John.Harper 14 Report post Posted November 14, 2011 What is hydrochloric acid safe to actually use on as a cleaning agent? I hope im not mistaken but muriatic acid and hydrochloric acid are the same thing correct? I've heard a lot of people trying to use it and they always get advised not too i can get it locally cheap about the same as 12.5% just wondered if i could be using it? Thanks John Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Russ Johnson 141 Report post Posted November 14, 2011 Hydrochloric acid is a very aggressive acid. It can be used to remove concrete residue from surfaces, etch the surface of concrete in preparation for refinishing, it can be used to remove rust from metals. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher 102 Report post Posted November 14, 2011 Muriatic Acid is very dangerous and it does not matter how much it cost, there is not much use for it in pressure washing unless you have exact, specific uses which 98% of the time you have no need in most pressure washing jobs. Price on chemicals should not matter, what the chemical is, how dangerous it is and what it does should be what matters to you. Like Russ Mentioned, unless you want to etch concrete (like melting it) for applying specific coatings in heavy duty settings or industrial applications, I would stay away from that stuff. You can almost always see in the Home Depot, Lowes, and other hardware stores where someone spilled it on the concrete floor where it ate through some of the concrete. Most customers don't want this happening on their concrete and I am sure that they would get really pissed off and/or take legal action if you tried it for some unknown reason. This is one of those chemicals that there are not a lot of uses for, is dangerous and can easily cause permanent damage to most surfaces and/or yourself. Hope this helps. 1 Chappy reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John.Harper 14 Report post Posted November 14, 2011 thats the impression i was getting just wanted to make sure .. when someone does an acid wash on bricks is this what they're referring to and if yes do they know what they're doing or is there a better route to go Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Celeste 341 Report post Posted November 14, 2011 Muriatic can ruin bricks if used straight out of the jug. We use products from Eacochem for all of our brick washing (and we have cleaned thousands of square feets of them!) They are specially buffered so as not to damage the brick substrate - NMD80 is also safe for the applicator - which is also very important! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John.Harper 14 Report post Posted November 14, 2011 yea i've heard a lot about Eacochem lately i cant wait to get a brick or graffitti job so i can test out their products and customer service i've read their entire site and its pretty obvious they're the real deal Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
go green pressure washing 14 Report post Posted November 14, 2011 Yeah eacochem is got some great products I've been very happy with results I've gotten on jobs that I've used the chemicals on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John T 744 Report post Posted November 14, 2011 Hydrochloric acid can be used with excellent results but the risk factor on it is not worth it. A few years ago at one of the roundtables we were at there was a girl there with one or two of her employees. She is an owner operator of her Powerwashing business. It wasn't much after that she was using hydrochloric acid on a wash and she was hospitalized for weeks afterwords. If I remember correctly hydrochloric acid can burn you inside and then out. So you could get it on you and think that you got it off fast enough and it's already in you and burning up your insides..... Brutal stuff. Sometimes the money no matter what is not worth the risk... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Russ Johnson 141 Report post Posted November 15, 2011 That's hydrofluoric acid John. It's some real ugly stuff, but not much can truly replace it for what it does. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Douglas Hicks 128 Report post Posted November 15, 2011 I started to share what I know about HF, before I remembered this new thing called wickipedia.Hydrofluoric acid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia click on "safety"Cool pictures of HF burns. They talk about topical and IV treatments. MMS: Error. I also remember interossouse injection. If the picures of the chem burns did not make your orifices clinch, try this you can see an intraosseous injection using a drill. In the ER, the doc may not bother with anesthesia, he uses a big bore needle to inject calcium directly into the bone. And that will make you clinch! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John T 744 Report post Posted November 15, 2011 That's hydrofluoric acid John. It's some real ugly stuff, but not much can truly replace it for what it does. Yes Hydrofluoric acid. Talk about screwing that one up.. Thanks for the correction.. And use Hydrofluoric acid the old timers tell me it's great stuff... But the stories about it.. It's where we draw the line. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John.Harper 14 Report post Posted November 15, 2011 so im hearing great results and the line being drawn .. im sure someone can handle it safely and it has an application .. i've used it before i started doing all of this when i was in construction spraying it on a stone wall we just mortared up the GC swore by it to get loose motor off Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Douglas Hicks 128 Report post Posted November 15, 2011 so im hearing great results and the line being drawn .. im sure someone can handle it safely and it has an application .. i've used it before i started doing all of this when i was in construction spraying it on a stone wall we just mortared up the GC swore by it to get loose motor off We used muratic acid & a brush to get the mortor tags off brick fireplaces. And I can belive the GC did swear when you mortared him up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John.Harper 14 Report post Posted November 15, 2011 hahah he was a terrible boss we had to do something Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christopher 102 Report post Posted November 16, 2011 Another funny one. hahahahaha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites