Cleaning toilets with old battery acid

[DICEGEORGE]

Is it a good idea to clean toilets with old battery acid? Or could this damage the china etc? [George]

[polygonum]

That has been used in batteries? Bad idea - we don't want your lead in our water (rivers or sea), thank you.

[Graham.]

I don't know, but I cleaned an ink stain of my best shirt yesterday with toilet bleach.

[Chris Hogg]

Some types of porcelain, for example true porcelain tableware made either by the Worcester Royal Porcelain or made in Germany, would be OK. Most laboratory porcelain is of this type. It is fired to 1400C, and the glaze is particularly durable and corrosion-resistant. But sanitaryware porcelain is 'softer', i.e. it's fired to a lower temperature and is more likely to be attacked by very strong acid such as battery acid. Brick acid might be OK, although no guarantees, but I'm sure there are better ways of de-scaling a toilet.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Yes, it's not going to be clean sulphuric acid - it will have all sorts of other rubbish in it such as lead sulphate, and other lead compounds from the sludge. It's illegal to let lead compounds go into drains/sewers.

[polygonum]

I thought there was an outside possibility that this was unused but old "top-up" or original-fill acid.

[meow2222]

Lead sulphate solubility:

0.0032 g/100 mL (15 °C) 0.00443 g/100 mL (20 °C)

NT

[stuart noble]

IME there is no need to use strong acids such as sulphuric and hydrochloric. Citric works just as well, and quite often vinegar is sufficient. My observations suggest that scale is soluble in anything below PH6

[Brian Gaff]

I'd imagine it would be quite messy, and end in holes in floor coverings etc, if it splashed out.

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Hmm, well drop in the ocean unless everyone started doing it. What I'd like to find is a substance that can get rid of lime scale round the bend where you cannot scrape it off. its encrusted in my loo. Brian

[The Natural Philosopher]

any strong acid plus elbow grease to chip it away.

it takes many applications to remove the usual inch plus layer

[michael adams]

Cheap vinegar is 21p a 568ml bottle at Asda and Morrisons. I don't know if this is more dilute than standard vinegar

I've used it on stainless steel where it works ok but not down toilets.

Presumably if you pushed a lot of the water round the bend with the brush and poured 5 bottles down the toilet and left it for as long as possible i.e overnight it might do some good if the claims being made are true. Especially if repeated on a regular basis.

michael adams

...

[RobertL]

IMHO: No, you need hydrochloric acid (spirits of salts) not sulphuric acid. You need to convert the limescale to calcium chloride, which is soluble in water. Battery acid will turn it to calcium sulphate which is not soluble.

[0845.86.86.888]

Cheap coke (cola)? Can't think of a better use for it, and pretty much all it should be used for IMHO

Should add that I've not tried it myself (yet) :)

[Martin Brown]

Bad idea. It is also the wrong choice of acid since calcium sulphate aka Plaster of Paris is also fairly insoluble. You want hydrochloric acid which will work as calcium chloride is moderately soluble.

Salt and vinegar at a pinch will also do the job with both calcium acetate and chloride being water soluble.

There is a slight chance that the cleaning mixture will etch the or matt the ceramic if you are unlucky (more so if you use strong acid).

[harryagain]

The easiest suitable acid to obtain is "brick cleaner" (Hydrochloic acid) This does the job. However if there is a real thick layer round the bend, it's best to remove the toilet pan and attack from the outlet end. Probably a new WC connector will be needed.

[meow2222]

IME sulphuric is quick & effective. Calcium sulphate doesnt stay solid in water, it disintegrates into powder so no problem.

Yes you can use weak acids... if you've got infinite time. Strong sulph or HCl can clean off a thick layer in no time.

NT

[DICEGEORGE]

[DICEGEORGE]

THANKS. [G]

[DICEGEORGE]

YES, THAT WOULD BE ECO VANDALISM.