Preventative Maintenance

[John Jones]

sno-bol is hydrochloric acid
rust-aid is oxalic acid
on/off is a combination of several acids

They all work.
Cheapest is to go to Lowes ect. and get a gallon of muratic acid used for tile cleaning and dilute it 10-1 with water.  

ALWAYS POUR ACID INTO WATER-NEVER POUR WATER INTO ACID - IT CAUSES A VIOLENT REACTION.

Personally any of the acid products are a last resort for me.  Too harsh on everything including one's self.

I tried Star Brite Hull Cleaner once when I was doing a bunch of fishing way up the Manatee River and really got the tannin ring-around-the-collar.  That worked well too although I think most of the Star Brite stuff is snake oil.

[RickK]

ALWAYS POUR ACID INTO WATER-NEVER POUR WATER INTO ACID - IT CAUSES A VIOLENT REACTION.

I remember seeing a question about this on the Post Office equipment maintenance tech test.
I thought it was about how it could splash out - if you pour acid into water, water would splash out and vice-versa.

[John Jones]

15. Always pour acids into water. If you pour water into acid, the heat of reaction will cause the water to explode into steam, sometimes violently, and the acid will splatter.

http://chemlabs.uoregon.edu/Safety/Gene ... tions.html

I absentmindedly did it, ONCE.  Thank goodness I had on a chemical apron and face shield.

[RickK]

Splash, splatter - it still gets you I guess.  

Guess I got that question on the test right - it didn't ask you why, just how you should mix the two