[alt-photo] Re: On working with hydrochloric acid

[Jack Brubaker]

A sealed container is OK. It is the open tray or non-sealed container
that will be eating up your metal objects. So when you use
hydrochloric have lots of ventilation to pull the vapors away or do is
outside. There is also the question of whether your venting system
will be eaten by the acidic vapors. If the pipe and fan blades are
metal and you do much with acids beware. A compromise is to just work
near a window with a cheap window fan to pull away fumes. Remember to
have another window open to provide an incoming flow of air from a
different wall or best of all the other side of the building. You
don't want the mess you send out the window to be sucked back in
through another window. So the simplest answer is to do these things
seldom, or, outside. Inspect your acid containers to be sure they are
well sealed.

Jack



On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Paul Viapiano <viapiano at pacbell.net> wrote:
> What about storing outside of the home in a garage? Automobiles, etc all live there...what about huge temp variations esp in summer? Will triple sealed bagging be ok?
>
> These are the issues that scare me off about ether and wet plate work as well...or is it overly alarmist?
>
> P
>
> On Feb 16, 2013, at 7:14 AM, Harlan Chapman n <hchapman at coastside.net> wrote:
>
>> A gentle warning on a sneaky little hazard in using hydrochloric acid
>> (muriatic acid):
>>
>> The acidic component is a gas, hydrogen chloride (HCl). Even dilute
>> hydrochloric acid will liberate the gas into your working environment.
>> Within reason this doesn't present a serious toxicity hazard and with good
>> ventilation you will be fine - hydrochloric acid is surprisingly friendly
>> to work with considering it's strength. But nearly any metal (aluminum,
>> iron, copper, even most stainless steel alloys commonly used) in your
>> entire workspace, even across the room, will begin to corrode. The
>> corrosion will be slow, insidious and damaging. Once noticed you'll find it
>> everywhere. So don't work with HCl in a darkroom space that may include
>> valued metal objects like clocks, cameras, dry mount presses, cutters…
>> Don't use it in a stainless steel sink unless you know it is an
>> HCl-resistant alloy. And don't store concentrated (even dilute)
>> hydrochloric acid solutions inside unless double or triple packaged as even
>> the best sealed bottle will likely leak fumes slowly into your storage
>> space and destroy it.
>>
>> Mix hydrochloric acid, use it, store it, and dry paper treated with it
>> freely outside.
>>
>> The volatile corrosiveness of HCl largely is not shared with most other
>> acids commonly used in photographic/printing processes.  Oxalic, acetic,
>> citric, dilute sulfuric, and dilute nitric, are OK, they won't liberate
>> undetectable vapors that slowly chew on metals throughout your workspace.
>>
>> Happy printing,
>>
>> -Harlan
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