Alternative to Caustic Soda

[*Oggy*]

I was going to try and clean out 28 years or 2 stroke oil from some exhausts..

Seem to remember using Caustic Soda years ago to do this.... All I remember was it was nasty stuff to use and what to do with it once i had cleaned them.... (in a good way )..

Years have passed now, so whats an alternative that will get rid of the built up carbon without me worrying about damaging myself.... :ayyy:

[Greggy-68]

acid bath at a galvaniser?

[Underground]

Mums spit, Mums rock cake recipe ...all had similar affects growing up.

[ottospunkmeister]

There are a range of water and solvent based cleaners these days for tough applications. The coal mines use some of them. Castrol have a product called "Blackjack" which is suited for bitumastic dirt (oil/grease which with age and heat has turned into a kind of bitumen). They also have a product called Techniclean ESD used in exhaust scrubber units on heavy equipment to control build up of soot and scale which apparently solubilises and disperses scale forming minerals. Of course you can just get what they call "Cleaning Powder" which is a water soluble concentrated alkaline cleaner in powder form which contains no free caustic and is ideal for heavy duty applications such as removing grease and grime from machinery and metal parts. Can be dissolved in hot or cold water then brushed or sprayed on or used in an immersion tank for components. These come in 20kg or 20l drums though so may be a bit much. If you do use hot caustic make sure you wear gloves and eye protection and try not to get any on your skin (or your clothes unless you want bleaching) Hope that helps.

[Linden]

I was going to try and clean out 28 years or 2 stroke oil from some exhausts..

Seem to remember using Caustic Soda years ago to do this.... All I remember was it was nasty stuff to use and what to do with it once i had cleaned them.... (in a good way )..

Years have passed now, so whats an alternative that will get rid of the built up carbon without me worrying about damaging myself.... :ayyy:

Not 100% but think oven cleaner ... I find ammonia fumes work well - get a disposable semi seal able box put some ammonia in a dish add pipes shut box ad leave for 24hours ... warning box may melt - don't do inside

Or put the pipes in oven (if they are small enough and clean oven at the same time :mod_smilie_rockwoot

Cheap and easy try

HTH
Linden

[ottospunkmeister]

Not 100% but think oven cleaner ... I find ammonia fumes work well - get a disposable semi seal able box put some ammonia in a dish add pipes shut box ad leave for 24hours ... warning box may melt - don't do inside

Or put the pipes in oven (if they are small enough and clean oven at the same time :mod_smilie_rockwoot

Cheap and easy try

HTH
Linden

Mums specially baked cake tastes and smells like 20 year old burnt 2 stroke oil LOL. You may have the neighbours concerned:lmao:

[Linden]

Mums specially baked cake tastes and smells like 20 year old burnt 2 stroke oil LOL. You may have the neighbours concerned:lmao:

Hey if it smelt like Castrol aaaaahhhhhRRRR I'm there

:)

Linden

[*Oggy*]

So if I was to put some amonia in a box with two holes in.... stick the ends of the exhaust in those two holes and so amonia can pass through both exhausts.... and vent out of the header pipes ??? Best to plug up the header pies so amonia will fill pipe ???

Will this work ? will the carbon turn to flakes and fall out bottom ??

Any thoughts ...

[Johnny]

brake cleaner ? lol

[Pict]

How big?

For a few beers I can prolly get it dropped in the acid bath at the engine shop at work..

[Linden]

So if I was to put some amonia in a box with two holes in.... stick the ends of the exhaust in those two holes and so amonia can pass through both exhausts.... and vent out of the header pipes ??? Best to plug up the header pies so amonia will fill pipe ???

Will this work ? will the carbon turn to flakes and fall out bottom ??

Any thoughts ...

Any thoughts - many but most unprintable - sorry back to the point

with ovens you need to wipe the baked on carbon off after 24 hours - it's a soft sludge - with the pipes it should (in theory) wash away with a mild solvent kero/petrol (well not so mild)

Actually you could probably put some weak ammonia in pipes and seal both ends

THIS IS ALL THEORY ... I'VE DONE BUGGER ALL - proper -CHEM SINCE 1ST YEAR UNI IN 79

Although I suggest strongly you avoid evaporating a mixture of ammonia and iodine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_triiodide)

Linden

[ottospunkmeister]

So if I was to put some amonia in a box with two holes in.... stick the ends of the exhaust in those two holes and so amonia can pass through both exhausts.... and vent out of the header pipes ??? Best to plug up the header pies so amonia will fill pipe ???

Will this work ? will the carbon turn to flakes and fall out bottom ??

Any thoughts ...

Not sure if ammonia will work. Its a gas (NH3) that needs dissolving in water to become an alkaline agent, in this case NH4OH (ammonium hydroxide). The stuff that does the work for your problem is the OH bit (caustic soda is Sodium Hydroxide NaOH so similar). In theory you could wet the surface of the pipes and hope enough of the ammonia gas dissolves into the water to form an alkaline cleaner. Ammonia gas is bad stuff. If it dissolves in the eyedrops coating your eyes - well you get the picture. Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide in water) with pipes immersed in a bath might be a lot safer and more effective. Warning: strong caustic solutions should not be used on a brushed aluminium surface, they etch! Check the construction material of the pipes first. Acid is an OHS problem and should definitely not be used with steel pipes. Especially if it is Hydrocloric acid (Sulphuric is more commonly used for pickling steels) as the Chlorine part etches pits into even stainless steel (which with some heat and pressure become cracks that spread).

