evapo rust wtf hard to find?

[Private Lugnutz]

the Rustoleum equivalent

What Rustoleum equivalent?

 

[slowtwitch73]

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Rustoleum has no equivalent (non-toxic, acid-free, alkali-free) solution.

SDS...

 

[slowtwitch73]

It was offered up by the retailers as such. Good grief.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm not scolding you, Twitch. I'm just not aware of anything equivalent to Evaporust or Metal Rescue. I'm sure that Rustoleum has a team of scientists in a lab working on it, but if they had an equivalent product, it would be big news.

 

[KnurledNut]

I tried Thermocure back in 2019 due to the cost differential. At that time, I paid about the same price (~$20) for 1 quart of Thermocure as 1 gallon of Evaporust, but the quart of Thermocure would ostensibly result in 3 gallons of Evaporust with water, and therefore, I should be getting 3 x more product at 1/3rd of the cost per fluid ounce. But the diluted Thermocure did not work nearly as well for me as the same amount of straight Evaporust formula. In fact, it reminded me of experiments I conducted to stretch Evaporust with water, which only separates the chelating molecules, slowing down the process. When I heated the Thermocure, it worked a little better. When I periodically disturbed it, too. But then again, so does Evaporust. I bought another quart and tried it with only a gallon of water. It worked just as well and just as quickly as Evaporust, but at that volume, there was no cost benefit.

I have stuck with Evaporust (or Metal Rescue) ever since.

Not to argue with @KnurledNut. That was several years ago, results will vary based on what is being de-rusted, and he may be more patient than I am.

YMMV

No worries, Lugz.
Could be a difference in the way we are using it.
Where its more of a syrup consistency, I coat/brush whatever I am derusting full strength and then add the water.

 

[rsanter]

You had me until I needed to measure in liters and grams.

Small digital kitchen scale and just get it close.
i mix it in a 5 gal bucket.
I fill the bucket about 2/3 full and I notice if you don’t get the exact a out in there it still,works well enough

 

[whateg01]

I mixed up that citric acid/baking soda things from the video as I have a bunch of angle I want to de-rust for a project. (I have several gallons of vinegar that I've been using but I can't just leave parts in it unattended for a couple weeks.) I've done a few parts and I'm impressed with it. I haven't used evaporust after the first couple gallons lost their effectiveness. Just seemed expensive for no more use than I got out of it. If this stuff keeps chugging along like the video shows, it'll be great. It's already way less expensive to mix up a gallon, er, 4-ish liters, than the gallon of evaporust.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Could be a difference in the way we are using it.
Where its more of a syrup consistency, I coat/brush whatever I am derusting full strength and then add the water.

Hmm. That's interesting. I'm almost religious about Evaporust now and far less curious about exploring equivalent solutions than I was 7 years ago, having found only one - Metal Rescue, but good to know. Thanks.

 

[jblnut]

Small digital kitchen scale and just get it close.
i mix it in a 5 gal bucket.
I fill the bucket about 2/3 full and I notice if you don’t get the exact a out in there it still, works well enough

If you mix liters and grams into a 5gal bucket it might work but you’ll know what you did was wrong. As wrong as mustard on a hotdog. Or telling people you purchased a pair of pants and show them a single article of clothing.

I know it’ll work, I was just being a smarty pants. The internet is great at stripping all emotion and sarcasm out of responses lol

 

[Nessism]

As wrong as mustard on a hotdog.

You lost me here! And yes, I know what sarcasm is...

 

[whateg01]

You lost me here! And yes, I know what sarcasm is...

I'll make it easy for you. MUSTARD BAD! that's all you need to know. it is written.

 

[jblnut]

You lost me here! And yes, I know what sarcasm is...

I'll make it easy for you. MUSTARD BAD! that's all you need to know. it is written.

Yup. MUSTARD BAD! Not Mustard, good.

 

[PCustoms]

Is hidden valley on a hotdog OK?

 

[jblnut]

Is hidden valley on a hotdog OK?

It’s strange but at least it’s Hidden Valley and it’s not mustard.

 

[pfaustus]

The reaction of sodium-based alkalis with the citric acid yields sodium citrate--an excellent rust remover. I use lye and mix it so that the solution is just a little alkaline to better cut through residual grease.

BUT! DO NOT use it to clean copper or copper alloys! It will turn your rust remover into a combo rust remover/cold copper plating solution!

