Cheap alternative to Evaporust

Citric acid 100g/liter+
Na Carbonate 40g/lliter (or Na Bicarb 63g or NaOH 30g)
Dish soap to taste.

He did not address whether it would keep in storage?
 
I saw this a couple of weeks ago and ordered the chemicals. I tried the concoction yesterday and it does indeed seem to work as well as Evaporust. It stripped all the rust off of a bunch of rusty nuts and bolts in about an hour. I hope it lasts longer than Evaporust but that remains to be seen. Even if it has the same life, it is a lot cheaper. I spent about $30 for enough chemicals to make about 6 gallons. I didn't check the ph but I will do a test to see if it erodes some thin steel, shim stock.
Oh, I used 10g of Sodium Laurel Sulfate instead of dish soap, I might use even less in the next batch as it was quite soapy.
 
Definitely worth a shot. Amazon has citric acid for $7.50/lb with free shipping for Prime members. Washing soda, aka sodium carbonate can be purchased locally at grocery stores or hardware stores. as can caustic soda, aka sodium hydroxide.

A caution if using sodium hydroxide. It gives off a lot of heat when dissolved in water and presumably more so when dissolved in a citric acid solution so add slowly to cold water or acid solution and as always, use PPE. If sodum hydroxide comes in contact with skin, it dissolves it. That slippery feeling is your skin sloughing off. If you accidentally come in contact, rinse immediately with copious amounts of water. The citric acid is a good neutralizer.
 
RJSakowski said:
A caution if using sodium hydroxide.
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Why use sodium hydroxide, though? He gives the recipe for sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate as well (4m12s). The latter is common as dirt in the US. Modest ventilation vs. melting skin seems like an easy decision to me.
 
Rex Walters said:
Why use sodium hydroxide, though? He gives the recipe for sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate as well (4m12s). The latter is common as dirt in the US. Modest ventilation vs. melting skin seems like an easy decision to me.
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He is essentially making disodium citrate. I would use the sodium hydroxide because I happen to have it in house. It tends to be less expensive than the sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate. I intend to try this out and would like to see what effect pH has on the efficacy. disodium citrate has a pH of around 5 6 while trisodium citrate, also known a sodium citrate has a pH of 7 - 9.

By the way, washing soda will also dissolve skin so if you choose that option, the same PPE cautions apply.
 
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