Vinegar rust removal.

Have to try that with lug bolts for a Pear lsnare drum I picked up at the thrift store for about $25.00. Sounds great but need TLC.

Is the petcock aluminum? I thought it was pot metal, possible heavy on zinc? Not sure.

I don't think aluminum would disappear in five days of vinegar. Looks like the center of the diaphragm may be aluminum, for example. Interesting thread...may the metallurgy experts enlighten us.

Your evaporated petcock looks like it's been functioning as a sacrificial diode.

S.

[themess]

Aluminum oxidizes must faster than iron. We don't typically notice it. Iron oxide is red, so we see it immediately. It is also very soft, porous and flakes off easily. That exposes fresh iron. Aluminum oxide is almost transparent. It is hard (used for abrasives) and forms a non porous layer that protects the surface.

vinegar will corrode aluminum components, 20-30 minutes and its nice and clean, any longer then that, it starts disintegration

[eil]

Wowwie! I let some steel bolts sit in a jar of vinegar for 3-4 weeks with no ill effect. Had no idea it would do that to aluminum.

Might have something to do with the volume of liquid too? I'll bet a jar of the stuff can get "used up" a lot quicker than five gallons of it.

[Allie]

I once left a harmonica reed plate (brass) in a dish of vinegar overnight, it was fragged by the next day. An hour or two gets them nice and shiny though!

[tatu]

The vinigar scoffed the whole tap? I'm impressed.

[gsrick]

I'm sure everyone has heard about using vinegar for derusting tanks and other parts. I can testify that after a few days of straight white vinegar, the tank looked remarkable inside. It doesn't have that shine you see with a good tank, but it is back to gray/silver metal.

I poured the left over vinegar in a 5 gallon bucket to use again. After draining my tank and rinsing it, I noticed the petcock(old and needing a rebuild) looked like a battery terminal on an old car. You know that white corosive looking stuff. Well I brushed it off and noticed the there was some rusty areas from where the reminants of the interior rust was leaking out.

Well I figure to just put the petcock in the bucket for a few hours and let it do it work. One thing or another hapened and I forgot about the petcock being in the bucket. 5 days pass and I'm moving the bucket out of the way and see someting floating in this dark grey solution that used to be semi clear vinegar. It's a petcock filter, I forgot all about the petcock in the bucket. I remember one of my sons asking why it was bubbling, so I said it was left over rust in the bottom of the bucket. NOT!

Well just so everyone can learn from my mistake, here is a photo of what I dug out of the bottom of the bucket. And what one looks like before goofing up.