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The big advantage of Evaporust is you can flood the surface using an aquarium pump. Run that overnight and rust is gone.

I found some patents for rust removers that use sodium EDTA and thiourea dioxide. Thiourea dioxide is a relatively stable reducing agent that (apparently) assists in converting rust to a more-soluble form. As can be deduced from its name, it contains sulfur. A paper by some Japanese researchers indicated that the best rust removal is obtained when the solution pH is close to neutral. Thiourea dioxide is used in the textile industry so should be readily available. An alternative to it might be sodium bisulfite. This also according to the Japanese research.

Seven dislikes are from evaporust's patent lawyers sweating nervously

I've never tried Evaporust myself, but I love trying to solve puzzle videos like this. My quick analysis is that the green color is an important clue. It's showing that there is iron in solution, but it's starved for oxygen. You can test this by taking some of the green liquid and putting a little hydrogen peroxide in it, and seeing if it flashes to brown. If it does, but then turns green again, then there is another layer of buffering. To make your version better (I know it's already cheap as is, but better is better), it needs something to deplete the oxygen in the partially-used solution. The green iron oxidation state means it is ready to steal oxygen from rust, but the new fluid is supposedly clear to yellowish, so it must start with a first layer of oxygen remover to preserve it until initial uses, and to verify its freshness upon receipt. Based on the assumption that one of the ingredients is ferrous hydroxide, which is clear, but turns green when contaminated by oxygen, but you're assuming it contains soap, and watching a video of new liquid being poured... I suspect that one of the pH/oxygen buffers is glycerine. You stated that it smelled a little like burned sugar too, and the MSDS says it's pretty much harmless to everything. I therefore suspect that the ingredients include ferrous hydroxide, from ferrous sulfate and sodium hydroxide, and glycerine, which may smell sweet in a chemical reaction, but will form a useful soap with the excess hydroxide, while helping to buffer the pH, along with something like citric acid to get the pH down enough without using an excess of glycerine.

I tried this method to de-rust the rear end of my car in a large tub (didn't want to buy $600 worth of evaporust). What I found was that after soaking for a day, there was no visible difference--but I did notice I could more easily scratch rust off with my fingernail. So I decided to try taking it out and power washing it. Except for the very heaviest rust spots, the rust just washed away like dirt! It was miraculous! Hope that helps someone. Many thanks to ElementalMaker.

Wait, this isn’t ProjectFarm! :)

If you have any EDTA left over after you are done, remember to keep it handy in case of vampire attack. It explodes on contact with vampire blood. (source: "Blade" 1998)

Always a good day when Elemental Maker uploads. Love the videos! I'm always checking the channel to see if I missed an upload

Here's two chelants with sulfur atoms (softer electron density): dimercaprol, and succimer.

I recently started cast iron restoration, Great video! Thank you!

Great video. Thank you for the research and testing. I love Evaporust. I use it all the time.

Great follow-up video, glad you made this one.

A small nitpick: Citric acid is not a "buffer" and you are not "buffering" the solution back to neutral. It is just an acid, and you are adjusting the pH back to a neutral value using an appropriate amount of the acid. A buffer is actually something different. A buffer contains a balance of particular chemicals which work together in such a way that they _maintain and resist changes to_ a particular pH level _even when other acids or bases are added._ That is, buffers will not change their pH even if you add acids or bases to them (up to the limit of their buffering capacity). None of the stuff you are using here is actually a pH buffer in the standard chemistry sense...

@ElementalMaker: I used to work in a cheese factory where we used citric acid to remove rust stains from the concrete floors. We just sprinkled granulated citric acid on the stains and got them damp with a hose. After about 5 minutes we''d hose it off and the stains would wash away. I always wondered why it seemed to pull the rust out of the concrete. It being a chelating agent makes it obvious why. Thanks for this video.

Thanks you for creating such great content. Actually using evaporust on a post vice restore. Will keep this recipe handy for the next one. 👍

Ordered and received all ingredients and good to go! Thanks for sharing.

For the last 50 years or so, I have been using a solution of approx. 15 to 1 water to molasses to remove rust ! It takes a while, (a week or two) but it is the least expensive and most effective and safest method I know of !

