I live in an apartment building, and our maintenance guy’s a real dick. Our tub clogs up a lot even though we use the hair catcher in the drain, probably just because this is such an old building.
Anyway, it’s clogged again, and I picked up a cheap Drano/Liquid Plumber knockoff at the dollar store and poured it down the drain. It was only after really looking over the container that I realized that this knockoff is based on Hydrochloric Acid rather than the much more common Sodium Hydroxide found in Liquid Plumber and Drano.
So, uh, what do I do now? The drain is still clogged, though I’ve basically filled the tub with cold water, which will drain through slowly. Is there any worry about the effect of the HCL on the pipes (which are metal and old)? I’m going to call the maintenance guy and let him know about it, because I still need him to come and fix the drain. I’m worried that if he opens the trap, he’s going to have a bunch of acid coming at him. I also don’t want him to pour something else, esp. something Sodium Hydroxide-bsaed, down the drain if that Hydrochloric junk is still in there.
How much water do I need to flush through before I can reasonably assume that the Hydrochloric Acid is all flushed through?
HCl in drain cleaner? I’d heard of H2SO4 in drain cleaner, but HCl is a new one. If it’s highly concentrated, I’d be quite worried about the state of your drains, especially if they’re iron- copper pipes would hold up slightly better, I believe. You should run lots of water, and maybe a weak base dissolved in the water; baking soda would be appropriate. Still and all, I’d be worried about your drains, since a strong acid will oxidize (“rust” for the uninitiated) the hell out of the pipes.
I don’t mean to be a smart ass, but acids do not oxidize the metals that they dissolve. Oxidation is exactly as you state, which is the reaction that produces a metal oxide (or hydrated form or intermediate) whereas the reaction of an acid and metal results in the formation of the salt of the anion from the acid and the metal.
In the unlikely event that you have some silver nitrate, don’t do this. At best, it’ll precipitate solid silver salts (e.g. silver chloride with the HCl) which aren’t harmful but won’t help your clogging problem. At worst, it’ll plate out silver metal all over the insides of your pipes, which’ll give you pinhole corrosion problems.
Re the OP, the product is unlikely to be very concentrated. Even commercial “concentrated” HCl is only about 30% strength. Your filling the tub and leaving it to drain should flush it enough and dilute it enough so you don’t need to worry about it.
I’m a little confused as to why HCl is being used as a drain cleaner anyway. It’s good for removing limescale, but most clogged drains are the result of organic material, and HCl won’t help much with that.
You are the type of person rental property managers hate. I know, I’m one of them, and also the head of the “Straight Dope Marching Band and Anti-Drano Society.”
You’ve just turned a $50 unclogging job into a $200 nightmare. Don’t mess with this yourself–you risk serious injury. Call a licensed plumber, tell them what happened, and be prepared to pay big bucks. You might even have to replace some pipes.
When will people learn: Drain uncloggers are dangerous nasty chemicals that eat skin, eat pipes, and often DO NOT WORK!
I use 20% hydrogen chloride (“The Works”) on my rusty toilet and a little on the tub where the water leaves a rusty stain. This stuff is heavy duty. We own our home, and I’m not afraid to use this stuff here, and in many years of use I’ve never experienced a problem, but you can bet if I were renting a place, I’d leave it up to the owner to unclog my drains. You don’t want to incur the cost to replace plumbing.
They work great for me. Every six months or so my tub drain gets so full of my thick, luscious hair and assorted gook that I have to whip out the old Drano bottle. After a couple treatments it’s back to its old self.
You’re right about the nastiness, though. You have to be careful with that stuff.
this one is the qualitative test for Chrloride Ion. It can also be used quantitatively.
HCl(aq) + AgNO3(aq) —> AgCl(s) + HNO3(aq)
so basically you have all these H+, Ag+, Cl- and NO3-, all floating happily in their respective containers, and then you put them together and bam! the H+ and NO3- don’t notice a thing but the AgCl becomes a quite expensive, insoluble as all hell, new piece of clogging shit in your drain.
Plus nitric acid isn’t much of an improvement over HCL. The HCL should be converted to H3O by now so it won’t convert into HNO3 anyway. In fact, all the chem eqns should use H3O instead of HCL as that is what all the HCL converted to.
If it makes you feel any better VCO3 I did that with my old apartment’s clog once too. Nothing bad happened, it just cleared the clog. I doubt that you could buy stuff that never works and only harms drains from a legitimate store. Was this in a large grey bottle?
You see, the nitric acid obtained in the reaction isn’t exactly the same as pouring it from the bottle. It would be a pretty low concentration, most likely. You would have the same H+ floating about “before” and “after” the mixing. As for the other ion in the acids, NO3- is much worse at dissolving metals than Cl-, which has the nasty habit of being a complexant (this complexant ability is the reason sea air pretty much eats through steel, and the reason it eats stainless steel faster than regular steel; anybody who wants the shorthand version of a trimester of Chemistry of the Complexes just drop me a line on MSN).
Converting HCl into H2O would require a nuclear reaction, not just a chemical reaction; we’re talking about the kind of physics for which you need one of those Ciclotrons which people like CERN have. Dissolving something into water does not produce water, it produces a solution of the whatever; water plus AgNO3 does not produce insoluble white powder that likes to stick onto anything other than glass.
Well, I agree, mostly. The OP doesn’t need to call the Plumber, he needs to call his Landlord- who will call the Plumber and then pay for the bill, as this is maintenence, very likely. Do tell the plumber & landlord what you used, of course. If the water is flowing slowly out, it’s likely OK, and you haven’t caused any real damage.
For you renters (and homeowners too)- don’t use caustic drain cleaners. When it is running slow -BEFORE IT PLUGS UP COMPLETELY- use boiling water (some use vinegar) or enzymatic/bacteriogical drain products. Both are mostly safe- with the usual caveats about not getting either in your eyes, etc. I suggest using the enzymatic stuff in your drains once a quarter/every three months.
When plugged, use a plunger. For the shower, there is this neat little plastic thing that has backwards hooks on it that you can push down the drain, and on the way back it’ll clean out a lot of hair and gunk. If that doesn’t work, call a plumber. Don’t use caustic drain cleaners.
DO NOT MIX CHEMICALS EVER EVER EVER! I knew someone who used drain cleaner and, when it didn’t work, thought some bleach might help. Instant toxic gas and a trip to the emergency room.
There are little stainers you can buy to put over the drain that are good at collecting hair, lint, etc. If you notice a drain is running a little slow, put down a cup of baking soda, followed by a pot of boiling water. If it doesn’t work, add boiling vinegar. You’d be surprised at how easy, cheap, safe and effective this is.