Oxalic Acid

M

MR ALAN

Member
I have heard that Oxalic Acid can remove rust stains from Concrete and work as a brightener too.
I tried it, and had no luck. Sprinkled it on, brushed it in and let it dwell for a bit. No luck.
What, if anything did I do wrong? Why do others have such good luck, and I did not?
 
Alan

did you do this to a dry surface?
I use warm water to mix my acid with and apply with a pump-up sprayer.
I never heard of anyone useing it the way you do.
Have you ever checked out WHITE OX brand rust removers?
Have you tried a week solution of HF acid followed by a soap?
 
Ron,

did you do this to a dry surface?

<B> Yes and to a wet one also</B>

I use warm water to mix my acid with and apply with a pump-up sprayer.

<B> Was told not to use warm water as it would make it clumpy. Will use the pump up next time, any advice on how much powder to a gallon of water?</B>

I never heard of anyone useing it the way you do.

<B> Saw this online somewhere</B>


Have you ever checked out WHITE OX brand rust removers?

<B> Heard of it, but it is not readily available around here, may try it one day</B>

Have you tried a week solution of HF acid followed by a soap?

<B> I am in CA , so no HF here. Tried Muriatic on my own driveway, just to see what all the hype was about and it only worked when I used it straight. I would rather leave the rust there than to do this. Have tried a lot of so called rust removers and no luck on concrete. Even tried Lysol Bowl Cleaner, but was not impressed by that either. </B>


Thank you for the reply
 
Oxalic

WIth wood, the ratio is approx. 48 oz. of powder for 5 gallons. I would almost do approx. 1 1/2 that on stubborn concrete stains. This seems to work best with me. Also warm water and a pump up is what I like the best. Dont forget if you use too much oxalic ....it just wont disolve and you can reuse whats left, but if you don use enough, you will waste your oxalic by not being able to penetrate the rust. OOPs ...also it will take a little bit to disolve the rust. Make sure it stays wet in order to work.

Hope that helps !
 
Well, two replies and they both say warm water and a pump up. I will give it a try tomorrow night. Thank you for the help guys.
 
White OX

IS AVAIL. THREW ENVIROSPEC if interested.
It said not to get it on glass so im guessing it contains muratic acid,HF acid,or a very high PH acid.
$30 for 5 gal plus shipping.
Just mix the oxalic acid heavy and try it.
may need a couple of times with 5 min dwell in between.
 
Ron,
I know where to get the White Ox, but since they have such a limited distribution area, I am weary of spending the money for it. I will mix it heavy with warm water in the pump up tonight and see how it does. This was a sample from a friend, who has the same problems as I do. Heard it was good, got some and then the poor results, so he has resorted to giving it away LOL If it does not work tonight, I will give it a break and order some Soda for my blaster, since I need to get some anyway.
 
Oxalic acid is wonderful for brighten wood. I mix 4 oz per gal.
 
I mix 1/2 pound dry (powder) acid to each gallon of warm water. I actually make the water as hot as possible. The hot water disolves the powder and clumps faster. If you use cold water you will clog up your pump up sprayer and probably have to put on a new line from the tank, that is after you throw it out in the street and contemplate running over it with your truck. I have a bad temper somtimes. lol. The cold water makes it clumpy, (undisolved), not the hot water. I hope it works for you. I have been told you sometimes have to apply it a few times to get the rust removed. apply, dwell, rinse each time.
 
I must have a bad batch or something, because it did not work on the rust at all. I have tried it with hot, warm and cold water, and in powder and liquid form. No Luck.
Where do you guys get yours from? Maybe they are not all created equal.
 
Did a driveway yesterday, did not see any change, but I left before it was totally dry. Talked to the guy today, and except for the oil stains, he said it looked almost new. Have not had a chance to go by and check it out.
Do you need it to dry first before you can see a difference? If so, maybe that is the problem. I usually do not hang out for the dry time.
 
Hello Folks

Extreme's 1/2 pound per gallon of HOT HOT water is right on the money. Be safe!

Also, do any of you have a good pump up sprayer you use for the acidic products? I regularly go through 1 every 2 months.

Thanks to all that reply.

Ron
Forbes Hydro Cleansing
 
Warm water seems to enhance the dilution of oxalic acid as well as many other dry chems.

I gave up on pump sprayers. I use my cart mounted 12v sprayter. It's faster, sprays heavier, and never clogs.

It could take up to 30 minutes dwell on tougher stains, and a little brushing doesn't hurt if a stain is really nasty.

After the concrete dries, it will look it's best.
 
Have you ever tried "SureKlean" products by ProSoCo? They're acidic, but highly specialized for just about any ferrous metal stains. Also, Deitrich makes excellent restoration products as well. They both can be found usually at masonry supply houses.
 
I would use Diedrich if I was looking at some serious building restoration. I have read up on most of Deidrich's line but they are a bit too pricey for me right now.

I used Prosoco's heavy duty cleaner for a tile job I was doing and it worked well. However, OA and muriatic is definitely the cost effective way to go on your average concrete stains.

I have also used the Lysol toilet bowl cleaner on some rust stains on concrete. It worked very well, but be careful not to leave it on too long. It has HF acid and will damage the concrete.

Take care

Ron
 
Finally got around to using some oxalic the other day. Purchased from The Chemistry Store. Very impressed I might add. Pre-mixed it at home before I went out on a job. Extremes 1/2 pound(8oz.)/ gallon of water worked very well. Hot tap water into an empty milk jug, then strained into pump sprayer (just to make sure there where no clumps). Worked like a charm. Actually thinking about going back to some previous jobs to take care of some rust stains I couldn`t tackle.
I gave the stains 1 application, some of it starting coming off right away. Went and did some other work. Came back again, before it could dry and applied again. By the time I had worked up to that area w/ my surface cleaner, one hit w/ the wand and it was gone.
I`m sure I`ll be using oxalic more often.
 
I have used Lysol TBC and it worked for me. Just a bit too expensive when you have OA around. If you are out in the field and do not have access, run by the store and pick some up. Make sure you scrub it just a bit to work it in.

Ron
 
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