Uses for sulphuric acid

[BigE]

I have some leftover from a new tractor battery install. I had some wheel cleaner years ago that had it as the active ingredient. Any other shop uses?

 

[Stuey]

Even though it was an active ingredient in the wheel cleaner that doesn't mean it's a good idea to use the pure acid for that purpose unless you know by how much to dilute it by. Just be safe.

 

[Weps]

unless you feel like using it to extract cocaine, there's not a whole lot of interesting or even practical stuff to do with it on a personal or consumer level.

 

[CitadelBlue]

Cleaning brick and cement walks, etching cement prior to painting?
-

 

[seagravedriver]

Cleaning brick and cement walks, etching cement prior to painting?
-

It works well for that!

 

[Alchymist]

Ingredient in anodizing aluminum....

 

[Jack Olsen]

I've used it to take mill scale off of steel. Handle it very carefully. Store it very carefully. Have lots of baking soda and water on hand when you're working with it.

Never add water to acid in order to dilute it, but add the acid (slowly and carefully) to the water.

By and large, it makes sense to avoid the stuff.

[Edit: I removed the suggestion that it can be used for clearing drains.]

 

[daveroy]

body disposal.

 

[9c1nova]

Many years ago I read how it was a good rust remover for auto sheet metal.
It does work, but in my opinion you can never get enough ventilation for it to be safe!!! Bad experience.
Like Jack said better to avoid using it.

 

[Slowboat]

I believe I pumped it through my old Volvo two cylinder "raw water cooled" (sea water run through the block for 30 years) diesel to try to restore it's cooling properties. It worked great!

 

[Gary S]

It will kill a stubborn tree stump simply by drilling holes in the stump and filling them with the acid. But, I'm betting this isn't EPA approved.

 

[George in Rancho Cordova]

IF you wish to dilute it, add the acid to water, not water to the acid.

That way you start with a weak solution that can be made stronger if needed.
Adding water to acid is more likely to cause catastrophic results.

 

[70redbee]

Get rid of it. There is no need for you to use it. If you do decide to keep it make sure you store it safely and use it only as directed.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thick gloves and a face shield, too. Keep all of your skin covered. And avoid the fumes as much as you can.

 

[LeonardY]

Thick gloves and a face shield, too. Keep all of your skin covered. And avoid the fumes as much as you can.

The fumes will burn your nasel passage and your throat. Goggles are highly recommended. Wear a properly fitted respirator, with the correct filters. Not a dust mask.

Personally, I would take to waste round up and not keep it. I remember my Godfather telling my dad to get rid of the stuff because the plastic containers will eventually fail.

 

[kams1973]

Cranksters use it for hydrogen generators

 

[Primitive Pete]

I keep it sealed on a out of the way but accessable shelf. I get it with my motorcycle and atv batteries. I need it to top them off once in a while.

 

[Garage5.9]

go cook some meth. j.k

 

[I can fix anything]

Get rid of it. There is no need for you to use it. If you do decide to keep it make sure you store it safely and use it only as directed.

Let's say a guy I know needs to get rid of some. How would I... I mean he get rid of it?

 

[justanengineer]

It works very nicely as a parts cleaner, and depending upon the strength, will also remove plating nicely too.

 

[slip knot]

Let's say a guy I know needs to get rid of some. How would I... I mean he get rid of it?

For a small amount I would nuetralize it with baking soda and water and run it down the drain. Larger amounts would probably be best to take to a hazardous waste clean up.

 

[LeonardY]

Let's say a guy I know needs to get rid of some. How would I... I mean he get rid of it?

I would look up or call you local trash company. They often have drop off locations for a limited amount of hazardous waste. Where I live they even have a limited number of home pickups. I called recently and setup a pickup. They would take up 10 gallons. I got rid of all the old paints, herbicides, and household cleaners. Including a gallon of phosheric acid that has been sitting for 4 years.
I noticed your in Texas. Austin had a and dropoff location. So I'm guessing wherever you are. Your county or city would have something similar.

