# What brand of drain opener is sulfuric acid?



## danny987 (Jun 8, 2009)

I need some to make nitric. What brands are sulfuric acid?


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## jimdoc (Jun 8, 2009)

Rooto should be a good one.


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## leavemealone (Jun 8, 2009)

Hey Danny,
if a drain cleaner contains sulfuric acid,it will be listed on the label,however almost all of them contain "buffers".Jim is right though Rooto is the one steve recommended and Ive been using it for a couple of years with no problem,Ace hardware usually carries it,if not Im sure they can order it.Its about $15 1/2 gallon.However if you want to save some money and you dont mind a little extra work,some auto parts stores(not autozone or advanced auto)carry battery acid 30%-32% thats just watered down sulfuric.If you boil it down about 1/3rd then you'd be around the 90% mark.And its ALOT cheaper.But remember it takes a lot of time and you'll end up spending out for the heat to boil it down,thats why I just buy the rooto.
Johnny


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## Barren Realms 007 (Jun 8, 2009)

A 5 Gal. container of battery acid from Oreiley's cost me about $25.00 the other day.


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## lazersteve (Jun 8, 2009)

Battery acid needs to be boiled down to 1/3 of it original; volume before use as concentrated acid.

Steve


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## Barren Realms 007 (Jun 8, 2009)

I'm working up to the strong stuff.

Did a batch sat. with dilute acid like you buy it. Most of my Sodium nitrate didn't disolve even bringing the temp up to 150F for a little bit.

I have another batch on tonight at 160F-170F letting the heat work it's majic.

Next I will concentrate the acid and make another batch.

Even the dilute stuff that didn't disolve well worked pretty good for disolving some jewlery I had.


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## old thompson (Mar 11, 2011)

I did a little shoping at some local hardware stores today. Didn't want to start a new thread, so I thought I should ask here. 

The only drain opener in town is called S-T Drain Opener by Santeen. It is only 85% sulfuric acid and it also contains an inhibitor(?). Would this product be suitable for making nitric acid? Or should I try another town?

Here is the MSDS for Santeen-
http://www.santeen.com/drain/drain_opener_msds.html

I would like to make a small amount of silver nitrate for electrolyte and build a small silver cell. I have about 300 grains of .999 + solder from some fine contacts that I have melted down 

Thanks- o.t.


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## adam_mizer (Mar 11, 2011)

Just wanted to add another supplier may be Janitorial or Cleaning type Supplies as they would use sulphuric to clean cement floors before sealing them in some cases.

I picked some up at a Janitorial or cleaning supply store it was 96% and an okay price about $20. I'm sure price differs from store to store, city to city.


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## old thompson (Mar 12, 2011)

Never mind, it looks like the inhibitor is butyl acetate. I don't know much about chemistry but from what I have read here it looks like organic compounds and silver don't mix. Getting read about in the newspaper is the last thing I want.

Also, I have found a trusted source of 96% sulfuric acid 4% water.


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## LittleJohnnyH2SO4 (Mar 18, 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEEjNQN2dIQ

Maybe a little overly-fancy for this crowd, but the same idea applies for distillation without vacuum. The NH4NO3 is pleasantly soluble in concentrated H2SO4 at slightly elevated temperatures and packs more nitric acid yield per weight than NaNO3 or KNO3. Without vacuum, the reaction finishes with molten NH4HSO4. Under vacuum it is solid when you're done.

Liquid fire drain cleaner is sulfuric acid and the inhibitor in it is a mixture of alkylpyridines, which are nitrated by the reaction solution and do not distill over. Rooto is also good from what I hear, but I can't find it.


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## lazersteve (Mar 19, 2011)

Johnny,

Shouldn't you have said the reaction ends with molten ammonium sulfate (not nitrate) since all of the nitrate is distilled over as nitric acid?

Steve


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## LittleJohnnyH2SO4 (Mar 20, 2011)

lazersteve said:


> Johnny,
> 
> Shouldn't you have said the reaction ends with molten ammonium sulfate (not nitrate) since all of the nitrate is distilled over as nitric acid?
> 
> Steve



Whoops, you're right. I edited.


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