*I use this in a large bath to repurpose large rusted parts (radiators, compressors, transmissions etc etc) and have found that agitation is key to reducing the times.* If I can I simply place large totes inside my work vehicles, and the vibrations do all the work. But if the parts are too big, then I use a solar bubbler to keep the fluid moving. A "wiffle ball" is great for tumbling around and knocking into objects gently enough to work times down significantly. I just finished a car radiator and a HVAC evaporator in 3 hours. Shine like they are brand new!

This is pretty genius. And wow! The price difference is just mind blowing.!!

Thank you for providing this video; great stuff.

Good job on trying for evaporust. On old radios what is used as well as evaporust is naval jelly. Use a tiny brush to put on the Naval jelly and it makes old rusty radio metal look new.

I've used phosphoric acid as a rust removal agent for decades. There are certain grades of steel that it attacks, including most springs. The application where I liked it best was in restoring old motorcycle and classic car gas tanks. I also had no qualms about using it on cast iron. The big challenge is that finding a surfactant to improve the wetting of the solution is not easy; acid-stable candidates can be had in the industrial chemical market, but usually you have to buy them in unrealistic quantities. (I did that in the past, and ran out of what I had about a decade back.)

I loved your video because I'm starting to restore to restore a 1996 Ford Ranger that's in pretty good shape for it's age,except for small areas on the engine compartment and mounting hardware! Your video was an answer from heaven. GREAT VIDEO I HOPE YOU KEEP MAKING MORE! Thank you.

Brilliant, thank you for sharing. I'll have to make some.

I put evaporust in my 1931 model A , filled the cooling system and left it for days . Some say they drive it around with it in there . It definitely gets some crud out !

In Australia evaporust is $100 per gallon so this helps me a lot 😁

Cheers for that, for years I've always used vinegar 50/50 with water for car panels that are only slightly surface rusted, never had it come back but for heavy rust I'll be making some of that solution you have come up with. 😁

Thanks. I have been looking for a better rust remover and Evaporust looks like what I need.

Apparently it contains water, a chelating agent, and a detergent. The FAQ says that "once the chelating agent has removed the iron, a sulfur bearing organic molecule pulls the iron away from the chelator and forms a ferric sulfate complex which remains water soluble. This frees the chelating agent to remove more iron from rust." So the chelating agent isn't the one that has the sulfur atom - it's probably the detergent.

A comparison with oxalic acid would have been interesting, as it seems to have a good reputation for rust conversion. (Serendipity! I was _just_ looking for information on evapo-rust.) Very good, thank you.

Good stuff, and great explanation! I really like how you reverse-engineered this so well! I have some phosphoric acid lying around, so I might have to test that out in a video...

Thank you for figuring this out and validating it! If the citric acid or vinegar don't seem to be getting to all the rust, perhaps adding some dish soap to those chemicals as well. Also, I've found that putting the container of solution in an ultrasonic machine filled with water speeds up the process significantly.

So I have been obsessed with cloning evaporust for a while and this video pushed me to get started. I have been working and tweaking and finally came up with something that I think gets as close you can to the original formula while still being cheap and easy to get ingredients. Total cost is about $5.35/gal The rustlick has the benefit of also helping prevent flash rusting when you remove the parts from solution just like evaporust. To make ~4L (approx 1 gal) 4L liters water (ideally distilled or R/O water) 200g EDTA 4NA 200ml Rustlick B (73011) ~30 ml sulfuric acid drain cleaner to buffer to approx 7pH ******* Use eye protection, gloves, all the usual gear when working with strong acids/bases******** Dissolve water and EDTA until completely dissolved then mix in the Rustlick B Add the sulfuric acid slowly, I would suggest adding 15ml at first, take a pH reading and then add 5ml at time until you hit the mark. You can use another acid to buffer such as citric acid but the sulfur is supposed to be beneficial.

In New Zealand Evaporust is $85.00NZD for 5 liters, $54.00USD for 1.3 gallons. I found it very hard to find a company that sells EDTA to the public But I will keep trying because I am eager to try your solution (No pun intended). Thanks for the information.