 

[z28snksknr]

Enough good suggestions for safe use here already, so I'll jsut give a chemistry lesson on why you add the acid to water, not the other way around.

When acids / bases and water mix, heat is generated (called "heat of solution" in the chemical world) due to the acid or base separating from one compound (H2SO4 for sulfiric acid) into ionic compounds dissolved in water (H2+ and SO4- ions). The energy comes from breaking that bond. If you add the acid to the water, the large volume of water has a high heat capacity that can absorb a lot of the heat energy without boiling. You are also adding small amounts of acid over extended periods of time.

If you add water to acid, all of that acid will dissociate into ions at once, creating so much het energy that you could instantly boil the solution (explode).

Easy way to remember the right way: A&W Root Beer (Acid into Water)

 

[Frank The Plumber]

I've used it to take mill scale off of steel and to unclog stubborn drains that couldn't be snaked. Handle it very carefully. Store it very carefully. Have lots of baking soda and water on hand when you're working with it.

Never add water to acid in order to dilute it, but add the acid (slowly and carefully) to the water.

By and large, it makes sense to avoid the stuff.

One of my new customers called me to open up her bath tub drain.

She had gotten the advice to go to the home center store and buy some acid from a DIY web site. The site had told her to use Sulphuric acid and how fabulous it was. This site said nothing of the DANGER she was about to expose herself to.

She purchased a battery refill box of acid, hey. it said sulphuric acid on it. She took it home and poured it into her tub.

The explosion was violent, fortunately she had a shirt on and realized she had to get it off, her pretty face did not get burned but her right arm will need grafting. The worst part is her lungs and she spent about 2 weeks in the hospital under observation.

So along I come, to this disaster, to this woman in bandages home.

I see what has been done and can tell that although this acid has taken all of the ceramic off of the tub up to 4" up, that this mess is still relatively active. I tested it, very low ph.
I go to the local store and buy 50 boxes of baking soda, put on a rubber suit and gloves, hook up my remote air mask and put the 50 boxes in the tub.

I do a ph test sampling on the inert contents, bag it and replace the bath tub a few days later.

I asked her "Where the heck did you get this crazy idea to put this into you tub?" Some web site she says.

So I urge you to properly dispose of this acid so that it does not hurt you. There are really not many things that you can use it for. It can harm you badly.

And for any considering using it as a drain cleaner, please do not, it can really hurt you badly. She really is lucky that it didn't scar her face or damage her lungs worse.

Most readers just browse a post laziiy and will not read the details, just as Jack has pointed out, they just see the words Sulphuric acid / drain cleaner / works. And away they go.

I'm sure some guys will call me Nancy and insist that it's OK. IT"S NOT!

I only quoted Jack because he is suggesting the use as a drain cleaner and hoping he sees that the suggestion to use it as drain cleaner is not correct.

Oh i forgot to describe how all of the metal surfaces within the room had been acid etched and had now oxidized, that's how powerful the gas emission was of acid.

 

[Weps]

i'm going to reinforce frank's post. my initial comment on this acid's utility was rather quick and dismissive, but coming back to the thread i see reasons for concern.

sulfuric acid is not something to experiment with or keep on hand for household purposes. seriously. for every possible use posted in this thread, with the exception of cocaine extraction, there are far, far better and safer alternatives.

if you have not seen the damage acids can do, even in low concentrations, or watched it dissolve clothing, concrete, etc. it's hard to imagine how quickly and unexpectedly things can happen. if you are inclined to work with this stuff in any way, be sure you know exactly what you are doing and what can happen.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Those are very good points. I'm going to edit my post so that future readers (and casual skimmers) don't get it in their head to injure themselves (or the plumbers they call after messing up their DIY effort) by using sulfuric acid as a household chemical.

