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ferric chloride pump

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andrew2022

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to move the ferric chloride form the etching try back into bottle i use a old windscreen washer water pump and hose. is this safe (the impeller and casing is plastic and it is also washed with clean water after each use)
 
first thing that comes to mind is that many of these pumps use the washer fluid as a coolant/lubricant for the pump parts. this means running the pump with no fluid can drastically end its life. since you ar using it to transfer fluid, just keep the pump wet and it should be OK.
 
Well, the MG chemicals MSDS for Ferric Chloride suggests that this would be okay.

Ferric Chloride doesn't have a flash point, so there shouldn't be a flammability risk.

Ferric Chloride will produce Hydrogen gas if exposed to metallic parts for extended periods of time, but since you are rinsing the pump after each use, I don't see a problem here.

I've never known Ferric Chloride to react with plastics, so you should be okay there.

The only potential safety issues would be if the pump fails and the liquid shorts the electricity that is flowing through the pump motor, but this risk is equal with any type of non-flammable fluid that you run through the pump. You can probably add a fuse to the power supply, just in case something like this occurs (Which is what the manufacturer should have setup for the original application in a vehicle).

Finally, hopefully you won't be running any other types of fluids (less water) through the pump. Specifically alkalis, oxidizers etc, which are listed on the MSDS as reactants to Ferric Chloride.
**broken link removed**

If you're still concerned about using a washer pump, you can check out a hobby store for their fuel pumps which are cranked manually. (The fuel pumps are used to pump fuel into/ out of the RC model fuel tanks.) This would eliminate the threat of electricity faults. I'm not sure what the internal structure of one of these pumps is (regarding metallic components etc). Nevertheless, it is a suitable alternative.
 
Johnson777717 said:
I've never known Ferric Chloride to react with plastics, so you should be okay there.
Once upon a time, I did have some plastic tubing which I tried to use for moving the FeCl3 back into it's bottle from the etch container which was eaten by the solution, but I don't know what the plastic actually was. I've used normal, vinyl-type (fishtank) tubing with no problem, though.
Another pump alternative is a peristaltic-type or tubing pump, but they can be slow and expensive, unless you get one surplus ... JB
 
the only thing it is used for is the ferric chloride. it it also 12v (since its from a car) and fed from a fused transformer
 
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