Posted Wed Apr 25, 2012, 11:26am Subject: Phosphoric Acid (Milkstone Remover) To Clean SS Boiler?
Has anybody here ever used a phosphoric acid based cleaner for their stainless steel boiler? I just happen to have a gallon of Milkstone Remover (approximately 50% phosphoric acid) and it is supposed to be good at descaling stainless steel if diluted. Dairy farmers use it on their milking equipment daily and it is supposed to be good at removing calcium and lime.
Posted Wed Apr 25, 2012, 4:16pm Subject: Re: Phosphoric Acid (Milkstone Remover) To Clean SS Boiler?
As far as I know, phosphoric acid is contained in a lot of commercial descalers. I don't think it'd be harmful, but I'm not sure. I know it wouldn't damage the stainless boiler, but I'm not sure about other components that it would come into contact with.
MattINLA Senior Member Joined: 2 Oct 2009 Posts: 69 Location: Glendale Expertise: Professional
Posted Wed Apr 25, 2012, 9:22pm Subject: Re: Phosphoric Acid (Milkstone Remover) To Clean SS Boiler?
No, phosphoric acid is not in commercial descalers, and do not use phosphoric acid this is an extremely caustic highly dangerous substance that can cause severe burns and will be no pleasure in flushing from the boiler. I Use 50% diluted pool acid / muriatic acid which works great. You are risking your life, PLEASE!
Stuart Senior Member Joined: 9 Feb 2012 Posts: 113 Location: TX Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Breville Dual Boiler Grinder: Baratza Vario Roaster: Air Crazy popper
Posted Thu Apr 26, 2012, 5:05am Subject: Re: Phosphoric Acid (Milkstone Remover) To Clean SS Boiler?
I may not be a chemist any longer, but I used to play one at work. "Muriatic" acid is another name for hydrochloric acid. Yes, it's used in pool maintenance. Phosphoric acid is used in the beverage industry. Look at the ingredients on a can of Coca-Cola, for instance. It's quite dilute in the phosphated beverages, but it's there. Click Here (articles.marco.org) In terms of relative strength, phosphoric acid is less corrosive than hydrochloric acid. Both will ruin your whole day if misused or ingested wrong, but I believe you are misleading people by suggesting muriatic acid is safer, weaker, or more appropriate than phosphoric acid.
Also, if you have a brass or copper boiler, if I recall correctly, hydrochloric acid is more aggressive to the metal than is phosphoric. Phosphoric acid readily forms salts with calcium and magnesium, less so with copper and tin. Whereas cuprous (or cupric) chloride is easy to make with HCl.
Sashas Senior Member Joined: 2 Nov 2011 Posts: 19 Location: Vancouver, BC Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Thu Apr 26, 2012, 10:11am Subject: Re: Phosphoric Acid (Milkstone Remover) To Clean SS Boiler?
I used to work on chemical tankers (cargo operation and tank cleaning) and I totally agree with Stuart. Just make sure that you have food grade phosphoric acid not industrial and keep it max 50% solution. Our SS tanks after industrial grade would be hard to wash/rinse with lots of sediments on the bottom. Food grade rinses easily and leaves SS clean and shiny. I wouldn't recommend HCl because it's much more aggressive and more difficult to work with.
bittersweet101 Senior Member Joined: 14 Apr 2012 Posts: 35 Location: Philippines Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Thu Apr 26, 2012, 1:26pm Subject: Re: Phosphoric Acid (Milkstone Remover) To Clean SS Boiler?
Isn't muriatic acid the one you use to clean your toilets and kitchen sinks? Maybe it's just me, but just on that information alone, I would be reluctant to put any food or beverage-related items near it. You never know.
Phosphoric acid is usually used for rust removal so it does make sense to use it to clean your boiler. And as crazy as it might sound the fact that it is used industrially as a cleaning agent as well as in the food industry as an additive gives you a signal that it is "safer" to use this acid in cleaning your boiler. For some safety measure, I guess you can always dilute the solution and make sure that you rinse your boiler well.
Posted Thu Apr 26, 2012, 1:50pm Subject: Re: Phosphoric Acid (Milkstone Remover) To Clean SS Boiler?
Citric acid is commonly used for descaling coffee boilers and is a primary ingredient in many commercial descaling products. Food grade citric acid is very safe to use and also very inexpensive.
Posted Thu Apr 26, 2012, 4:01pm Subject: Re: Phosphoric Acid (Milkstone Remover) To Clean SS Boiler?
MattINLA Said:
No, phosphoric acid is not in commercial descalers, and do not use phosphoric acid this is an extremely caustic highly dangerous substance that can cause severe burns and will be no pleasure in flushing from the boiler. I Use 50% diluted pool acid / muriatic acid which works great. You are risking your life, PLEASE!
It definitely is not dangerous like that, or else your insides would be burning out every time you had a Coke. Muriatic acid is an antiquated name for HCl that still gets some use. You definitely should not be using this on your espresso machine. And yes, citric acid is the primary substance in most descalers, but IIRC there are some that include phosphoric acid as a secondary component.
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