Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The things found in old houses

The wife and I are much enjoying our new digs. Early 1900s home, FAR better neighborhood than before, much more room...

But, as with all old homes it will develop problems from time to time.

This morning's was/is a plumbing leak that is coming from the tub when it's in operation. Not huge, but something that needs to get fixed. Of course, the source of the leak is a damned mystery, and the problem will most likely be solved by removing a section of ceiling beneath the tub, fixing the leak, and then patching with sheetrock (as opposed to the plaster-and-lathe that's currently there).

Anyway, whilst exploring the problem area this morning, I removed the trap door in the bathroom linen closet. Hmmm... what's this? Drain cleaner? YIKES...

Yeah, this stuff will clean your pipes:







Now, what to do with it?

Make a battery???? Check the Anarchists Cookbook to see its practical applications????

laughing...

Youa asked for it!!

ET is right on target!

That is some heavy duty stuff!

Your local household hazardous waste station should take it.

Love the skull and crossbones!

Keep it. Just the ticket for 2 legged pest control or making a batch of gun cotton.

Piss off a tree-hugger/democrap and make like you are dumping it in the storm drain in front of your house.

By far not the most "interesting" or potentially lethal stuff I've ever found in old houses.

My Dad and I cleaned out his parent's place after his worthless brother finally died. The garage was a cornucopia of stuff. Including a gallon glass pickle jar 3/4 full of strychnine.

Or, the one that I helped clean out in Vermont; an old barn and farmstead that had been bought and set for renovations. 2/3 case of OLD dynamite.

I know some meth. cooks who could probably chemically tone it down and use it to put a little zing in their meth.

Well, if the pipes are metal, and someone actually used that sulfuric acid base cleaner I can give you a guess as to why the pipes are leaking.

Cleaners these days are usually lye based and not nearly as corrosive.

Concentrated sulfuric will react violently, and exothermically, with just about anything including water. I've used it in the lab that was so concentrated that is was as thick as syrup. You could let a drop of water drip on it and it would pop as the water drop burst into steam.

Some areas have a hazardous household chemical turn in program. Maybe you could give the waste disposal folks a call. Or maybe dilute it and use it in your car battery? (just kiddin')

In any case be careful. That's some mighty nasty stuff.

Different world today for sure.

You can't even buy decent cold medicine anymore without ID, finger prints, DNA sample, retinal scan.............

I'd rather people like that just take a shotglass of it straight.

VA, is that a plastic bottle or glass?

Yep, as soon as I found this (there's a little bit missing from the bottle), the idea as to WHY there is a leak was there. WHERE is the next issue. Cast iron tub, and pipes of various eras and compositions (bronze, copper, iron, probably some lead somewhere...), basically what you'd expect of a house built in the early 1900s and updated throughout the years as need be.

Plastic.

The solution to pollution is dilution. Slowly pour it a few cap fulls at a time into your toilet bowl and flush or get some of the alkaline drain cleaner and mix in open air to bring pH up from 1 of sulphuric acid to 7 of neutral.

If you are in an area that has a lot of calcium carbonate rock mix the acid in water and put in a few shovels full of white rock and the add more water. pH will rise and the problem will be solved.

rut roh

you probably know this already, but plastic can turn brittle with age, so I think the first task is to gently get it into an overpack container, so if it starts to leak the acid stays contained.

One of our helpers in the shop was cleaning the bathroom, when he grabs some toilet bowl cleaner and decides to use it at full strength. He eventually realized the fumes were way too strong, and gets out. The boss and I take turns grabbing a breath outside, running in to dilute the cleaner with water, and then running back outside, trying to minimize our exposure. We eventually get it cleaned up with no harm done. I look up the cleaner and realize it's 25% Hydrochloric acid

I've seen that container before,it's a one of my huntin pard's coffee thermos..

Betcha he ain't ever got a problem with constipation...