Home brew Evapo Rust that works better and is cheaper

[Nexus]

Hello Everyone,

I came across this YouTube video talking about this DIY rust remover, that is like Evapo Rust only better. I decided I would spend the $100.00 Candian dollars to get the supplies I needed to try it out and if it didn't work, no big deal, it would be a fun project.

Let me be the first to tell you it checks out, and it has great results.

https://youtu.be/fVYZmeReKKY?si=UrLJ09SGMl7AsckT

this is the video I found

I had this all typed out a few days ago but something happened and the post crashed so instead of one long post, I'm going to break it up into smaller chunks, this being the first one.

[Nexus]

First, I gathered all the components I needed

Plastic container/tub - as big or as small as you want to make it. Mine was 100 liters (26.4 gallons)
Citric acid (food grade was cheapest on Amazon) - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08MDHRVH5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
Washing Soda - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09VF336N9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
Any dish detergent - I used Dawn


Formula:
For every liter (26.41 gallons) of water, add 100 grams (3.52 ounces) of citric acid and 40 grams (1.41 ounces) of Sodium Carbonite (Washing Soda)

I started with the water, followed by the citric acid. I stired it well to make sure the crystals were disolved and then slowly added the washing soda. You want to do this part very slowly as the chemical reaction may cause the solution to foam over the edges. After that part was completed, I added a random amount of dish soap to the solution and mixed it all up.

[Nexus]

Some results of this experiment:

Before:
20241004_110547 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20241004_110540 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

After:
20241010_120509 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20241010_120520 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

All I did after I removed it from the solution was rinse it with the hose and lightly clean it up with the wire brush. It was as much effort as washing dishes.

I became excited and started putting everything I could into it so I forgot to take some before pictures. I also tested it on a scrap piece of rusty steel first.

My motorcycle tanks were also dipped in this stuff but one thing I noticed, is that it doesn't like oily surfaces or scaling so that will need to be cleaned up before hand.

[Nexus]

More results:

20240812_144859 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

In this photo, the left is directly out of the solution and the right is after washing it up.
20240812_145020 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20241009_133727 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20241009_133702 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20241009_133716 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20241009_133827 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

20241009_133921 by Charles Marson, on Flickr

That's all I have for pictures and unfortunately, with winter upon us up north here, I will need to bottle this stuff up bring it in the house, and hope it's still good to use next spring.

As for PPE, I should have used gloves but I didn't as it just tingled my skin, but I did wear safety glasses and it has a nice citric smell to it.

Thanks for looking and post a reply if you tried it, saw this before, or have an opinion of any kind about it

[kentucky yeti]

Wow!  That did a heck of a job.  I’m interested in trying it.

[Warren Seale]

Does that treatment stabilize the oxidation?  I like to use phosphoric acid since it turns the ferrous oxide to the more stable phosphorus oxide.

[roadking77]

Looks amazing. I use evaporust which is pretty expensive. I will have to give your recipe a try. One question I have is how many dips is it good for? I know with evaporust I can reuse it a few times but after a dozen or so tries it looses its effectiveness.

[langss]

Thanks for the information. I will be trying this.