 

[Alchymist]

Comes down to the old adage that if you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Sulpheric acid is no more dangerous than any other substance IF HANDLED CORRECTLY. I can think of any number of substances (and tools) that are inherently dangerous if mis-handled. Anyone here own an oxy/acetylene torch? Very dangerous in the wrong hands. Radial arm or table saw? How about some of the electrical proposals that occur regularly - like back-feeding a generator through the dryer plug? Or perhaps brake cleaner? Need I go on?

 

[Weps]

i think the issue is that the potential for mishandling sulfuric acid, and the consequences, are dramatically greater than they are for most materials and objects a normal person - or even a mechanically inclined person, will encounter. the danger vectors are not obvious and by the time a person realizes they've screwed up, it's already too late.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Exactly. Very few homeowners are going to ever pick up a tank of acetylene or use a radial arm saw. But just about everybody gets drain clogs, and most of those people can figure out how to run a search on Google. And a certain percentage of them (higher than we'd like to think) will skim right to the 'answer...'

 

[glntom]

sulfuric acid can be used WITH MUCH CAUTION to acid port cast iron intake manifolds, exhaust manifolds, etc. in stock racing classes, or so I've been told Probably best left to the professionals though.

 

[Valk]

Let's say a guy I know needs to get rid of some. How would I... I mean he get rid of it?

Add a **** load of baking soda to it, and then dump it down the drain.

I can't believe anybody is really thinking of using pure sulfuric acid for anything.. the stuff is NASTY... it will maim you very easily. Just stay away, it's not worth it.

 

[mdbeck1]

Let's say a guy I know needs to get rid of some. How would I... I mean he get rid of it?

Call the fire department. They will know the best places to get rid of it.


As an aside I've us Muriatic acid to clean the drive before but I use a low strength and LOTS of water.

 

[Strouty]

The best way to get rid of it is to call around and find a battery distributor/ delaer, they will take it usually without a charge.

 

[digdug18]

Ingredient in anodizing aluminum....

Not the battery stuff, you need higher quality for annodizing, ie more potent sulphuric acid.

 

[mikeceli]

It's not what you don't know, that gets you.

It's what you don't know, you don't know, that gets you.



It's 0330 hours, I'm tired.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

I did a job at a freight terminal for a large trucking company. We installed a neutralization basin for battery acid. This basin was made of a product called DurIron, this product is cast iron impregnated with glass, fragile stuff and has special working precautions.

We ran the piping also in this specialty material and the oversized venting out the roof of the structure.

Internally this basin had a couple of blow back type baffles to keep reactions from re entering the building. We put about a half yard of crushed lime stone into it. The company that we sourced the basin from instructed us to call out a specialty company to remove the digested stone about every six months. We also had a test well on the outlet side of the unit. You needed to test and certify the discharge effluent every six months to make sure it was still working.

The funny thing about drain cleaners is that they don't work well. The acid never gets to the clog before it dilutes. Most clogs are hair, which bleach works on the best, but is also dangerous.

The trouble starts because the acid is applied, the acid can not get to the blockage and then of course you run the water to test the drain, and now you just uncontrollably poured water on acid. The type of acid will determine the reaction. Most commercially sold drain cleaning acids are chelated or diluted to a safe standard. Muriatic sulphuric or hydrochloric from a strange source are not going to be and you could get a face full and not be the person you were before you did this. I can smell what most people have done, if it stinks enough I get a box of soda and neutralize it. I have a few freckles from this.

I used a product called Liquid Fire or something, to clear a urinal in a factory once when I was a bit stupider. Urinals get clogged from those cakes, so I added a lot of this fire to the drain, man it got hot, you could not even touch it.
Well son of a gun if the damn doors in this wash room did not have a feature where the urinals flush when you open the door. Some poor sot comes in and the urinal flushes with this fire in there. That thing blew the hell out of that urinal. it cleaned it right off the wall like dynamite. I was picking glass out of my *** for a month and I was 15 feet away from it holding the guy out of the room. It actually knocked the partition off the floor from the toilet adjacent to it. The largest bit left of this urinal was 6"x 6".
I can not imagine what could happen to a handy guy or a house wife if they used this in their kitchen. I only got away from it because I knew that it was red hot and if it got water in it , it would explode. So this cat used one of his 9 that day.

