I have plant trays I use in the spring and they get lime deposits from my water. I was looking at cleaning vinegar at lowes last night and it was $27+ a gallon. Regular vinegar is about $4 a gallon. The cleaning vinegar is only around 25%.
acetic acid is almost as volatile as water, and the atmosphere contains a lot less of it. If you evaporate vinegar, you’re likely to lose about as much - maybe more - of the acid than the water. So, evaporation is probably not a good way to concentrate vinegar.
From all the Nile Red videos I’ve watched over the years: Azeotrope
You could also buy citric acid, relatively inexpensive and safe as vinegar.
No, because the acetic acid (vinegar) will have evaporated as well. It will be slightly stronger but not 20%
Acetic acid boils at ~120 C so less of it will have evaporated than the water but it will still evaporate as well.
As a bonus, entering the kitchen will require protective gear. And you’ll get rid of all kinds of pests in the house.
It might also depend on the relative humidity and, uh, relative vinegar level in the air.
So you’re saying it’ll work if I replace the air with gaseous vinegar? Brb.
(No, but) you can get far with freeze distillation: https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/a/6224
Except keep the ice instead of keeping the liquid like in ethanol freeze distilling?
Keep the liquid! Vinegar freezes around -25C
Have you tried barkeepers friend?
I would try Bon Ami first. Less toxic (don’t need to wear gloves or worry so much about inhalation) and less abrasive (I’m assuming the plant trays are plastic). But I’m not sure if either would work great on lime buildup; maybe after some vinegar application to soften things up first?
No idea about your evaporation question, but I’ve had success at removing lime deposits by using baking soda. It takes a little patience and scrubbing, but does work.
Citric acid is a good shout, but if you can get hold of sulfamic (NOT sulfuric) acid, it is much faster at removing limescale as it is a stronger acid. It does cost a bit more though…
