Lou wrote on Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:34:55 GMT:

??>> In article >,
??>> Lou Decruss > wrote:

??>> Dunno about you folk in the USA, but here in Oz you could
??>> damn near drink any HCl you can buy in household retail
??>> outlets. Now, if you were talking conc H2SO4 or fuming
??>> HNO3 from a lab supply company, I'd have to agree :-)
??>>
??>> Cheers, Phred.

LD> The bottle of muriatic acid I have says "20 baume (31.45%)"
LD> I don't know what that means, but I do know it's used to
LD> etch concrete and clean bricks. It's also used to clean
LD> acid rain stains from old brown and graystone buildings.
LD> Most professionals don't like to use it because it is so
LD> strong it make the stones degrade. When I was a kid I
LD> worked after school cleaning office buildings. We'd use a
LD> few ounces in the toilets once a month to make them look
LD> brand new. Even that small amount made the air nasty. I
LD> once used too much and the fumes discolored the chrome
LD> toilet paper holders. When you pour in on concrete it
LD> bubbles and smokes. I use it to clean my boat and once in
LD> a long while, our toilets. I don't remember what the
LD> project was, but I learned it will eat through rubber
LD> gloves.

LD> It's nothing for someone in a wheelchair to play with in an
LD> enclosed space.

We disagree on fumes obviously. IMHO, HCl as bought has an odor
but not a very strong one but no-one puts it in a wine glass and
sniffs to discuss the vintage :-) Of course it will dissolve
concrete, mortar and limestone but concentrated sulfuric and
nitric acids are much more dangerous. Damage on skin contact
with them is instantaneous. In one of my summer jobs I saw the
laborers frequently clean sodium alginate from their rubber
gloves with the acid while wearing them. Skin contact is not a
disaster so long as water is available for rinsing.

With acids, it depends a lot on the strength. If you think about
it, the acid of vinegar, acetic acid, is dangerous and nothing
to fool around with when concentrated.Toilet cleaners are often
strongly acidic even if they are not hydrochloric acid, the
commonly used sodium hydrogen sulfate is pretty acid too! A lot
of things require care in their use.


James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not