer if I forget. And as long as a month. Dosen`t hurt the metal. I guess I need to update my other thread. Dip Tank.

 

Stanlow69. I assume the tank is out side. Does it freeze ?


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

The temp today is now -13. It was a little warmer today. I was gonna put some parts in it but, yes. It`s frozen. Last week I had parts it and it wasn`t frozen. It was below the freezing point. Took some parts out last Thursday that were in for 4 days. They were pretty rusty. Came out pretty clean. I was in a hurry to get the job done. I don`t remember the actual temp outside.

 

Could always add a water trough heater, if you are able to use in winter. It's -27C here right now, so don't think it would be too good here.

 

What about Dawn, it is an excellent degreaser that is also used for stripping wax off a cars finish prior to a good detailing job, heck they even used it to degrease the baby ducks from those oil spills a few years back!

 

Dawn is great; I used it a lot to clean up a Corvette I restored a few years back. Given what I know, it would probably be the best surfactant out there. The thing is that citric acid is just that : it is acid. I'm really looking for a reasonably priced chellation agent these days. I think I'm gonna start looking at feed grade molasses.

 

I spent about $60 dollars on food grade Citric acid. It is used in Kool Aid.

 

I know this is a necro-thread, but I found it via a search, and someone else might also. Forgive me if I've breached net etiquette. For one liter of water, add 100 grams of citric acid and 40 grams of washing soda. This will release carbon dioxide gas when the soda reacts with the citric acid. This solution works as well as evaporust, and will last longer. Beyond Ballistics on Youtube has a video detailing his experiments, and I've adapted my recipe to match his. This is massively cheaper than evaporust, and I suspect is similar to their solution.

 

What is washing soda? I’ve never heard of it before.

 

I was curious and found this link which has a good explanation:
https://home.howstuffworks.com/home...nts-tips/cleaning-organizing/washing-soda.htm

"Washing soda is sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), and is chemically different from baking soda, which is the common name for sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3). Sometimes called "soda ash," this moderately basic compound — it has a pH of 11, which is about the same as ammonia — was first made by burning plants that had been growing in soils high in sodium. It can be used for tasks that need a higher pH than baking soda, which is only slightly alkaline."

Looks like it can be bought in small brand name (Arm & Hammer) or larger generic by the bucket quantities.....