Sulphamic Acid - Mix ratio and exposure

cliveshelton

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Adopted by IUPAC IN 1990 but accepted by the Royal Society of Chemistry relatively recently.

RSC adopted in 1992 IIRC. I was not consulted ( I'm a proud Fellow) but hey ho!

1) citric acid won't be any good for this application, it's not strong enough
2) sulphamic acid (approx 20% w/w) will work slowly and much better if hot
3) hydrochloric acid (approx 10% v/v) will work best even when cold. Don't use hot, it fumes dangerously and eats lungs. Watch out for the copious fizzing.
4) sulfuric (sic) acid LEAVE WELL ALONE PLEASE. THIS ACID IS NOT FOR YOU (at least not the conc. stuff)
 

RichardS

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RSC adopted in 1992 IIRC. I was not consulted ( I'm a proud Fellow) but hey ho!

1) citric acid won't be any good for this application, it's not strong enough
2) sulphamic acid (approx 20% w/w) will work slowly and much better if hot
3) hydrochloric acid (approx 10% v/v) will work best even when cold. Don't use hot, it fumes dangerously and eats lungs. Watch out for the copious fizzing.
4) sulfuric (sic) acid LEAVE WELL ALONE PLEASE. THIS ACID IS NOT FOR YOU (at least not the conc. stuff)

Many thanks Clive. :)

Apart from the weird spelling of sulphuric (and I ain't changing that ...... ever!) this thread is now at peace. :encouragement:

Richard
 

drakes drum

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RSC adopted in 1992 IIRC. I was not consulted ( I'm a proud Fellow) but hey ho!

1) citric acid won't be any good for this application, it's not strong enough
2) sulphamic acid (approx 20% w/w) will work slowly and much better if hot
3) hydrochloric acid (approx 10% v/v) will work best even when cold. Don't use hot, it fumes dangerously and eats lungs. Watch out for the copious fizzing.
4) sulfuric (sic) acid LEAVE WELL ALONE PLEASE. THIS ACID IS NOT FOR YOU (at least not the conc. stuff)

Any idea of the chemical composition of the scale deposits in a toilet pipe? Is it all carbonates?
 

cliveshelton

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Any idea of the chemical composition of the scale deposits in a toilet pipe? Is it all carbonates?

Dependant on what goes down the WC. If just "natural products" and sea water, the deposits will be predominantly carbonates and chlorides. In any case, to descale, HCl will sort it out. Treat regularly and flush through with fresh water well to rinse the acid through (we use the heads shower head at the end of each trip). In my experience it's best not to leave sea water in the WC.
 

ex-Gladys

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Dependant on what goes down the WC. If just "natural products" and sea water, the deposits will be predominantly carbonates and chlorides. In any case, to descale, HCl will sort it out. Treat regularly and flush through with fresh water well to rinse the acid through (we use the heads shower head at the end of each trip). In my experience it's best not to leave sea water in the WC.

I would guess mainly the mix above... but I can tell you, when struggling to remove the old bog on Saturday and getting all the little showers of muck from the pipe as it found another little bit that was still there, it's very smelly after 11 years!

And why oh why is the space where you have to work in so cramped! Glasses falling away from eyes, cos head has to be upside down to see! Still all I've got left to do in the dismantling is remove the hoses from the seacocks, before mantling the new hoses (Vetus posh stuff, so I hope it's going to behave nicely) and new bog...
 
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