Using CLR instead of white vinegar for reg cleaning

[Eric Sedletzky]

As an aside. What are you guys doing to your regs that they get corroded? I never seen any on my regs. I service them myself once a year and clean the 2nd stages every 2-5 dive days if I'm diving on Milfoil remediation (viz = 0, in stirred up muck). I rinse well after every day of diving (salt or fresh). Am I missing something?

I get older regs often times that people give me that are corroded to hell that I want to rebuild. Vinegar kind of works but takes a long time to break down the corrosion and it isn't always that thorough.
I figured using a product that was scientifically developed to disolve corrosion, not harm healthy metal, and leave no harmful residue would be the ticket.
I have one more corroded to hell Aqualung Cousteau reg that I'm going to try CLR on.

If it sizzles, sparks, and goes up in smoke I'll let you know.

 

[OkByMe]

http://www.jelmar.com/msds/CLR_MSDS_eng.pdf
I hope you were being sarcastic. If not then please check your facts. You are so wrong.

I am willing to put my hand in vinegar. I will even put it on my food and eat it. Some vinegars actually taste great (thinking of balsamic here...)

At the least, CLR is Caustic. It also contains and produces stuff you should not breath. Not putting my hand in it and definitely not going on my food. It comes with a handy 5 page Material Safety Data Sheet

http://www.jelmar.com/msds/CLR_MSDS_eng.pdf
Last time I checked, vinegar did not come with a "keep out of reach of children" warning.

There are things in life you know - you know because you have done them... and then there are those you feel - you feel the way you do because you observe and imagine trying to put together a conclusion. I say act on what you know - not on how you feel. I have been using 100% CLR in my small parts washer bare handed with a toothbrush. Much safer than most parts cleaning solutions that I have used in the past. I can put a roller bearing in CLR to clean corrosion from the inner and out rings without contaminating the lubricant inside the seals. That scenario the best example I can come up with. I also use DR. Pepper and Coka Cola to clean panted objects and Navel Jelly to clean chrome. All have the same acid in varying percentages. Coke is one of the best solutions to remove flash rust from inside a steel tank. Pour in a litre, some ball bearings to agitate and then onto the tumbler overnight.

 

[yardpro]

giffenk

LOL... that post shows your lack of chemistry knowledge and your knee jerk reaction ism....

vinegar is also caustic.... it is acetic acid it has a pH of 2... hydrochloric acid (muratic acid) has a pH of 1.. not that far apart...

phosphoric acid in most soda pop is also pH 1... the same as hydrochloric acid...

i really wish people would actually do research and learn about something before making these accusations and knee jerk reactions..


CLR used to use phosphoric acid, the same as in cok a cola, and many other soda pop brands... so you will drink it but not clean parts in it....ignorant....



the acids now used are :
lactic acid... builds in your muscle tissue during exercise... guess exercise will kill you

Gluconic acid ..... it occurs naturally in fruit, honey, and wine. As a food additive (E574^[2]), it is an acidity regulator. It is also used incleaning products where it dissolves mineral deposits especially in alkaline solution

and

Lauryldimethylamine oxide .... used in cosmetics.....


so the thought that is is somehow going to kill you if you use it is laughable...

 

[KeithG]

My knee jerk reaction is based upon personal experience. I made a simple stupid mistake. I used the product and got a nasty skin burn on my forearm when I splashed some of it (sloppy workmanship on my part!).

I then decided to read the label. There is a very large "skeleton hand" warning label that indicates the product is corrosive and lots of warnings not to get it on your bare skin. Who knew?

Since that episode, I have been much more careful when using it. I may be slow, but I can learn.

 

[mathauck0814]

Sorry if I missed it in the OP, but was it mentioned how the regs are intended for use? If you're just descaling/removing corrosion I don't see a real problem with it (if a bit overkill, as has been mentioned already given the ubiquity and cost of white vinegar).

I'd worry more about it if I were cleaning the regulators or oxygen service. I don't know anything specific about CLR that would make it more prone to O2 reaction, just something to think about if you're going to be using high O2 concentration nitrox.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Sorry if I missed it in the OP, but was it mentioned how the regs are intended for use? If you're just descaling/removing corrosion I don't see a real problem with it (if a bit overkill, as has been mentioned already given the ubiquity and cost of white vinegar).

I'd worry more about it if I were cleaning the regulators or oxygen service. I don't know anything specific about CLR that would make it more prone to O2 reaction, just something to think about if you're going to be using high O2 concentration nitrox.

CLR can be removed and rinsed 100% clean leaving no residue whatsoever, so breathing or 02 clean is a non issue.
I don't know how much better it can get than that?