I use no acid in drains at all now, just rod them. Never had a rod explode.

Thanks to every one for altering their comments so as to protect the un knowing.

 

[justanengineer]

Ive never used acid in a drain, but I dont pour chemicals other than soap into them period, which is a large reason why none of my family's various houses have ever needed septic pumping.

What we have done for years though, is use acid to clean engine parts safely and effectively. My father has had for 20+ years now a 5 gallon bucket of what I believe to be hydrochloric acid (best guess of a college chemistry teacher due to the "pollutants" being dissolved in). He was given it years ago already rather dirty, and long since forgotten what he was told it was, but it is STRONG to say the least. Whenever we need serious or complicated parts cleaning, we wrap a piece of baling wire around the part, and let it soak overnight. Personally I find it the easiest method of carburetor cleaning. We are extremely carefull about spilling/splashing etc, use PPE, and always follow the soak with a thorough water rinse. We are also very careful in that the acid will dissolve any non metal surface rather quickly including gaskets, plastic parts, rubber etc. I also have used pure muriatic acid myself to remove chrome and plating for replating. While I do agree that acids are dangerous, so are lifts, power tools, and many of the other things we use around the garage. Personally I believe that many of you are overreacting by insisting the OP get rid of the acid. I say get the proper PPE, be careful, and use it up.

 

[BigE]

I am well aware of the potential dangers of this stuff. I don't treat it haphazardly. I have some leftover and the only two applications I can think of, I have no use for. Just looking for other uses I may not be aware of. None of the applications mentioned so far have been something I want/need to do. So I'll either neutralize it and toss it or take it to a disposal site.
Thanks for all of the input, everyone!

 

[sneakyfast]

One of my new customers called me to open up her bath tub drain.

She had gotten the advice to go to the home center store and buy some acid from a DIY web site. The site had told her to use Sulphuric acid and how fabulous it was. This site said nothing of the DANGER she was about to expose herself to.

She purchased a battery refill box of acid, hey. it said sulphuric acid on it. She took it home and poured it into her tub.

The explosion was violent, fortunately she had a shirt on and realized she had to get it off, her pretty face did not get burned but her right arm will need grafting. The worst part is her lungs and she spent about 2 weeks in the hospital under observation.

So along I come, to this disaster, to this woman in bandages home.

I see what has been done and can tell that although this acid has taken all of the ceramic off of the tub up to 4" up, that this mess is still relatively active. I tested it, very low ph.
I go to the local store and buy 50 boxes of baking soda, put on a rubber suit and gloves, hook up my remote air mask and put the 50 boxes in the tub.

I do a ph test sampling on the inert contents, bag it and replace the bath tub a few days later.

I asked her "Where the heck did you get this crazy idea to put this into you tub?" Some web site she says.

So I urge you to properly dispose of this acid so that it does not hurt you. There are really not many things that you can use it for. It can harm you badly.

And for any considering using it as a drain cleaner, please do not, it can really hurt you badly. She really is lucky that it didn't scar her face or damage her lungs worse.

Most readers just browse a post laziiy and will not read the details, just as Jack has pointed out, they just see the words Sulphuric acid / drain cleaner / works. And away they go.

I'm sure some guys will call me Nancy and insist that it's OK. IT"S NOT!

I only quoted Jack because he is suggesting the use as a drain cleaner and hoping he sees that the suggestion to use it as drain cleaner is not correct.

Oh i forgot to describe how all of the metal surfaces within the room had been acid etched and had now oxidized, that's how powerful the gas emission was of acid.

So did it clear her drain?

 

[v7guy]

I dilute it and use it to remove galvanized coating on free pipes before I weld on them, works great.
You do have to rinse the pipe and neutralize it before disposing of, but if your careful and use proper protection it's a useful tool.