Good grief this stuff is useful... vicious but useful. This is a brass cook pot either for jam making or maybe for use on a fire pit... anyhow, the outside is black and the inside is tarnished with darker areas that have become verdigris so a quick soak in a mild solution of water is Harpic lifts it strait off! The black exterior will take longer. It also does a great job onnrass Bangles and stained sinks!
@ColinG Where/how do you dispose of your Harpic? It must kill any life form it comes in contact with. Tony
From the Harpic UK website (which is very annoying and does not reveal MSDS, nor does it actually describe Harpic Power Plus Max 10X) even though it shows it as a photo): Precautions DANGER Toilet Bowl Cleaner HAPRIC (sic) Power Plus Citrus Fresh. Contains Hydrochloric Acid. Causes severe skin burns and eye damage. May be corrosive to metals. Harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Keep out of reach of children. IF SWALLOWED: Rinse mouth. Do NOT induce vomiting. Immediately call a doctor. IF INHALED: Remove person to fresh air and keep comfortable for breathing. IF IN EYES: Rinse cautiously with water for several minutes. Remove contact lenses, if present and if it is easy to do. Continue rinsing. Avoid release to the environment. Read label before use. Store locked up. Keep only in original container. Wash hands thoroughly after handling. Dispose of contents to local regulations. If medical advice is needed, have product container or label at hand. Tony
@David Shouksmith I live on a rural block, so I run a septic system. I would not be using that stuff to clean my toilet, nor would I let it get anywhere near my septic system or dams in its raw form. I suppose if it was diluted enough it would be ok to release it through an active vegetation filter system. Cheers Tony
I usually use it in small amounts but now you've made me question how I dispose of the waste. The amount in the sink was roughly an egg-cup full diluted with maybe 10 - 15 litres. I'll think twice about doing that again but would that have been a sufficient dilution to avoid harm? Living in the highlands, I have a septic tankdystem, not mains drainage.
Dilution is the way to dispose of it. By the way, if you’re on septic, make sure you empty all your beer dregs into the septic. Beer yeast is good for activating the microbes in septic systems. Cheers Tony
Since its basically a hydrochloric acid'based product, disposal isn't too problematic. Just neutralize it with some builder's or garden lime or some crushed/powdered calcium carbonate or anything similar that's available to you. Excess lime is not harmful. It'll convert any hydrochloric acid to harmless calcium chloride, which is pretty easy to dispose in your backyard since the quatity is small. Don't flush it down the toilet or sink or the excess, poorly soluble lime might clog them up. The other possible solution: neutralize the spent Harpic with baking or washing soda and convert most of it to sodium chloride(common salt). Again, since the quantity is small, I wouldn't mind flushing the neutralized stuff, which is mostly soluble, into the toilet.
Thanks @MYN ... as I have both calcium carbonate and washing soda so I'll use those whenever I use the Harpic. This is great advice as I was getting concerned about using it but now I can carry on. It is a very useful product to have in my cleaning arsenal!
I would have thought that as the hydrochloric acid component is there to remove limescale that a source of lime such as chalk would react thus: 2HCl + CaCO3 → CaCl2 + H2O + CO2 or put another way, calcium chloride, water and carbon dioxide.
It's toilet cleaner, Myn, so down the toilet is where it's intended to go - at least, when you're on mains drainage...
I mean after you've mixed in the lime in excess. Its not the Harpic that'll clog the toilet but the excess lime.
Well, that very much depends on what you mean by "excess", Myn. Are you talking of shovelfuls, here? In reality, all you would need to do was add whatever neutralising compound you were using in small amounts until effervescence ceased. Then you'd have a more-or-less neutral solution that could be easily disposed of without too much environmental (or lavatory!) impact. Of course, that doesn't include whatever potentially harmful metallic compounds might arise from using a mineral acid based cleaner for a purpose it was never intended to fulfil. There's also the corrosive action on the metal being cleaned to be taken into consideration, too. Still, they're not my lamps and lanterns so it's no concern of mine, I suppose... (Gallic shrug)
Well David, very often, we tend 'over-dose' with whatever neutralizer we have at hand, especially when its cheap. For instance, just a casual handful of hydrated lime powder is usually well in excess of what is required to neutralize a bottle of Harpic. The excess lime is rather heavy and poorly soluble in water. It tends to settle at the bottom of the toilet bowl. It remains there even after multiple flushes. Done that more than once(not during Harpic neutralizing activities though). Anyway, the neutralizing step before disposal are meant for anyone who might be concerned about over-acidifying the septic tank. Personally, I would use Harpic as it is on the bowl, without having second thoughts about neutralizing. Since its a product intended for such use, I'd assume its pretty safe, unless you're emptying 20 gallons or more of the stuff into the bowl at one go.
