How-to-Use Our Un-Rust-It Rust Removers
General
Un-Rust-It does not offer RTU (Ready-to-Use) anymore. Why pay to ship water.?
Remember to ADD WATER to our concentrate before using.
The addition of water activates the rust remover and enables the proprietary chemicals to effectively remove rust and oxidation. The Industrial Concentrate product is formulated to be used only after adding water to concentrate in recommended concentrations of between 10% and 20%.
Cleaning Prior to Rust Removal
The Industrial concentrate diluted to the proper concentration will generally remove most common contaminants, but we highly recommend washing off the parts prior to applying the rust remover. Metal Kleener 0001 is specifically designed to be used with the rust removers. The Metal Kleener 0001 is designed to remove heavy contaminants such as oils, greases, dirt and road grime.
Its far less expensive to use low cost detergents to remove contaminants than to use expensive rust remover concentrate to do that.
Metal Kleener 0001 is a great pre-cleaner prior to rust removal and the 0001 also works great for removing any black smut that may be present on the steel (only high carbon steels and some cast irons may develop the smut film).
A Word of Precaution: Avoid any detergents that may contain sodium or potassium hydroxide. Although they generally work well, these detergents are tough to rinse thoroughly. They tend to leaving dried sodium or potassium hydroxide on the surface. Our Metal Kleener 0001 does not contain these caustics and rinses off with tap water well.
Caustic detergents (sodium or potassium hydroxides) can be really good cleaners if nothing else works. We chose to stay away from them because they are corrosive, hazardous and are very difficult to rinse off thoroughly. You will know if your using the sodium or potassium hydroxides because they are very slippery to feel and leave a slimy feel to your parts when wet. If you do not completely remove all the detergent from your parts, the dried hydroxides can reactivate after painting when exposed to moisture. Then the paint will blister off.
On certain metals, a black smut like film might form on the parts after rust removal. This film can be easily washed off by using diluted Metal Kleener 0001 before the film dries. If the film dries, re-immerse part into diluted rust remover solution for 5-15 minutes and wash with 1 to 3% diluted Metal Kleener 0001.
Rust Removal
Our product is supplied to you as a concentrate offering you huge savings. Consequently you must dilute to the proper concentration prior to use. We recommend using either 10% or 20% Industrial concentrate in 90% to 80% water, respectively.
"NO WATER- NO WORK!!" The water activates our concentrated product.
Water Quality
Our rust remover concentrate and Metal Kleener 0001 concentrate products are designed to be use with drinking quality water although softened water, if available, is always better, but not required.
As with most water-based concentrates, the more pure the water the less the concentrates chemicals will be used up. The water hardness actually uses up some of the chemistry that would normally be used to remove rust, etc.
Temperature
Temperature is very important in working with any of the chelant based rust removers, ours or theirs and should be considered when applying.
Un-Rust-It Rust Remover is designed to work well at ambient temperatures above 60 F. Below these temperatures, the product works very slowly and may need to leave your parts in the rust removal fluid for an extended period. Low watt density immersion heaters can help to bring up the fluid temperature to recommended levels.
Our rust remover is designed to be used in the range of 60 F to 150 F. Increasing the temperature of the fluid to 110 F will greatly increase the rust removal rate. Heating product to 155 F and above will deteriorate the product and significantly reduce its rust removal capacity. High temperature above 150 F will cause the chelant to breakdown and remove far less rust or not at all.
If you decide to heat up our fluid, use low watt density heaters or keep the burners on low. Do not boil our fluids.
Containers
Our product is formulated not to harm most plastics, rubbers and paints. Our rust remover can be safely used in glass, plastic (polyethylene, polypropylene, Teflon, ABS, PET, etc.), and stainless steel tanks. Do not pour into galvanized tanks, our rust remover will remove the zinc (galvanized) coating.
If you are planning on heating the fluid, you can use polyethylene and polypropylene tanks if you keep the fluid temperatures up to 120 F to 150 F. Always check with the tank manufacturers recommended maximum temperatures.
Our Rust Remover solution can be reused over and over until they appear "jet black" in color. The fluid can be stored for future use by covering with a lid to minimize evaporation and dirt from getting into the tank. Store in closed compatible containers.
Dilution or Mixing of the Industrial Concentrate
Our product is formulated to work best between 10% and 20% concentrate in water.
10% works best for light to heavy rust applications and/or one time use. Simply mix in 1-part Industrial Concentrate with 9-parts water. You can use any size container, just use the same container when measuring. I.e.: mix 1 gallon Industrial concentrate with 9 gallons of water for a total of 10 gallons.
20% works best for light to severely rusted applications and/or multiple use. In this case, mix 1 part of Industrial Concentrate to 4 parts water. I.e.: mix 1-gallon of Industrial Concentrate with 4 gallons of water for a total of 5 gallons.
Application of Our Rust Remover
Our product works best when used in either immersion or continuous spray applications.
Immersion applications: place your part into the tank and fill with diluted rust remover solution to above the part. Make sure that air is not trapped in or under the part to be de-rusted. I.e.: placing a container in the fluid upside down with an air bubble trapped.
Continuous Spray applications: involve using a submersible pump (or equivalent), garden hose, low profile plastic tank and some polyethylene sheeting (plastic tarp) to capture the spray and direct it towards the pump for re-use.
Attach the hose to the pump and using a spray nozzle, spray the fluid onto the part to be de-rusted. Fill a container with rust removing solution and place the pump into the liquid. Drape and hang the plastic tarp so that it catches the fluid overspray and returns it back into the plastic tank. See following link for pictures.
Spray application is perfect for large or long parts, machinery, automobiles etc. that wont fit into a tank. Spray application generally uses much less fluid than immersion.
Typically, rusted metal only need to be left in the rust removal fluid until the rust has dissolved, about 20 minutes to overnight. This depends on degree of rust and temperature of rust removal fluid. To preserve your fluid, wire brush off any loose rust flakes, etc. There is no sense of wasting chemistry on the loose rust.
Rinse parts off with warm water after rust removal process. If the parts have a black film on them, you may need to use a low dilution of Metal Kleener 0001 to remove this film. Usually only apparent with high carbon tool steels and some cast irons.
Shelf Life of Un-Rust-It Industrial Concentrate
Typical shelf life is over 2 years un-opened. We have a couple of unopened bottles that are over 4 years old and they still work just like new fluids.
Opened bottles may expect the same 2 year shelf life if bacteria and other contaminants do not enter the fluids. Bacteria can be found on your hands, chewing tobacco, etc.
Simply store any unused fluid and used fluids in a covered container in a cool area. Avoid freezing, although it can be thawed by running warm water over the bottle. Do not use until the entire bottle is thawed.
Post Treatment of De-Rusted Parts
It is important to note that after rust removal, the metal is very clean and can be easily re-rusted. Apply a suitable coating is not applied immediately after washing off rust remover.. Apply your paint or other similar coating when the metal is dry. If you need a couple of days prior to painting, re-immerse your part into a 10% dilution of rust remover in water. Remove and let dry. Remember that this is only good for a couple of days indoors. For longer protection use Metal Shield 1999.
Many customers will apply our Metal Shield 1999 to the parts in-between rust removal and painting. The Metal Shield 1999 will provide short term indoor protection from re-rusting until washed off. It is good for 6-months to 1-year indoors rust protection. The Metal Shield 1999 will dry to touch within 30 minutes or so, depending on temperature and humidity. It also provides a non-sticky film.
The Metal Shield can be easily washed off using our diluted Metal Kleener 0001.