using muratic acid to clean a fountain

[robphelan]

we have a smallish outdoor fountain - about 5' 5" tall - made out of stained concrete.

Over the course of the past couple of years, there has been a lot of hard water build up.

I was wondering if I should use a muratic acid solution to clean it?

I've sprayed muratic acid over the river rocks in our rock garden, then rinsed the rocks off to clean them and was thinking I could do something similar.

Maybe have a big tub and submerge the individual pieces in a water/acid solution.. what do you think? how much acid to water should I use?

There will be two pieces - the base and bowl which will not fit in a tub/5 gallon plastic container - so, I'll have to figure something else out for them.

 

[lxskllr]

Doesn't muratic acid dissolve concrete? I know people use it to get rid of old grout in brick joints.

 

[robphelan]

not sure... that's why i was going to dilute it.. or spray it on then immediately rinse it off

 

[Chaotic42]

Isn't CLR designed just for this kind of thing?

 

[ShawnD1]

Doesn't muratic acid dissolve concrete? I know people use it to get rid of old grout in brick joints.

I don't know about dissolve concrete, but I know muriatic acid stained my concrete yellow when I spilled some of it.

Do a rub test on a small spot of the fountain and see what happens. If it color stains, then don't do it to the whole thing.

 

[D1gger]

We use muriatic acid to strip concrete floors prior to resealing and painting. It is stong stuff, and will likely take off any stain that is on your concrete and can damage or etch the surface. For cleaning I would dilute at ~20:1 and test it on a small spot on the bottom or other part that won't show if it causes too much damage.

 

[Matthiasa]

When diluting acids there is a right and wrong way to do that. HCl is not something that should be messed with lightly.

 

[zinfamous]

When diluting acids there is a right and wrong way to do that. HCl is not something that should be messed with lightly.

you filter it through your pants, right?

 

[ShawnD1]

When diluting acids there is a right and wrong way to do that. HCl is not something that should be messed with lightly.

lol no

Add a gallon of water to 1 cup fuming sulfuric acid and see what happens. Absolutely nothing will happen. It's only dangerous if you're adding 1 drop of water into pure acid (or base)

 

[Matthiasa]

I'll pass.