I now need to throw mine out and mix up a new batch.

Deleted. He is right. I'm wrong.

 

[Beerhippie]

This is like the various vinegar and salt solutions. You are inserting sodium irons into every pore of the metal. Add moisture in the air and get yourself some salt water action. There is a reason conservators use electrolysis for years to remove all the sodium ions from metal. Decades in the case of the USS Monitor.

Keep salt away from your tools and other rusty metal, unless you want to encourage future rust.

Salt causes rust due to the chloride cations. Sodium anions don't. Try to make a piece of iron rust in lye--sodium hydroxide--solution. It won't. Put some muriatic acid --HCl--on it and it starts rusting instantly.

 

[whateg01]

Has anybody else mixed up the citric acid recipe in that youtube video? I did a few weeks ago and it worked great. I had left a bit in a little container for future needs. I think it's growing stuff. Has anybody else experienced that? I put something in the tig torch coolant to keep from growing stuff, but I don't know if that will inhibit the effects of the chelation or will otherwise affect the metal or finishing of the metal when it's taken out.

 

[PCustoms]

Has anybody else mixed up the citric acid recipe in that youtube video?

There's been several threads about it

 

[whateg01]

There's been several threads about it

I don't recall anybody saying anything about stuff growing in it. Maybe I missed it. I guess I should have asked the question as "anybody who has mixed it up, did you encounter this?"

 

[Beerhippie]

I've been using the "You Tube Soup" for a couple of years now. Never had anything grow in it.

The one quirk I've encountered is that if you put anything containing copper--brass, bronze, etc, into it it does a great job of cleaning them. It's then a cold-copper plating solution for steel and iron--and not a very good one. Anything ferrous soaked in it after using it for copper will come out with blotchy, very difficult to remove copper plating.

 

[whateg01]

This is what I found. I know there were some globs of glue on the plastic grid I put in the bottom, so maybe it's some of that that has come off. I didn't touch it to see what it felt like. No, looking at the pic now, it looks like growth.

 

[RTM]

This is what I found. I know there were some globs of glue on the plastic grid I put in the bottom, so maybe it's some of that that has come off. I didn't touch it to see what it felt like. No, looking at the pic now, it looks like growth.

That's growing. My refrigerator has lots of examples some times.

 

[finn]

I'll make it easy for you. MUSTARD BAD! that's all you need to know. it is written.

You’re going to get run out of Chicago on a rail if you ask for Ketchup on your hot dog and forego the mustard.

Prime candidate for cement overshoes and a midnight trip to the ship canal.

One of my favorite hot dog eateries doesn’t even have ketchup on the premesis..

 

[Beerhippie]

I just pulled the lid off the bucket of sodium citrate solution--the You Tube rust remover--that I made up last summer. I haven't opened it in months.

It has large fungus colonies growing on it! Considering that this solution is contaminated with copper--a potent anti-fungal--I'd say that yep, stuff grows in it.

 

[PCustoms]

Sounds like you guys might want to consider a water test...

 

[whateg01]

Sounds like you guys might want to consider a water test...

I used ro water in mine.

Some of the tubing I soaked had dead leaves and spider webs up in it. Maybe that contributed?

I was just thinking about mixing up a 5 gallon bucket for a couple larger things I want to soak. Might hold off until I can do several jobs at once.

 

[FrankLee]

Has anybody else mixed up the citric acid recipe in that youtube video? I did a few weeks ago and it worked great. I had left a bit in a little container for future needs. I think it's growing stuff. Has anybody else experienced that? I put something in the tig torch coolant to keep from growing stuff, but I don't know if that will inhibit the effects of the chelation or will otherwise affect the metal or finishing of the metal when it's taken out.

There's been several threads about it

I commented about it a while back.

For a while now, I have been using pure Citric Acid for de-rusting parts. I find that it works better than vinegar, and just as well as Evaporust, but much, much cheaper.

I always keep CA in a sealed bucket. The only downside of CA I've discovered is that after it's mixed/used, it can't sit around for too long (~3 weeks) or a mold starts growing on the surface.

I normally use CA in smaller amounts in quart-size jars or smaller. I do reuse it a couple times. I don't use the "recipe", just straight CA and start a batch in HOT tap water. IMO, hot works better and faster. When I reuse a batch, I'll microwave the solution for a couple minutes.

