Is the the cause of my rust?

[John Neel]

Living in an older section of Atlanta, my shop is in my basement. The house was built in 1939 and the basement is dry as long as I don't let the gutters overflow. There are three rooms in the basement. Before SWMBO said that I could convert the exercise room into a shop, tools were stored in the room that also houses the furnace, laundry tubs, and has a floor drain. The joiner bed began rusting a month after purchase. I read articles, tried every liquid and wax listed and it would still get a light coating of rust after a month or so. In a recent attempt at stopping the rust, I removed all the rust, sanded it lightly with 1000 grit, used a coat of one of the popular top preservers, then came back the next day, coated it with a thick coat of paste wax and did not remove or buff the wax.

Then I left town for 2 weeks and did not actually look at the top for another week after that. It had begun to rust again, mostly on one end. A friend was visiting and we discussed the problem. He said, "Do you have any acids around?" There was about a fourth of a plastic gallon of builder's acid tightly sealed. Left by the previous owner, it had been there since we bought the house 18 years ago. My friend thought that could be the problem since he had a rust problem until he got rid of the container of acid. I got rid of that container and moved an additional never opened small container of it into the garage.

Some additional clues: The end of the joiner closest to the where the acid was stored had more rust than the end away from where the acid was stored. I noticed that there was more rust on various cans containers and tools that were near the container of acid than were further from the acid. The top of my bandsaw showed no rust after 2 years although it was only about 10 feet from the joiner. The shop room is about ready and I have moved the joiner into that room. I waxed it 2 months ago and no rust has appeared on it yet.


So, the questions are: Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone know if acid stored like this could emit a small amount of fumes that could cause rust? Or, is it just a coincidence?


It's a mystery to me.


Thanks for any help.


John

[Paul Atkins]

Perfect sense to me. I had a plastic bottle of muratic acid in one side of the concrete laundry tub out on the porch. It was sealed and the window screen above it rusted in a vague half circle and disintegrated. The faucet (brass) was always oxidized too. Another note, don't spill acid into concrete laundry tub either. I had a small bottle of acid flux on my work bench for a couple of days while I was fixing a leaded window - 3 of my planes had light rust on the side towards the bottle, which was sealed - bummer.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Wow. I'm going to look around my shop again just to be sure.

[David G Baker]

John,
The rust from plastic acid bottles has not happened to me, but I have been reading about it off and on over the years so I think you have found the main source of your rust.
I ran a motion picture processing lab for years and found that a very mild acidic atmosphere will cause rust quite quickly. I have also read that plastic container pores are not totally sealed and some solutions will pass through the walls of the container at a very slow rate. All of my concentrated acids came in glass containers

[johnny means]

I think the real mystery here is why the previous owners acid is still in your house after 18 years. I know we all have a hard time throwing stuff out but...

[John Neel]

Thank you, Paul and David. Your two cases added to my own experience and to that of my friend is enough to convince me.

Johnny, it WAS still in my house. I got rid of it. I had to keep it for all those years because you never know when you might need some builders acid.
Also, there was such a good place to store it. It turned out I was correct too, I used most of it last winter. I saved a few dollars and it only cost me a few years of extra rust removal and a little grief.

John

[John McCaskill]

When I lived in Florida I kept the muratic acid for the swimming pool in the garage/workshop until I had the same rusting problem. Moved the acid out, no more rust.

John

[David G Baker]

When I lived in California I kept a case of swimming pool muriatic acid handy to use for removing rust from items I was restoring. I kept it in a small area outdoors that was protected from the elements and away from items that would rust. I do remember getting quite a bit of aluminum oxide on the surface of some aluminum sheets that were stored downwind from the acid. Never thought about the oxide being caused by the acid until now. I did wonder why the aluminum would oxide so fast, I thought it was the nasty air quality in the area.