Electrolysis feedback

Have just started to read about the use of Electrolysis as a way to remove rust.

I was on the Hobart forum and I remember someone said if you use SS, you will have a "hazords waste" product left to get rid of.

Do any of you know anything about this.

I have not tried to use this method yet, but I can see were there is a good chance I will.

But, want to learn as much as I can here first.

UG!

Well, as stainless decomposes, there would be some Chromium salts released. Both Trivalent and Hexavalent Chrome will be released into the solution THey will eventually combine with other atoms and precipitate out of the solution and fall to the bottom.

They're probably talking about Hexavalent Chrome which is the hazardous kind, but I remember from my days in Electrochemical Machining of Inconel alloys that even then the stainless filtercake had such low ppm's of HexChrome that it was still landfillable.

Really, you'd have to digest several hundred pounds of stainless steel before you could even have a few pounds of sediment, of which only millionths would be Hex Chrome, and then you would probably not have enough to supply an adequate lab sample for analysis. A normal operation in your garage will most assuredly never reach the reportable quantities spec'd by your state's EPA in a single year.

But, if you're nervous, use iron, steel, or cast, and all you'll get is soluble iron that your iron deficient plants will love.

I've been cooking parts for a couple of years now, and I tried to collect the sediment, and then dry it to store in a coffee can, and after all that time, I don't have 3 or 4 ounces of stuff, and most of it is pieces of paint.

Frank

I know little or nothing about this.

In fact, I could stand back three yards, and throw what I know thru the eye of a needle.

But, every bit I learn helps.

Thanks.

UG!

Yes, you will have to clean a wrought iron, cast iron or steel electrode as the red rust grows on it. The thicker the red rust, the fewer electrons that will pass, and the current drops. Red rust has insulating properities. That's why rusty connections on your tractor drop voltage.

Two things you can do to lessen the pain. First, as you have discovered, stainless steel used as an electrode material will last longer, stay cleaner, and keep the current flowing better over all. I have a couple of thicknesses of stainless I use. I found some 1/8" plate that is handy, and also some 20 ga sheet. The sheet is nice in that you can bend it to conform to the tank, or to the inside of things like wheel rims.

If you are forced to use iron, steel, or cast, you can clean those electrodes by reversing the current from time to time. When I was using steel fence posts cut and welded into a grid, and the tank was empty for a day, I would wire up some dirty electrodes as the part to be cleaned and have at it. Overnight did a great job.

But, were I to suggest the best material, it would be stainless. However, just because it's stainless doesn't mean that it won't break down like steel. It will, just not nearly as fast. You should have seen the look on my metal man's face when I took my old stainless electrode in to match the gauge and he saw it shot full of holes. He thought I was boiling acid or something!

Frank-in-Tallahassee
70D // 855 // VAC
wb8ens@aol.com

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