This is incredibly useful! Thanks a bunch!

Good vid, thanks for your efforts.

Nice! I've always wanted clones for my pennies.

If you’ve got plenty of time (like a week or two) a basic molasses solution (around 9 parts water to 1 part molasses iirc) works great & is very gentle. Only problem is the smell, after a while it gets mouldy & doesn’t smell nice at all, but it works a treat.

Cool, thanks. I live in Michigan and work on cars a lot so I know all about rust. I've also been amazed by the effectiveness of Evapo Rust. The price isn't terrible but it can add up if you need to buy a lot, I'll look into giving this a try next time I need to de-rust something big.

Very good. I read the subtext. I wish you were a neighbor. Your equipment is similar to mine. This video was gold. Well done!

I've used Evaporust for years, tried a bunch of other stuff and by far is the best. Yeah I wish it was a bit more affordable. I'm usually doing small parts and have found a soaked paper towel around the part in a zip type plastic bag with the air pressed out is a good way to economize that stuff.

I used to work at Evaporust, and I can tell you that it is made simply of distilled unicorn tears.

Great video and info. Thank you.

Keylating Agent.!!!!! Wow so Cool You stated that. Best info I have found ! Thank You tons I have several projects that will be worked on now .!!!! A wrought Iron lamposost most of all.

Having a lot of chelating power in solution increases the effective solubility of Fe3+ ions. There is no oxidizer in solution, O2 will not be bubbling out, the oxygen in Fe2O3 (real rust is not exactly that, but that does not mater for this point) will go into solution as oxide ions (O with 2- charge) and that immediately rips off a proton from a water molecule, forming two hydroxide ions. So the solution will get more basic as you dissolve more rust. But due to the low amount of rust its probably not noticeable.

Fascinating! For an old axe or similar tool, I do 24 hours in vinegar (don’t leave it in until it eats the metal), then hit it with a wire wheel. At this point I can usually see the temper line. Then I do a day or two of electrolysis, wire wheel, then a few days in Evaporust, and final wire wheel. I don’t mind spending a few more days, if my Evaporust is a lot cheaper. 👍

Excellent information - thanks.

👍 Bloody expensive in UK mate. $20 for a litre. So thank you so much for making this Video. I'll never buy it again at this price.

Hi I started using molasses and water 9:1 mix after watching an Australian fellow dipping an entire car in the stuff for rust removal. the stuff really works, much slower than Evaporust and the upside🤣 if you have some molasses left over you can make some cookies. Rich

Many thanks for that. Useful tip.

Great information. TY. If you ever repeat this experiment, I'd like to see adding your surfactant to all 4 solutions, not just the tetra sodium EDTA/citric acid solution.

I realize this is an older video. Thing I have to offer using vinegar is it woeks 10× better when it is hot! Not boiling, maybe coffee temp or slightly below. Changes its ability to remove rust dramatically. Not sure if the motility of the solution being hot/super warm is the key, but, works way better.

I've used plenty of phosphoric, and it doesn't clean rust off surfaces - it's great at converting what rust remains after you've cleaned a part up, leaving a finish similar to the Evaporust, but it's not really any good at getting the surface rust off in the first place.

Compliments on your efforts here bud. Thanks. I have some tools that were abused by leaving them out. I'll be trying this out.

Very good video, thanks

Need to sit outside their factory and write down all the DOT labels on the trucks/rail cars going in.

Here in Aus, a gallon (actually 5 litres) costs at least $60, and most places are asking $90, so it is expensive here. I had a look at the MSDS for evaporust, and it appears to be 15-20% sodium bisulfate (metabisulfate in solution), 80% water and a small amount of a surfactant. A DIY version would be 150-200g sodium metabisulfate, 800ml water and a couple of drops of dish soap.

Thanks for the share of knowledge, : )

Another awesome video with great info

White Vinegar in an ultrasonic cleaner with the heat turned up and cooked for 45 minutes to an hour. Then let sit overnight and in the morning brush off the mucky stuff. Great results.

