Hydroflouric acid/ Larry L

chirobob

New Member
I am thinking about adding HF acid in my brickcleaning proccess you boys seem to deal with this nasty all the time. At what concentration do you buy it at and at what conc. do you find it safe to use at. I was thinking 1 - 2 % for safety reasons, any thoughts or advice would be extremely appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Jason
 

chirobob

New Member
Thanks Steve,
I'm already using 33% HCL but on some jobs I am getting a white insoluble haze appearing, that we over here call "white Scum" that HCL won't move(definately not efflouressence). There are chems. on the marketthat have a 33% HCL, 1% HF and 0.55 citric acid mix to over come the white scum. So I need an acid that is a stronger ionzer than HCL. I did a few cham calculations last night and worked out the 1% HF is the equivelent of 48% HCL so it is much stronger. This problem is caused by one of the mortars they use over here that is called Brighton lite which is highly reactive as far as curing.
Cheers Jason
By the way I took your advice on the pressure sprayer to apply the acid- it works well. But I am yet to find a suitable sprayer that can handle the I acid- the plastic seems to go brittle and snap fittings all the time- I was thinking of trying a Hudson stainless steel model that has brass fittings- what are your thoughts on this. Thanks for the info
 

chirobob

New Member
yes its sorta waxy rubberyish???? You can't see it when the wall is wet, but when it dries it hazes right up. What type/brand/model of sprayer do you use, if I know a brand and model I might be able to source it here. I tried Hardi as well, who said their models could handle it.....snap...snap. Well they couldn't, at least they admitted they were wrong and gave me a refund. Do you have any ideas on the haze?
Regards
Jason
 
P

paul-uk

Guest
what for dan.....give us a clue......i have just looked
 

Larry L.

PWN TEAM - Moderator Emeritus
Jason,throw away the pumpup sprayers,they are dangous when using acid.Most will leak after a few uses,you DO NOT want NO type ACID on you,no matter how weak you make it.

The Flo-Jet 12v pumps are safer to use and will last a long time if took care of.Not only that but they do a better job appling and are several seveval times faster.

The best way for me to tell you how strong or weak to make it is,make it strong/weak enough to do each job.

Flo-jet or sur-flow (spelling)12v pumps is the only way to go,longer hose,longer wand keeps the overspray off you.
 

oneness

New Member
Larry:

Not being familliar with the workings of a Flo-jet, I can only guess at how they're set up...my question is, what happens if you have a fitting break, or a hose leak, etc? Will the pump spray acid all over the place, or does it have some sort of safety measure to prevent this?
 

Larry L.

PWN TEAM - Moderator Emeritus
Yes,if the break is after the output it will spray on you or whatever but.If you keep a eye on your fittings/hose you catch most leaks/breaks before they happen.If you see your hose is starting to show BAD wear or fittings looking a little on the weak side change them.These pumps are ondan" pumps,you pull the tripper it sprays,let off the trigger and it stops.I use 1/4 in hp hose from the reel out to the gun,its rated 3000 psi and my flo-jet is rated at 95 psi,see what I mean.
 

oneness

New Member
Ah, gotcha! I'm envisioning something a bit more flimsy. I'd be a bit more confident with what you're describing.
 

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