Using hydrochloric acid in the toilets

snooks said:
watching the birds swooping down to the water around you, then pouring a load of acid into the sea:(
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That's an emotive statement, but not a logical one. The sea contains calcium salts in solution, including carbonates and chlorides, as well as a little carbonic acid. That's exactly where much of the scale came from. HCl poured into the sea converts some of the carbonates into chlorides, adds a tiny amount of carbonic acid and some water. It is not a pollutant. It returns the scale to the sea where it came from. It incidentally occurs as a natural acid in your stomach at between 0.5% and 1% solution.
Do nature a favour.......Just pump more and avoid the problem in the first place :rolleyes:
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In warmer climates, pumping more doesn't work. The rate of evaporation is too high
Obviously if it's going into a holding tank that's alright innit, I mean there's no way that's going into the sea is there :)
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Aw, come off it . . . some fishes live off the stuff. Just watch the solid masses of mullet boiling around sewage pipe exits in the sea waiting for the next feast . . .

And I don't think whales and dolphins can afford holding tanks either . . .
 
JimB

I wish I'd paid more attention in chemistry at school.

Now I feel EVEN BETTER about cleaning my heads plumbing with Hcl.

...and yes, everything that lives in the sea craps in the sea. :)
 
Billjratt said:
If your equipment is in good condition, agua fuerte can work miracles - even right down the out-going pipe. Just get it in there, pump it gently down until the system is full, then go to the side of the boat and watch the fun.
There is one caveat, however. If the calcium is sealing any cracks or other gaps in the system you will have some repair work to do. Any signs of cracking or crazing on plastic pumps, spigots etc. would mean caution or a different method - or replacement...
If you're a big fearty, and don't like acid - use coke (not diet) and leave for longer.
Of course if you gave it the correct number of strokes in the first place, you wouldn't have the problem.
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I started using this last year, but was disappointed not to see big eruptions from below. I presume this means that there is no noticeable build up? We do at least 30 pumps everytime, on the basis that nothing is left in the system to Calcite. Crews always moan like hell initially, are told that over the side is the alternative if they don't pump!
 
VicS said:
For the purposes being discussed I would tend to dilute it to give something around 5% HCl. Less for light scaling. Perhaps more for very heavy scaling provided I was happy nothing could be damaged.
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And remember if diluting concentrated acid to add the acid TO the water and not water to the acid...... I think if I remember my chemistry for 45 years ago
 
remember if diluting concentrated acid to add the acid TO the water and not water to the acid...... I think if I remember my chemistry for 45 years ago
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Not really a problem with Hydrochloric acid - however, an essential precaution when diluting Sulphuric acid. In any case, wearing eye protection when dealing with any concentrated acid is a sensible precaution.

It does, however, attack aluminium, so keep it away from alloy toerails or cleats.
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Hydrochloric acid doesn't attack aluminium - however, the also-mentioned caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide) most certainly does...
 
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Chris_Robb said:
And remember if diluting concentrated acid to add the acid TO the water and not water to the acid...... I think if I remember my chemistry for 45 years ago
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Very important if diluting concentrated sulphuric acid therefore a good rule to adopt. Cooling also very advisable

Wise also when diluting concentrated hydrochloric acid . You get a lot of fumes if you add water to the concentrated acid although nothing like as much heat is produced.
 
VicS said:
Very important if diluting concentrated sulphuric acid therefore a good rule to adopt. Cooling also very advisable

Wise also when diluting concentrated hydrochloric acid . You get a lot of fumes if you add water to the concentrated acid although nothing like as much heat is produced.
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Ah those were the days... Beaker of Toluene, burette of conc Nitric acid, loads of Ice............. don't run out of ice.....
 
Chris_Robb said:
Ah those were the days... Beaker of Toluene, burette of conc Nitric acid, loads of Ice............. don't run out of ice.....
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Substitute glycerine for toluene and you can really end up with a problem .... or so I am lead to believe.
 
jimbaerselman said:
I suspect it may be more effective to ask seasickness sufferers to laugh into the porcelain megaphone . . . using their stomach HCl (1% or so) to solve the problem.
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PBO money-saving tip of the month! ;->

(Anyone remember Libby's column about brushing teeth using a mug and chucking overboard, lest the used toothpaste blocks the heads sink?)
 
Chris_Robb said:
My 1924 encyclopaedic Britannica gives very detailed instructions on Mr Nobe'ls process. Much more unstable.....
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Surely what Nobel discovered were ways of rendering explosives more stable, initially by absorbing nitroglycerine into kieselguhr to make Dynamite, and then going on to develop Gelignite.
 
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