Folks Of Interest Dip Tank-- update 2-5

So.... how long will it take to dissolve ... say a 160 pound woman? Just curious...

 

hey if this work for you I may try this

 

At some point wouldn't the metal tanks get ate through also?

 

Caustic Acid (lye - drain cleaner) will eat organic (rust/paint/gunk/tree roots/human flesh-eyeballs-hands-lungs) but shouldn't eat metal/iron as I understand. Wear eye protection/don't breath fumes....

I have had multiple car parts dipped/stripped at a shop in central Illinois, their dip tank is a welded up giant roll off container and it has been there for decades.....

I think that they typically power wash with some kind of phosphoric acid metal prep, it will rust really fast if you have it in a humid environment.

 

For those of you with large tanks and wanting to use molasses, my father had his 250 gallon cattle liquid feed tanks filled by truck delivery from a local feed supply. Might make filling yours easier. Been many years, so I dont rember the cost for filling both tanks, sorry.

 

I have a 30 gal barrel using white vinegar and one cup of muriatic acid very low buck after spray wash coat with metal prep good for a couple weeks !

 

In the chemical industry, there's no such thing as "caustic acid". The word caustic implies alkali, which is the opposite of acid.

Part of the confusion might come from the unfortunate use of the word caustic as a synonym for corrosive. And both acids and alkalies are corrosive, although often to different things.

It's important to realize the difference, because iron and steel (and rust) are unaffected by alkalies, but are attacked by acid solutions.

The pH scale runs from 1 to 14, strong acids at the low numbers, neutral at 7, and strong alkalies at the top numbers.
Here's a pH scale that explains it better:

 

That`s why I have two tanks. One with Citrus Acid and the other with Sodium Hydroxide.

 

This process is impractical for me. As you can see by the attatched scan, my electric bill is through the roof. I receive one of these every month. I work from home in an oversized 2-car garage. It as well as my house is insulated and have current heat/air in my house as well as siding and windows. As compared to other houses, my rating is usually ranked at 92 to 99 percent out of 100 homes as far as energy consumption.

 

So it has been more than 3 months since I last posted. I bought 30 pounds of citrus Acid. Food grade. And my tank is similar to the other one. Have had exellent results. I leave the parts in for a week and come out rust free. They don`t flash rust either. I also take these parts to the car wash for a final rinse. I just got back a few minutes ago. The temp outside is 10degrees. I put them in my heated shop for a thaw and to dry. I did end up buying a tank heater. It also works good. I`ll have to add pics later. I have a set of seat frames from a 57 Chevy to add to the tank tomarrow for derusting. In December, the temp got down to -15 and froze up bad. Bought a tank heater and finally thawed out. I had parts in there for 2 months with no damage done for being in for so long. Just to see what would happen. I need to throw some seat springs from a 47 Daimond T in also.

 

Here is a header bow off of a 66 Cad I put in my tank. Before and after pic`s. I left it in the tank for a month or so, the tank was frozen so I couldn`t get the piece out. The bottom pic was taken much later with the surface untreated.