|
It is my understanding that muriatic acid (as packaged and purchased today) is a by-product of other processes - leather tanning for one. This results in contaminants mixed in with the muriatic acid. Some of these contaminants can cause staining (although admittedly I am not aware of this happening often). Another muriatic negative is that the dilution apparently varies quite a lot, meaning even though you dilute it at the same ratio every time, you may get a wide variation of acid strength. If it's too strong, it could etch the pavers; too weak and it won't clean. These are a couple reasons why muriatic acid is so cheap. The hydrochloric acid used in (some?, most?, all?) efflorescence cleaners (products made specifically for pavers) is uncontaminated; a purer form for lack of a better word. The actual amount of hydrochloric acid in these products is also likely to be much more consistant.
If you use muriatic acid with success, keep on using it. I didn't mean to sound as though such use was a sin.
|