# Alternative to muriatic acid



## kwalker (Feb 27, 2011)

I was looking around at getting some muratic acid for lighter cases of sick glass and I found this "replacement" for Muriatic Acid. What do you guys think? It says it doesn't burn, fume, and is equally powerful to conventional Muratic Acid.

http://www.spadepot.com/shop/Acid-Magic---Muriatic-Acid-Replacement-P662C634.aspx


----------



## JOETHECROW (Feb 27, 2011)

Sounds like a pleasant compromise if it works,...worth a try.


----------



## GuntherHess (Feb 27, 2011)

Muriatic acid wont fix sick (eroded surface) glass. It can help with lime, rust, and other stains.
 I always have muriatic around because I use it to clean brick and stone. It seems safe enough with reasonable precautions.

 Do they say whats in that stuff? I see a skull and crossbones on it so it must not be a citrus cleaner.


----------



## cyberdigger (Feb 27, 2011)

It's hydrochloric acid.. not a big difference, just weaker.. might as well save money and dilute the muriatic with water..


----------



## GuntherHess (Feb 27, 2011)

Muriatic is the traditional (common) name for Hydrochloric Acid , its the same thing. 
 If they are selling hydrochloric then it seems like they are just heavily diluting it.  Safer maybe , but less economic as you are paying for mostly water. The label seems a bit missleading too since it is apparently muratic acid?


----------



## cyberdigger (Feb 27, 2011)

Looks like 10% HCl/muriatic, 90% water.. the claim to be equally strong is bugging me.. maybe if you soak it 10 days instead of 1 day..? [8|]


----------



## GuntherHess (Feb 27, 2011)

Having collected patent medicines for a few years words like "magic" always get my attention.
 The product is probably fine if you want some pre diluted muriatic for around the house.
 Would probably do the same job on bottles , just a bit slower.


----------



## kwalker (Feb 27, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  cyberdigger
> 
> the claim to be equally strong is bugging me..


 
 Agreed. I was confused at first; acids that strong usually will burn your skin, and more or less likely make some nice fumes in the process. To come up with some sort of alternative other than diluting it is unlikely to me in this age.


----------



## Wheelah23 (Feb 27, 2011)

Where do they sell muriatic acid anyway? I've got a few stained bottles that I'd like to try it on.


----------



## kwalker (Feb 27, 2011)

Lowes, Home Depot, ACE...you name it


----------



## Plumbata (Feb 28, 2011)

Yo cyber, where did you find the 10% HCL claim? If that is all it contains then they are pretty lame. If you are just going off the "90% less fumes" indicating it is 10% the strength of muriatic, then it would be 3.145% HCL.

 I was thinking that it might have a mixture of HCL, plus Glacial Acetic acid and perhaps some Phosphoric acid for good measure. Maybe it is just weak HCL and high-strength Vinegar (acetic) which at a concentration of around 30 - 50%, would probably freeze at around the freezing point they claim. It is a weak acid and doesn't ionize completely at any given time so regardless of the concentration the reaction would be slower than HCL alone, even if eventually it was just as effective.

  It may not work as quickly, but the reactive power mol/Magic acid  mixture per mol/unwanted salt deposits would probably be equivalent to  the 31.45% HCL of Muriatic, and it wouldn't fume.

 Glacial acetic is cheap. If you want a HCL replacement just buy a bottle of the pure off eBay instead of this overpriced junk. Otherwise just use good ole hardware store HCL. I've spilled the undiluted stuff on myself several times and am none-the-worse for the wear (gotta rinse quickly though hehe).


----------



## appliedlips (Feb 28, 2011)

The works toilet bowl cleaner, available just about anywhere will do the trick.


----------



## d12016466 (Mar 1, 2011)

I'm not an expert on glass but I cleaned alot of artifacts I found on shipwrecks with great success. Once I was soaking some ferrous metals in a bath of water and sodium hydroxide 50/50, I put some old bottles in to prop up the artifacts,came back 2 days latter and the bottles where very clean. so now I soak my bottles in sodium hydroxide. The stuff is alot safer than muriatic acid and when I'm finished it works great on my sewer..........dave


----------