Anyway, less aggressive is easier. Maybe try less drastic commercially available cleaners first:)

[Linden]

Not sure if ammonia will work. Its a gas (NH3) that needs dissolving in water to become an alkaline agent, in this case NH4OH (ammonium hydroxide). The stuff that does the work for your problem is the OH bit (caustic soda is Sodium Hydroxide NaOH so similar). In theory you could wet the surface of the pipes and hope enough of the ammonia gas dissolves into the water to form an alkaline cleaner. Ammonia gas is bad stuff. If it dissolves in the eyedrops coating your eyes - well you get the picture. Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide in water) with pipes immersed in a bath might be a lot safer and more effective. Warning: strong caustic solutions should not be used on a brushed aluminium surface, they etch! Check the construction material of the pipes first. Acid is an OHS problem and should definitely not be used with steel pipes. Especially if it is Hydrocloric acid (Sulphuric is more commonly used for pickling steels) as the Chlorine part etches pits into even stainless steel (which with some heat and pressure become cracks that spread).

Anyway, less aggressive is easier. Maybe try less drastic commercially available cleaners first:)

Sounds like you know heaps more than me ... :) wouldn't be hard :)

Oggy - I was suggesting supermarket level - "Cloudy ammonia" ie: ammonia hydroxide solution. I think ottospunkmeister was thinking far to commercially for me:)

"Although cloudy ammonia can irritate the eyes and smells obnoxious, it quickly breaks down in the environment. It is a powerful bleach and cleaning agent."

[Damage]

I was going to try and clean out 28 years or 2 stroke oil from some exhausts..

Seem to remember using Caustic Soda years ago to do this.... All I remember was it was nasty stuff to use and what to do with it once i had cleaned them.... (in a good way )..

Years have passed now, so whats an alternative that will get rid of the built up carbon without me worrying about damaging myself.... :ayyy:

Back in the old days.. you could take em down to the bike shop and get them to burn it all out with an oxy... but the EPA would slap a $20K plus fine on em for trying that these days! :spank:

I tried caustic soda with hot water years ago in my RG250 .. didnt really work that well in getting the stuff out. ( left em for a week full if the mixture and tapped on the sides everyday to see if it would crack thru the layers... still no good)

Good acid bath would work ( i.e like at a galvaniser) .. but depends on if they'd be willing to put oily pipes in there.

I only have 2 suggestions:

OPTION 1. Hire an oxy and burn them out yourself .

Best method is with 2 oxy's. One to feed oxygen directly into the chamber and the 2nd to heat the outside. Apparently this is the quickest way and most effective as the oxygen inside the chambed really gets the fire going)

## WARNING### do not do it in suburbia.. the EPA can fine you big time! ####
If you have a mate with a rural property... maybe a better option to do it there.

The whole idea is to heat the pipes all over till the stop smoking, then there is only dry carbon left inside the chambers. If you then tap the sides with a block of wood etc.. it would all frature and fall out.

OPTION 2. If you have a mate with a rural property... get yourself a nice bonfire going and throw the pipes in and do the same as above. Probably a bit cheaper than option 1.

And if you are going for option 2.... let me know!
I'll bring the Marshmallows.. and my RG500 pipes! :lmao:

[DR J]

Hay Damage I've only got 3 liters of pre mix in my Reece 4 inch . Is the fire walk & bbq still on.....?

[jasonbw]

Back in the old days.. you could take em down to the bike shop and get them to burn it all out with an oxy... but the EPA would slap a $20K plus fine on em for trying that these days! :spank:

That's what I remember I had to get done to my old KR250, EPA fine people to doing that??? how fkut is that!!!! Lets let the steelworks do a billion times the damage but it's OK cause they grease our palms.

[Damage]

That's what I remember I had to get done to my old KR250, EPA fine people to doing that??? how fkut is that!!!! Lets let the steelworks do a billion times the damage but it's OK cause they grease our palms.

Yeah.. I think things have changed since the good ole' days.
EPA have the power to come after anyone these days.

eg: If you get get caught using AvGas on the road by the EPA it;s like a $10,000 fine!

[muzz]

Yeah.. I think things have changed since the good ole' days.
EPA have the power to come after anyone these days.

eg: If you get get caught using AvGas on the road by the EPA it;s like a $10,000 fine!

our local airfeild back in nz used to fill cars and bikes with av gas no probs
and the local sevo next to the pukekohe race track used to have shell race fuel on the pumps next to all the normal gas :ayyy:

[Damage]

our local airfeild back in nz used to fill cars and bikes with av gas no probs
and the local sevo next to the pukekohe race track used to have shell race fuel on the pumps next to all the normal gas :ayyy:

Im pretty sure they used to sell Avgas direct to the public but only at Bankstown Airport.
.. and I vaguely remember Oran used to sell it too...but not 100% sure. :confused: (was about 10-12 years ago... if not longer)