In article ,
Larry Gagnon wrote:

Am I correct in understanding that TSP, also called Sugar Soap (the stuff
used by many to wash walls before painting) is essentially mostly lye?

Nope. TSP is Tri-sodium phosphate. "TSP substitute" is apparently
often composed largely of sodium carbonate ("washing soda" or "soda ash").

I believe that both of these chemicals will attack aluminum, but that
the reactions are a lot slower than is the case with lye (sodium
hydroxide).

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Am I correct in understanding that TSP, also called Sugar Soap....
Nope. TSP is Tri-sodium phosphate...

So what is in Draino?
--
--Myron A. Calhoun.
Five boxes preserve our freedoms: soap, ballot, witness, jury, and cartridge
PhD EE (retired). "Barbershop" tenor. CDL(PTXS). W0PBV. (785) 539-4448
NRA Life Member and Certified Instructor (Home Firearm Safety, Rifle, Pistol)

Am I correct in understanding that TSP, also called Sugar Soap....
Nope. TSP is Tri-sodium phosphate...

So what is in Draino?

The Draino brand drain-unclogger I have seen is a mixture of lye
pellets, and granulated aluminum. When dumped into a drain and
watered, the lye and aluminum react, generating hydrogen gas, quite a
bit of heat, and often some steam. The heat helps break up the gunk
clogging the drain.

"Red Devil" brand drain-unclogger is just lye, without the aluminum.
If I recall correctly it even comes with instructions for making lye
soap, using lye and fat.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Larry Gagnon wrote:
On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 00:30:33 +0000, RadioGuy wrote:

Howdy:

Its been a common practice with me to finish the aluminum surface of a
chassis or box with an immersion into a caustic solution followed with a
coating of clear acrylic spray---I like the satin finish it produces. I
normally use lye that I regularly found on the shelves of our neighborhood
hardware stores. However, I've been having a harder time of finding the
flaked lye that I have used over the years for that purpose. I have used
'Lewis Red Devil Lye' that I found at Ace Hardware.
[snip]

Am I correct in understanding that TSP, also called Sugar Soap (the stuff
used by many to wash walls before painting) is essentially mostly lye? If
so that is quite a cheap source you might want to consider.

TSP is Tri-Sodium Phosphate; lye is Sodium Hydroxide. They're different
compounds with different properties.

Sodium Hydroxide is incredibly nasty if mishandled: the human body does not
handle strong bases well, and Sodium Hydroxide eats flesh with terrible
avidity. It's really, really easy to lose meat or an eye to a drop or three
in the wrong place. I wear long gloves, a plastic apron, a long-sleeved
shirt, goggles _and_ a face shield whenever I have to work with it.

TSP, while much less nasty, is still nothing to play with. Google for the
Material Safety Datasheets (MSDS) on both.

--
Before long, Microsoft will attempt to patent the alphabet (hoping we'll
have to pay royalties to use our keyboards and keep their stock solid).
-- Phil Paxton