You absolutely can etch metals at neutral pH, especially when chelating agents are involved. Look up Pourbaix diagrams to learn more about this sort of chemistry. I'm an amateur, but it looks like iron is best protected against etching between pH 9-13, before complexing species (of which chelators are an example) are involved.

Where I live I have to order Evapo rust, and the total comes out to $80 a gallon, its absolutely ridiculous, I now will try this, should save me an incredible amount, thanks!

Yes! I've been wanting a cheaper evaporust for years!

For small parts, I have found that a warm solution of citric acid(as shown here, approx 80-100F, if you want warmer, best to test) in an ultrasonic tank works very well, and the ultrasonic motion helps to agitate the loose particulate away from the parts. Of course, using a proper dilution is helpful. But its insanely cheap, can be dumped on the backyard garden/grass without issue, unlike heavier chemicals. Plus, citric acid is cheap cheap cheap. R/O water from the local water store, my local also offers RO/DI. With an ultrasonic, make sure to use a secondary container to hold your working solution in the tank of water. I use the same process for cleaning parts with solvents, things like small engine carbs and parts when rebuilding engines. Ultrasonic really speeds up the time, plus using a heated/warm solution vs room temperature.

There has to be some chelator simmilar to EDTA, if not it. But on top of that, it also contains a sulfur compund which reacts with iron bonded on chelator molecule. It can liberate used chelator molecule, making it reactive again. Sulfur molecule probably has to create some sort of iron complex in the reaction.

I keep a concentrated solution of citric acid on hand so I don't have to dissolve it each time I need it. Thank you for this video very helpful!

Thanks for the video. I've had good results with molasses.

I will give these old nuts a longer soak any day of the week if I can save a few bucks 👍. Solid video, rust removal is just so satisfying.

Wow you almost nailed it. Evaporust uses Tannic acid and Ca EDTA. Very cool video my friend.

Great info Thanks!!!!

Nice .. Love a good rust remover.

If evaporust finishes better maybe go with the diy mix for heavy intial removal and switch over for finishing. Then the evaporust lasts much longer.

We must consider the temperature in the evaluation. Vinegar can go from just sitting there like water to visible bubbling just by placing the container in the sun or other warming. Probably goes for the other rust removers as well. Also degreasing is so important, as the chems must reach the rust. And wire brushing away thick rust first saves time and the acid doesn't get used up as fast.

Good thing about phosphoric acid is that it takes very short time.In about 5- 10 min it eats the rust away,it wont eat deep rust but if you use a wire wheel and reapply it ,its very fast.When it comes with a contact with rust it starts to bubble with a white foam.If you wash it with water it wont leave it thou.I buy it in a hardware store ,its sold in a 75% solution as a rust remover.I used to use a vinegar but its not that cheaper compared to acid and its painfuly slow and you have to use a wire brush.Great thing with acid is that you can submerge the part in it or simply use a brush.Oh you can just wipe it with a rag and paint over it in no time.

This was awesome!

I used ascorbic acid in an electrochemical cell with a carbon anode electrode to free up some rusted solid steel, did do a good job on the rust, but of course nothing it could do about the pitting it had gotten. Ascorbic acid as I had a bag that was a few years expired, so not classed as edible, but still good as an organic acid. Also works well to anodise aluminium parts, again with the carbon cathode. Took a few seconds to anodise aluminium nicely, and a few hours with a 12V battery and a 50W lamp in series to get the rust away. Not that I see Evaporust here, only things for rust removal are acids, and then passivate with phosphoric acid, or use rust remover gels that are acid based.

Now I can afford to soak engine blocks! Thanks!

Very helpful video

Thank you sir very much for the video as well as showing us how to clean a rusty nuts

On the phosphoric side, I've used 5 Star Saniclean with good results. Another that's worked well for me it's 1:5 molasses: water. I'll be ordering some EDTA to try out. Thanks!

