Yeah, I wondered too about folk using coke as a rust remover. More
effective to get some Naval Jelly as a phosphoric acid source.

btw, sodium bicarb. (baking soda) will makes a mildly alkaline, not
acidic, solution.

For safe (ie not using muriatic acid), de-liming, that CLR stuff is
pretty good. Its a mix of a few mild organic acids, and removes rust
stains too (but does not do the latter as well as the more toxic
oxalic acid).

alistair

On 17-May-11, at 8:47 AM, mcneely4@COX.NET wrote:

> Thanks Alistair.  I should have remembered that, but haven't looked
> at a soft drink label in a while.  Seems odd to me that folks would
> use a sugared drink for things like cleaning battery terminals and
> brackets, but I know people who do.  Why not just use something that
> is less messy?  Like a little baking soda in water, which is plenty
> acidic for the purpose.  Deliming is another matter, the lime
> requires a more acidic material.  mcneely
>
> ---- Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:
>> the carbonic acid produced as a result of carbonation of the soda
>> pales in comparison to the phosphoric acid added to coke. There might
>> be some citric added to coke, but the acid is mostly phosphoric.
>>
>> alistair
>>
>> On 17-May-11, at 6:31 AM, Dave Mcneely wrote:
>>
>>> ---- BenT Syncro <syncro@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>> Please get it right. Not Coke.
>>>>
>>>> Diet Coke with Lime. Whatever chemical they are using to mimic
>>>> lime, I'm addicted to it. Makes my water taste great. Of course my
>>>> water comes in 12oz. cans with poptabs.
>>>
>>> So far as the coke (whatever additional flavors) being a good
>>> solvent (for lime of the hard variety for that matter ;-) ), so
>>> would any other soft drink be.  The carbonation is acidic, of
>>> course, plus they use citric acid (says on the label, "for
>>> tartness").  For all I know (I don't drink sodas, so don't have any
>>> handy to check) there is extra citric acid in the citrus flavors
>>> compared to regular.
>>>
>>> Hi Jeff.  enjoy.
>>>
>>> mcneely
>>
>
> --
> David McNeely