On Dec 1, 14:17, Marvin Johnston wrote:
>
> I use Muriatic Acid for cleaning (alkaline) battery residue ... a
drop
> at a time :). It works wonders on cleaning most of the residue. Try a
> drop and see if you get a good foam reaction. If so, then it will
most
> likely do the job. In any case, it shouldn't hurt the plastic.
I've never tried that, but it would seem logical. I wondered what the
brown stuff really is, hence my suggestion to try a mild alkali (good
for organic junk, like cardboard-in-battery-goo).
Muriatic acid, by the way, is hydrochloric acid. Used for cleaning
paving slabs, concrete, etc, amongst other things.
> For quite a while, I had a small bottle of Acid Flux that was
basically
> Muriatic Acid, and it worked like a charm.
Actually, it was probably mostly zinc chloride, made by dissoving
granular zinc (or old battery cases) in hydrochloric acid. Known here
as Bakers Fluid. The raw acid would be too strong, and lose its
efficacy too quickly.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Mon Dec 01 2003 - 17:11:30 GMT