 

[agilis]

giffenk

LOL... that post shows your lack of chemistry knowledge and your knee jerk reaction ism....

vinegar is also caustic.... it is acetic acid it has a pH of 2... hydrochloric acid (muratic acid) has a pH of 1.. not that far apart...

phosphoric acid in most soda pop is also pH 1... the same as hydrochloric acid...

i really wish people would actually do research and learn about something before making these accusations and knee jerk reactions..


CLR used to use phosphoric acid, the same as in cok a cola, and many other soda pop brands... so you will drink it but not clean parts in it....ignorant....



the acids now used are :
lactic acid... builds in your muscle tissue during exercise... guess exercise will kill you

Gluconic acid ..... it occurs naturally in fruit, honey, and wine. As a food additive (E574^[2]), it is an acidity regulator. It is also used incleaning products where it dissolves mineral deposits especially in alkaline solution

and

Lauryldimethylamine oxide .... used in cosmetics.....


so the thought that is is somehow going to kill you if you use it is laughable...

There is a huge difference between a pH of 1 and a pH of 2. They are, in fact, very far apart, a full order of magnitude on a logarithmic scale. Concentrated sulfuric acid, capable of dissolving all sorts of things, has a pH of about 1, while vinegar has a pH closer to 2. You can consume the moderately diluted latter , but the former can kill you in all kinds of unpleasant ways, even diluted. The phosphoric acid in soda is, of course, considerably diluted, as is the acetic acid in household vinegar.

 

[yardpro]

you are correct, it is a 10 fold difference, it is an exponential increase.

Acids are actually better measured in molar (concentration of hydrogen atoms).

your stomach acid is hydrochloric acid...

there is no sulfuric acid in CLR so i am not sure how it is tangent to the argument....we are also not talking about drinking it...


CLR is as safe to use on your reg parts and anything else. with any cleaner you will need to rinse the parts.. it is no different with CLR.

 

[gekodivebali]

Have you guys never attended manufacturers' repair technician workshops? You can learn lots of little tips that make your life much easier when servicing regs...
I was strongly advised against the use of acetic acid for cleaning metal parts by the reps of 2 of the largest scuba gear manufacturers. The reason for this is that vinegar dissolves ("eats away") copper. Some of the alloys used in first or second stages contain copper. This sometimes includes the plating. Using acetic acid will therefore dissolve some of the material in your regs. Some will become more prone to corrosion afterwards.
One manufacturer advised to rely solely on ultrasonic cleaning. In my experience, this is not sufficient for the more dirty/corroded regs.
Another manufacturer rep for a different brand advice was to first use an ultrasonic bath, then use a highly diluted solution of hydrochloric acid. The hydrochloric acid won't dissolve the parts containing copper and will clean metallic parts much better than vinegar.
I now follow this method. I use an ultrasonic bath. I then scrub parts with a toothbrush before placing them in an hydrochloric acid solution. The dirt will bubble away and parts can be taken out when the bubbling stops. It's a good idea to move items around in the bath so the solution can reach everywhere.
The next step is to rinse parts in a clear water bath. I then place them in a Simple Green solution, whether I want regs O2 clean or not. Parts are then rinsed in a different fresh water bath (devoid of traces of hydrochloric acid). I find this method works best.

For those of you who are worried about eating or drinking hydrochloric acid, you need to understand that thorough rinsing is sufficient to get rid of any traces of these reactants. Saying using this material will be the same as eating it is obnoxious. Do you consider that you eat/drink dishwashing detergent after having washed your dishes?

 

[fjpatrum]

I think I use about 2 cap-fuls of vinegar, maybe as much as a few tablespoons to the 3 quarts of water I put in my HS cleaner. I then use a toothbrush and gently scrub and haven't had a problem yet.
In those concentrations the vinegar simply isn't going to do harm to the parts (especially when only soaking/cleaning for a few minutes) and I use the stuff for cooking so I have no doubt it's safe.

I haven't come across any "seized from corrosion" parts except one so it got an extra 3 minutes in the cleaner. Came right apart after that.

I just don't see any need for buying something else when stuff I have on hand works. Sure, the other thing might work better but why spend the money and effort of buying/storing/cleaning up after yet another "chemical"? I'm sure rinsing any of the suggested chemicals is more than sufficient for safety but it's just more effort. To me, it's not worth it. If you do more regs than I (pretty easy to do) or do them more regularly (also easy to do) or you deal with seriously corroded ones, then maybe CLR or similar options is the right choice for you. If I needed something more, I'd use it, but I don't so I won't bother.