Cleaning Concrete Mixers

19 years ago

It's a good thing that the person who borrowed my electric mixer is my very good and generous friend. He returned it covered in cured concrete all over the drum, with the bits behind the fins almost filled up. I spent 3 hours this morning with a hammer and cold shisel, wire brush and nylon brush - and muriatic acid. And lots of safety gear! I think I'm about halfway there.

I diluted the muriatic acid 1:2. Would I get better results with full strength?

I used to spend lots of time cleaning up at the end of the day, when I am tired and the light is fading. Mortar mixes are even stickier than hypertufa! Blasts of water from the hose alternating with shovels of crushed rock whirling around noisily do a good job, but... I'm thinking that a pressure washer would make the clean-up fast and effective. Any one ever used one?

Mercedes

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Comments (3)

mnchris
19 years ago
My heart goes out to you....that is a huge, messy job!
club_53
19 years ago
I got so sick of cleaning my mixer, and generlaly fooling around getting the consistency of the mix
"just right" and then fishing it all out of there, that now I just put the dry ingredients in it, let them chug around for 15 minutes (or longer if I'm doing something else), then pour them dry into a mortar tub and hand mix in the water. Works fine for smallish amounts. Actually, it saves time, and it's easy to get the hypertufa the consistency I want the first time.
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klinger
19 years ago
Oh, what a shame. When I bought my new to me mixer it was in need of a clean up. I wrapped a rag around a sledge hammer and whacked most of it off. Made a huge racket but felt good to see large amounts come off.I've used a presssure washer, but not in a mixer. I think it would be worth a try for sure. Good luck
Cindy