Aluminum Brighteners

There are three types of aluminum brighteners EaCo Chem manufactures:

Safe/non-hazardous fluorides – Not corrosive to humans or glass.
Fluoride salt type – Much safer than HF for glass and humans. Very good at removing certain mineral stains such as fly ash.
Hydrofluoric Acid products – Very aggressive and hazardous to humans and glass. Tends to create aluminum oxide. Cost effective, but dangerous.

Non-Hazardous Flourides

Sabre is a very different aluminum brightener. Other products that purport to do the same thing have a heavy hit of sulfuric or caustic, making the products corrosive to individuals. Sabre does not. All other systems clean by eating away a small layer of the aluminum. The real benefit of Sabre is that the product functions without the corrosive element.

Another negative aspect of corrosion cleaning is that it tends to oxidize aluminum, which makes for a more difficult clean. Sabre ends both of these problems while also being much friendlier to humans. It ships non-corrosive and non-hazardous, and the acid blend will brushlessly clean 95% of any aluminum immediately when used as directed.

The beauty of Sabre is that it is also inexpensive. Really cost-effective regular cleaning may take a few washings to remove the HF oxidized metal and re-smooth the surface. The safety benefits begin immediately when you first use the product.

Directions: Depending on how dirty the surface is, Sabre will be applied in the range between straight and 20:1 (twenty parts water to one part solution). When used as directed, the product’s safety allows for any application system. It is easy to safely brush, down-stream, up-stream or low pressure apply. Lay on the product at the right strength and proper method – single or double soap – and then rinse carefully to remove the soil and oxidation. It is generally bad practice to let any soap dry on the surface; if drying does occur, simply re-apply and rinse.

Flouride Salt Brighteners

Versitall is a broad-spectrum brightener that significantly reduces the hazards of HF brighteners while still giving cost-effective results. This was our safest product before the development of Sabre.

Versitall is especially good on certain mineral stains and soils, such as fly ash and clay stains. The product is so versatile, it is difficult to write specific instructions; it can be used in the range of straight to 40:1, depending on the application.

It is extremely easy to use and very non-stressful to work with.

Hydrofluoric Brighteners

(HF Brighteners)

Hydrofluoric brighteners are very straight forward. Simply find the right dilution and be careful not to get the product on anything you don’t want etched. HF will corrode whatever it touches; on humans, it burns to the bone and can cause death.

We don’t like to recommend these products, but since they are part of the industry, we do have two of them: Brite 10 and Alumix.

Brite 10 is designed to attempt to balance the aggressiveness of HF with the safety we have achieved in our other products. It is fairly forgiving on glass if you do not let it dry on the surface. It can quickly bloom and brighten aluminum. It also tends not to oxidize as readily due to the phosphoric present in the formula. Alumix is extremely aggressive.