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TODAY I LEARNED

Muriatic Acid… Hydrochloric acid.. nasty stuff… but sometimes.

Marine heads are a problem. They continuously need fixing and attention. Just recently we had a blockage in our dump pipe that just wouldn’t move. It occurred in two heads at once (we have four) and appeared to be related to sudden aggressive marine growth.

We had left the heads open as they were not being used. This proved a mistake and nothing seemed to want to move the blockage, even running a drain snake through just hit a solid wall.

But a good dose of Muriatic Acid, left for a day with the dump closed was enough to get things movable again, well with the use of the drain snake as well.

Now if your worried about the cost of this on the environment, we certainly are, there is a solution. before opening the dump again and releasing this acidic concoction into the sea, make sure you add a liberal amount of baking soda and give it time to mix. baking soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) will neutralise the Hydrochloric acid and render it harmless to our environment.

Muriatic Acid is sometimes a required evil on a boat, but make sure that if its going to see the sea, its neutralised with baking soda first.

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  1. Worth noting that Muriatic acid is also known as Hydrochloric acid in many parts of the world. Many uses include cleaning mortar marks off bricks in building projects.

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