 

[whateg01]

I commented about it a while back.

I normally use CA in smaller amounts in quart-size jars or smaller. I do reuse it a couple times. I don't use the "recipe", just straight CA and start a batch in HOT tap water. IMO, hot works better and faster. When I reuse a batch, I'll microwave the solution for a couple minutes.

Heat generally makes chemical reactions go faster, so that makes sense. I always found that heating evaporust made it work faster too. Some of the stuff I'm using this stuff on is pretty good sized. The pic is of a container with about 3 liters of stuff in it. The last job I used it on had some 3' long sections of tubing so I built a little box big enough to hold them and lined it with heavy plastic sheeting. Used about 2 gallons in that. I guess I could microwave it in small batches but I just set it up and let it do its thing overnight and that was generally good enough.

 

[dscheidt]

You’re going to get run out of Chicago on a rail if you ask for Ketchup on your hot dog and forego the mustard.

Prime candidate for cement overshoes and a midnight trip to the ship canal.

One of my favorite hot dog eateries doesn’t even have ketchup on the premesis..

As long as he's under 12, he's probably safe.

 

[whateg01]

I used benzotriazole, as does Thermal Dynamics, in my TIG torch coolant mix as an anti-algal. I wonder if it would negatively affect the sodium citrate. I think I'll try it on the next batch and see how it does.

 

[Snip's]

I've been using the "You Tube Soup" for a couple of years now. Never had anything grow in it.

The one quirk I've encountered is that if you put anything containing copper--brass, bronze, etc, into it it does a great job of cleaning them. It's then a cold-copper plating solution for steel and iron--and not a very good one. Anything ferrous soaked in it after using it for copper will come out with blotchy, very difficult to remove copper plating.

Same thing happened to me using Simple Green to degrease some electric motor cast iron end bells after having degreased some copper light fixtures... Pulled them out of solution a day later and saw this...
Need to be careful reusing contaminated copper solutions... (bucket of Simple Green in upper RH corner)

 

[sz0k30]

Just picked up a gallon of Evaporust at Menard's.

 

[drsung]

Anybody want to share their amazon parts list for the youtube concoction? I have the 3 gallon bucket of evaporust that is just about spent so I would like to try and replace it with the youtube soup.

 

[seber]

Anybody want to share their amazon parts list for the youtube concoction? I have the 3 gallon bucket of evaporust that is just about spent so I would like to try and replace it with the youtube soup.

I don't know about the Youtube soup but the proper ratio is 10 parts citric acid to 4 parts washing soda in water. Concentration is up to you.

 

[whateg01]

Anybody want to share their amazon parts list for the youtube concoction? I have the 3 gallon bucket of evaporust that is just about spent so I would like to try and replace it with the youtube soup.

Baking soda is way cheaper at the grocery store. 5# bag of citric acid of whatever brand pops up first and arrives in 2 days. There's not really any magic there.

 

[M.Brane]

The ratio we came up with (we being my math challenged self, and my girl with the PHD in biochemistry) is 100 g CA 65 g BS for 1 lt/qt. It works well, and I think it doesn't need to be that accurate. A bit of Dawn helps to break surface tension.

 

[Jacobs976]

Just to add another review, switched to citric solution recently because a gallon of evaporust a month wasn't viable for current projects.

It's the same process, chelation agent, so should work the same if neutralized and has been working just as well. Same smell(after first use, flat mountain dew beforehand), same sludge, same results.

Even looks the same if you mix it in a used container with some sludge that wouldn't wipe off because the citric will dissolve it while cleaning the container and apparently the green colour is quite potent when in sludge layer.

Probably the surfactant so coloured surfactants might be used if you prefer the pretty colours instead of clear. Dawn is low volume so no appreciable change but I think something more akin to jet might do fine in excess.

Edit: Forgot a part in my test batch for 3 weeks...still came out good.

 

[driftpin]

Naaahh….

Just express all of that in parts per million. Or maybe moles per liter.

"A most-excellent chelation liquid to clean my Bentley Speed Six open carriage," said Mr. Mole. "Ever since Mr. Avogadro gave me his number, my parts have become bright and clean! My competition at the Brooklands meet was most-envious!"

 

[M.Brane]

I've had good results re-using the solution after filtering it before storage. It works a little slower, but stuff can be soaking while you're doing other things.