Electrolysis Tank Evaporation

woodvue

Member
I haven't used my electrolysis tank is quite a while and noticed that the level in the tank has been lowered by evaporation. Lowered by about 6". My question is when I top it up with water will I have to add new lye? BTW its an old plastic water trough. Thanks
 
(quoted from post at 07:26:33 11/27/12) I haven't used my electrolysis tank is quite a while and noticed that the level in the tank has been lowered by evaporation. Lowered by about 6". My question is when I top it up with water will I have to add new lye? BTW its an old plastic water trough. Thanks

Nope, you just dehydrated the lye and such back into crystalline form, so it's anhydrous. Mine is a large Rubbermaid stock tank and it is dry as well. I'm going to fill it soon, and it will all come back just like table salt in water.
 
(quoted from post at 16:01:17 11/27/12)
(quoted from post at 07:26:33 11/27/12) I haven't used my electrolysis tank is quite a while and noticed that the level in the tank has been lowered by evaporation. Lowered by about 6". My question is when I top it up with water will I have to add new lye? BTW its an old plastic water trough. Thanks

Nope, you just dehydrated the lye and such back into crystalline form, so it's anhydrous. Mine is a large Rubbermaid stock tank and it is dry as well. I'm going to fill it soon, and it will all come back just like table salt in water.

That's what I thought but it's been a long time since chemistry class. Thanks guys.
 
F-I-T could you send me a link to understand how this works
better and any type of photos about the tank and other items
that are used to make it work.
 
(quoted from post at 07:28:06 11/28/12) F-I-T could you send me a link to understand how this works
better and any type of photos about the tank and other items
that are used to make it work.

Here's a link to a pdf I wrote, and some photos of my newest M.O.A.T...."Mother of all tanks". I use a 5 volt/200 amp computer TTL rack supply and can clean about half an "H" rear wheel at a time, but I seldom run over 20 amps. At a low voltage like this, you can put your hands in the water and not get a tingle because 5 volts is too low to pass through your galvanic skin resistance. 12 volts work, too, but you'll get a tingle if you don't shut it off first.

http://www.fboerger.com/Articles/Electrolysis.pdf

IMGP2576.jpg


IMGP0116-1.jpg
 

Electrolysis works great on [i:03e544c477]lots[/i:03e544c477] of stuff...including rusty 100+ years old horseshoes fresh from the pasture! But on some things, it just doesn't work so well. You have to try it and see for yourself.

Also, I don't think just any battery charger will work. I tried it with different kinds of chargers, but only got it to work with ones that did [b:03e544c477]not [/b:03e544c477]have the automatic shut-off capability.

Anyway, here's another link with someone else's electrolysis strategy:

http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/electrolyticderusting.htm
 
(quoted from post at 09:57:09 11/29/12)
Electrolysis works great on [i:3e025b0081]lots[/i:3e025b0081] of stuff...including rusty 100+ years old horseshoes fresh from the pasture! But on some things, it just doesn't work so well. You have to try it and see for yourself.

Also, I don't think just any battery charger will work. I tried it with different kinds of chargers, but only got it to work with ones that did [b:3e025b0081]not [/b:3e025b0081]have the automatic shut-off capability.

Anyway, here's another link with someone else's electrolysis strategy:

http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/electrolyticderusting.htm

The problem with using a carbon rod for an anode is that there just isn't sufficient surface area to pass enough electrons to do much work. If you can find carbon sheet, you might have a chance. But with a 1/2" rod, only about 1/3 of it "sees" the part, so you have a [b:3e025b0081]very[/b:3e025b0081] skinny surface. Now they do work great to use for inserting down into a part to clean a bore, such as a carburetor, but I still shield them with loose plastic mesh.
 
(quoted from post at 21:43:31 11/29/12)
(quoted from post at 09:57:09 11/29/12)
Electrolysis works great on [i:26c4f31af2]lots[/i:26c4f31af2] of stuff...including rusty 100+ years old horseshoes fresh from the pasture! But on some things, it just doesn't work so well. You have to try it and see for yourself.

Also, I don't think just any battery charger will work. I tried it with different kinds of chargers, but only got it to work with ones that did [b:26c4f31af2]not [/b:26c4f31af2]have the automatic shut-off capability.

Anyway, here's another link with someone else's electrolysis strategy:

http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/electrolyticderusting.htm

The problem with using a carbon rod for an anode is that there just isn't sufficient surface area to pass enough electrons to do much work. If you can find carbon sheet, you might have a chance. But with a 1/2" rod, only about 1/3 of it "sees" the part, so you have a [b:26c4f31af2]very[/b:26c4f31af2] skinny surface. Now they do work great to use for inserting down into a part to clean a bore, such as a carburetor, but I still shield them with loose plastic mesh.

Yeah, maximizing the anode surface area is one key to the succes of this technique. A setup like your tank is ideal.

The plastic mesh is an interesting idea...I'll have to give it a try next time.

For a while I was trying to use electrolysis to de-rust some headlight buckets from a 1929 Ford truck...with very limited success. Electrolysis at the inside surface of the headlight bucket was especially poor. I thought that suspending an electrode in the headlight bucket would help, but it wasn't an overwhelming success either. Maybe part of the problem is that most of the headlamp bucket was originally copper plated. I suppose there could a preferred path for the electrical current that would inhibit electrolysis of the iron oxide.
 

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