Home made "Evaporust" formula

[fizzy]

I made up 100 litres of this stuff that I keep in a 200-litre oil drum. I just lower the parts into the liquid on baler twine. The original batch has been in use for about nine months now with no appreciable loss of effectiveness.

I use cheap dishsoap as a surfactant and have had no salt / rust issues.

No fungal / bacterial growths either.

What is the drum made of?

 

[Bouledogue]

What is the drum made of?

Hey @fizzy

It is just a standard 50-gallon / 200 litre steel oil drum. The type with the detachable clamp-on lid.

 

[fizzy]

Hey @fizzy

It is just a standard 50-gallon / 200 litre steel oil drum. The type with the detachable clamp-on lid.

Wont the acid dissolve the drum? Or have you got the mix pretty ph neutral?

 

[Dapph2]

It isn't a really bad idea to use fairy liquid. Firstly they do not contain NaCl.
You have to wash the part with water afterwards anyway. I then give them a squirt of wd40. It seems to cling to the metal better and even parts I did a month ago are still shiny. No rust at all has formed.

WD 40 being an penetrating oil amongst other claims , itl acts as a water dispersant as it creeps under the water .
I've still got 4 litres of the 5 litre batch we made Fizzy Stored outside it's survived minus 4 oC a few times didn't appear to freeze and still works well .


I de rusted the bed of a milled flat jigsaw machine , it cleaned up a treat , then two hours after washing it off and drying it , it picked up the start of a golden rust bloom .

Gave the bed another wipe down with our treatment on some old toweling , this time washed of with a clean warm watered cloth , then dried it off on another bit of toweling then gave it a spray WD 40 over the bed which I rubbed in with a new bit of cloth .
Three weeks on , no rust showing at all .

 

[Dapph2]

cheapest I can find on Amazon is £5 for 500g - includes delivery though. Not many on there and couldnt find any on Ebay!

Find a janitorial supply company , I got 5kg of caustic soda pearls for about £10 inc delivery some 10 yrs ago

 

[Bouledogue]

Wont the acid dissolve the drum? Or have you got the mix pretty ph neutral?

I worried about that too when I first made it up, @fizzy , but it hasn't done anything exciting so far. Indeed, the food-safe paint inside the drum (it contained fruit-pulp before-hand) is still intact.

I've got dozens of drums so I can just swap it out if it ever starts to degrade.

 

[fizzy]

I worried about that too when I first made it up, @fizzy , but it hasn't done anything exciting so far. Indeed, the food-safe paint inside the drum (it contained fruit-pulp before-hand) is still intact.

I've got dozens of drums so I can just swap it out if it ever starts to degrade.

Ahh there is your answer! The drum is lined! Not a good idea to put such a mix into a bare steel drum

 

[rtcosic]

I worried about that too when I first made it up, @fizzy , but it hasn't done anything exciting so far. Indeed, the food-safe paint inside the drum (it contained fruit-pulp before-hand) is still intact.

I've got dozens of drums so I can just swap it out if it ever starts to degrade.

Citric acid-safe then. An important piece of information you kept close to your chest!

 

[Bouledogue]

Ahh there is your answer! The drum is lined! Not a good idea to put such a mix into a bare steel drum

We'll all be doomed if I get lemon juice on the floor...

More seriously, the stuff is pretty innocuous. I had a little taste and it's no more unpleasant than a mouthful of shampoo in the shower.

 

[bigegg]

We'll all be doomed if I get lemon juice on the floor...

More seriously, the stuff is pretty innocuous. I had a little taste and it's no more unpleasant than a mouthful of shampoo in the shower.

The main problem with using an uncoated steel drum is that it reacts with the acid and reduces the efficacy of the mixture.

 

[Bouledogue]

The main problem with using an uncoated steel drum is that it reacts with the acid and reduces the efficacy of the mixture.

That's interesting. I didn't know that. Thank you. I had assumed that the mix should be relatively neutral and that it worked by chelation with the iron oxide rather than by acid reacting with the rust / steel. I'm no chemist so it is good to learn!

 

[fizzy]

The main problem with using an uncoated steel drum is that it reacts with the acid and reduces the efficacy of the mixture.

Yes exactly.

 

[fizzy]

That's interesting. I didn't know that. Thank you. I had assumed that the mix should be relatively neutral and that it worked by chelation with the iron oxide rather than by acid reacting with the rust / steel. I'm no chemist so it is good to learn!

Ph is still fairly low - not quite in the pickle onion territory though

 

[Misterg]

That's interesting. I didn't know that. Thank you. I had assumed that the mix should be relatively neutral and that it worked by chelation with the iron oxide rather than by acid reacting with the rust / steel.

I'm pretty sure it does work that way. It has very little effect on actual metal (something that's tested in the original video).

 

[Turbo]

Why not use a plastic barrel?

 

[Bouledogue]

Why not use a plastic barrel?

Because I have a pile of several-dozen metal ones...