Although I'm sure you're way past this experiment I just came across your video and appreciated the idea trying to replicate the evapo-rust formula. I use gallons of the stuff so I can actually personally benefit from trying to make it. Your mention of the somewhat sweet, sulfur smell in the original product made me think about possible additional ingredients which might account for that and actually balance the formula. They may actually be using either cane or beet molasses which has a relatively stable pH 5-7 or nuetral for beet molasses. And since they also promote the product as environmentally safe to handle this ingredient makes sense . What do you think?

Citric acid is excellent for cleaning brass items as well. I find that it works best at 2-3 Tbsp/gallon of water (3.8L) and at 140-160 degrees F,

Nice! I know I'm alte to comment but that's gone right into my Maker Tips playlist. Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) is in a lot of soft drinks to make them a bit tart, coca cola I think for one - and I've had a phosphoric acid based "rust passivator" which you use to turn the metal black and not rust again. But a bit got through my rubber glove into a fresh cut and it was DEFIINITELY acidic (ask me how I know...) and so I immediately went to wash off and look up phosphoric acid and found out it's a food ingredient so wasn't likely to end in my slow agonising death. But I'd though it was s rust remover when in fact it converts rust so the best way I found to finish was to roughly wirebrush back thick rust and then apply the H3PO4, give it time to do its thing, and then wash down afterwards. It was also good to wirebrush bare new metal, spray salt and vinegar water over it and let it rust, then hit it with H3PO4 and - black surface that didn't rust again.

Am i the only person who just breaks off tiny little pieces of ph paper rather than using whole strips? Its quite cost effective. Also. A great rust solution is sodium sulfate, i usually have ALOT in my boiling flask from the fuming nitric acid distillation process. Its usually a big rick hard mass at the bottom that requires using water to dissolve it in order to remove it. Put it in a bucket and add in your rusty steel.. it makes hardened high carbon steel look very nice.. and if antool or blade is differentially hardened then you can see a really great contrasting demarkation between soft and hard steel. Really cool.

Awesome video thanks bro.

Well enjoyable don't understand most of the chemical stuff🤔 but I did understand " homemade cheap " Well pleased and going to have a try thanks for your videos

Neat! I know for a fact that it's not EDTA in Evapo-Rust.

This is excellent! Evaporust is super expensive and weirdly hard to find by me.

Thanks!

Evaporust cost a fortune in the UK so your formula is much appreciated

It would be interesting to compare each of them with occasional agitation vs being in an ultrasonic cleaner.

In Australia they have to make the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) readily available to everyone. The MSDS for Evaporust indicates the active ingredient is Sodium Bi-Sulphate at 3% concentration (also known as Sodium Acid Sulphate or NaHSO4). NaHSO4 is commonly used as a pH decreaser for spas and dissolved in water would be an acidic solution, requiring buffering but perhaps Evaporust is just a mix of 3% Sodium Bi-Sulphate and a small amount of Tetra Sodium EDTA? May be worth another experiment?

Thanks. This is informative. Evaporust is now $30 for the large jug at Harbor Freight, so there's a strong motivation to find something else now. And incidentally it's sickly yellow.

Thank you so much. I'm 18 and leaning from guys like you. 😃 Subscribed!

Also, notice how the citric acid solution went a lot more yellowish-green instead of brown. That is due to base metal corrosion, the Fe3+ ions and the acidic environment together dissolve some Fe metal and form Fe2+ ions, which are green.

I wonder if instead of Citric acid that they might be using methylsulfonic acid. You had mentioned a sulfur compound and methylsulfonic acid is used in the recovery of metal salts like iron oxides and zinc. Combined with a chelating agent like EDTA I think it would be pretty effective.

Rust 911 seemed to work better for me for my claw foot tub restoration. i started with evaporust because of HTR, but i had to figure it out on my own, of course. there's also a decent bit of potassium permanganate left in the city water around my house, so that may affect the dilution of the rust 911 compared to the other. doggone city water.

Great video

Nice video . I prefer Citric Acid myself for cost , However for some grades of Cast Iron Do NOT use Citric acid , Hydrochloric , Acetic or Phosphoric acid as it rips out the carbon molecules and softens the surface of the cast iron. For cast iron probably stick with Vaporust or fermented Mollasses. For Steel , definitely use Citric or your 4Na -EDTA