Uses for Oxalic acid?

[stephen_h]

I have brought some Oxalic acid powder to clean our hulls.

I will have plenty left over so was wondering what else I can use it for?

I know I can clean wood which I will do on our kitchen worktop at home,
and a bit on the boat, but can I use it for cleaning the hypalon dinghy (rather than MEK)
or to de-scale the toilet and holding tank?

Any other uses??

 

[oldgit]

I use it to remove rust stains from stainless.

 

[Humblebee]

Can't think of any other uses but it keeps indefinitely, good for cleaning staining off hulls, brightening up woodwork and cleaning stainless as mentioned by Oldgit.
Keep it for next season or share it around!

 

[Aquaboy]

"Bar Keepers Friend" from Lakeland Plastics or maybe Tesco. £2.99 for a little bottle, Brilliant for removing rust stains from anything. Will certainly clean a deck wonderfully and the brown stain around the waterline. I just did my blue spray hood, made up a paste of washing powder and a table spoonful of the product and scrubbed it on. Left for the rain to rinse off. Has come up fine.

 

[pvb]

"Bar Keepers Friend" from Lakeland Plastics or maybe Tesco. £2.99 for a little bottle, Brilliant for removing rust stains from anything. Will certainly clean a deck wonderfully and the brown stain around the waterline. I just did my blue spray hood, made up a paste of washing powder and a table spoonful of the product and scrubbed it on. Left for the rain to rinse off. Has come up fine.

Bar Keeper's Friend contains oxalic acid, but it's a rather expensive way of buying it.

 

[Poignard]

In France oxalic acid is readily available in supermarkets and bricolage stores, even in towns away from the coast, which suggests it is widely used for domestic purposes as well as cleaning boats

 

[RJJ]

It's the recommended-by-Volvo product for mucking out the coolant system. 300g of oxalic acid in ordinary water, run engine up to temperature; then replace with a solution of bicarb of soda; then three times fresh water flush. Finally replace with new coolant.

This procedure enables you to switch safely from yellow to green coolant, should you wish. Otherwise they disagree with each other and gum up, as I have been advised.

 

[VicS]

It's the recommended-by-Volvo product for mucking out the coolant system. 300g of oxalic acid in ordinary water, run engine up to temperature; then replace with a solution of bicarb of soda; then three times fresh water flush. Finally replace with new coolant.

This procedure enables you to switch safely from yellow to green coolant, should you wish. Otherwise they disagree with each other and gum up, as I have been advised.

Other way actually. It's the cleaning procedure recommended if switching from green to yellow ( Parts bulletin P-18-4 5 01 )

 

[ashtead]

I imagine useful for cleaning green off patio if diluted like patio magic?

 

[coopec]

4 Uses for Oxalic Acid

 

[Mistroma]

I imagine useful for cleaning green off patio if diluted like patio magic?

The active ingredient in Patio Magic is a quaternary ammonium salt and will kill bacteria, moulds, algae etc. and doesn't work in a similar manner to oxalic acid. Quite low concentrations will kill growth on a patio.

Some Patio cleaners contain hydrochloric acid which is a lot stronger than oxalic acid (in more ways than one ). Oxalic acid would be a lot less effective than either Patio Magic or hydrochloric acid in their respective cleaning methods.

Much better to save your oxalic acid for other uses and get Patio Magic or hydrochloric acid based cleaners for the specific type of grot on your patio.

 

[BobnLesley]

Cleaning motorcycle wheels - Oxalic acid is the active ingredient in 'Wonderwheels' and the like and @ £5/kilo the last time I bought any, you can provide ten years' supply for the whole motorcycle club for the cost of one bottle of Wonderwheels . Cleaning the boat's teak too, as similarly, the active ingredient in teak cleaners is oxalic.
The only downside is in its transportation: If your the bag containing the oxalic is checked/searched by Customs Officers when you fly back to the boat, you will suffer something of a delay to your journey; those boys and girls appear to get quite excited when they come across a kilo bag of white powder.

 

[coopec]

Just be careful what you mix it with as it may explode.

Sciencemadness Discussion Board - So much oxalic acid - what to do with it? - Powered by XMB 1.9.11

 

[stephen_h]

4 Uses for Oxalic Acid

Looks like I could use it for descaling the toilet since it doesn't effect plastic

 

[VicS]

Looks like I could use it for descaling the toilet since it doesn't effect plastic

I would choose an acid whose calcium ( and magnesium ) salts are more soluble

 

[scotty123]

"Bar Keepers Friend" from Lakeland Plastics or maybe Tesco. £2.99 for a little bottle, Brilliant for removing rust stains from anything. Will certainly clean a deck wonderfully and the brown stain around the waterline. I just did my blue spray hood, made up a paste of washing powder and a table spoonful of the product and scrubbed it on. Left for the rain to rinse off. Has come up fine.

Washing Powder is usually alkali, so doubt the success was down to the oxalic acid.

 

[scotty123]

I would choose an acid whose calcium ( and magnesium ) salts are more soluble

Nitric works.

 

[Bobc]

Do you like your MiL......

 

[ctva]

Apart from the explosive idea above (could be fun to experiment), are there any downsides to using oxalic acid?

 

[Hydrozoan]

I would choose an acid whose calcium ( and magnesium ) salts are more soluble

Yes - I see that calcium oxalate crystals (in urine) are the most common constituent of kidney stones.