Derusting with Oxalic acid?

[USMCPOP]

Anyone tried this? I saw it mentioned as a radiator flush. Many guys who restore chrome-framed bicycles swear by it, as it will get into all the nooks and crannies. Wood bleach (deck cleaner) is often pure oxalic acid and is fairly cheap. Check the before-after pic.

[dubby]

Wow... seems to do a good job.

[Whitetrash]

I'm not positive but, it seems to me the old radiator flush from a couple of outfits was oxalic acid. It came with a neutralizer you ran through the system before you refilled with fresh coolant.

[Shade Tree Welder]

It works, I like phosphoric.

[midmosandblasting]

Remember to kill it or later it will cause issues.

[USMCPOP]

Originally Posted by midmosandblasting

Remember to kill it or later it will cause issues.

Please do tell more. I am not up on my chemistry and not much was said about "neutralizing" oxalic acid.

[milomilo]

it is easily nuetralized with a simple baking soda water rinse.

[terry lingle]

what do you call cheap?
I de rusted about 2.5 tons of lathe and trailer frame for about $.50 worth of soap and a couple of dollars worth of electricity. The tank held about 3000 gallons of solution.
I ran it for about 3 months over the summer then drained it and dumped the 250 gallons of iron oxide and soap sludge into a gully on my property.
10 years later and the grass is still greener there.

There are a lot of methods for removing rust each has it's place.
There are also limits on what should not be cleaned by each method.

when our house still had metal pipe SWMBO used oxalic acid flakes from time to time to clean rust stains from the inside of the dishwasher.just ran it through a cycle while empty.

[Alden Sherrodd]

I just bought a pickup that lived on the left side of the state which is wet, it is very dry here. The hubcaps and front bumper were painted and very rusty looking. I used Bar Keepers Friend which is a household cleanser with oxalic acid as the active ingredient to clean them. It was amazing to see the transformation! The paint is still good, it was just stained and is now white. The electrolysis method would have destroyed the paint. I am impressed with the rust removal power of the oxalic acid. This cleanser works well for removing rust stains and aluminum marking from sinks and is the reason we have it, but I think a can will now live in the shop.

~Alden