Take it all off

[MossRoad]

Pretty neat. I remember reading some posts on it last year. As others have mentioned, I never thought of doing it on something so large.

Besides doing it outdoors so the hydrogen disperses, what other safety steps do you recommend, seeing how electricity and water are being used, etc... Any dangers of electrocution or is it similar to any outdoor power applications like holiday lighting, electric lawn tools, etc... I guess a GFCI would protect you from the 110 side of the charger, but not from the water end, correct?

Nice to hear about the water not being too toxic for the lawn. Iron has long been a secret for deep, dark green lawns.

 

[Tom_Veatch]

...
Nice to hear about the water not being too toxic for the lawn. Iron has long been a secret for deep, dark green lawns.

Just note that if you use stainless steel for your electrode, you'll wind up with chromates in the waste water. I've not run any calculations, but my gut feeling is that it would be a low, possibly negligible, concentration. But, regardless of that, it could still be considered hazardous waste.

 

[PineRidge]

Pretty neat. I remember reading some posts on it last year. As others have mentioned, I never thought of doing it on something so large.

Besides doing it outdoors so the hydrogen disperses, what other safety steps do you recommend, seeing how electricity and water are being used, etc... Any dangers of electrocution or is it similar to any outdoor power applications like holiday lighting, electric lawn tools, etc... I guess a GFCI would protect you from the 110 side of the charger, but not from the water end, correct?

Nice to hear about the water not being too toxic for the lawn. Iron has long been a secret for deep, dark green lawns.

Moss I would take the normal precautions as when using any electrical appliance outdoors. I accidentally, on purpose stuck my hand in the water while everything was plugged in and didn't feel a shock until my hand got between the electrode and the work, then I could feel it.

Your results may vary.

 

[PeterT]

Mike

Does this process take off paint as well as rust or just the rust?


Petert

 

[Tom_Veatch]

Moss I would take the normal precautions as when using any electrical appliance outdoors. I accidentally, on purpose stuck my hand in the water while everything was plugged in and didn't feel a shock until my hand got between the electrode and the work, then I could feel it.

Your results may vary.

Just to put another data point on the curve, I've done the same thing. The most I've felt is a tingling, stinging sensation on the skin; nothing I could even describe as a shock.

Take normal, common sense precautions to not make electrical contact with both electrodes simultaneously and there shouldn't be a problem. I don't know what would happen if you used a DC welder as a power source. I believe most of those are rated at 25VDC output which isn't much voltage, but they can pump a lot more amperage across a shorted or low resistance load than most 12V battery chargers - and it's amperage, not voltage, that kills. So I'd probably be a little extra cautious if you use one of those.

I would like to make one point about the waste water. After you use this process a few times, you may get tired of the gunk that builds up in the tank and on the sacrificial electrode. I recommend that you NOT use stainless steel. It may reduce the gunk buildup but it will also release chromates into the waste water and you are then faced with a toxic waste disposal problem. Best to use something like scraps of re-rod or other low alloy steels and deal with the non-hazardous gunk.

 

[jinman]

Mike, I don't know "squat" about snowplows, and normally I just blow by threads related to them, but this one caught my eye and I'm glad to see your "driveway chemistry lab" is working so well. You're using brains instead of brawn to do a very tough job. Even if you sandblasted that blade, it would be a tough job getting into all the corners and cracks. Also, you don't have to suit up in some ridiculous outfit like you do to sandblast. I'm sure your plow is going to turn out great.

I did notice that there was some rusty looking liquid on your concrete driveway. Will you have rust stains, or does it rinse away clean?

 

[PineRidge]

Jim the rust falls off the rebar and hits the drive whenever it comes out of the bath to be cleaned. Keeping the rebar cleaned speeds up the whole electrolysis process. As it starts to get caked with rust I can see the battery charger pumping less amps into the soup, since it's one of those self regulating types.

The power-washer cleans the crud right off the concrete but I don't wan't to get it to close to the soup tank right now for obvious reasons.

I can't imagine a winter without snow. Just the same every winter when there's a foot of snow on the ground I think of Texas.

 

[Farwell]

PineRidge,
I managed television news motion picture labs at a couple of stations in Northern California for around 15 years and I reclaimed silver from the ammonium thiosulfate fixer chemical using a similar process to your rust remover. I used graphite plates as anodes and a rotating stainless steel drum as a cathode to collect the silver from the solution. I never thought of using the same process to remove rust, sounds like a great idea. I still have a couple of power supplies from the units that I can use as a rust remover power source. I think they go up to 10 amps but don't remember what the output voltage is. Thanks for the rust removing education. If I ever set up the process I will take some photos and let you know how it goes.
Farwell

 

[PineRidge]

Farwell it really amazes me just how simple this process is. It's also easy to build a tank using lumber and Visqueen so that you can immerse larger items like rusted implements.

I can't think of an easier way to free rusted nuts and bolts than this method, it sure beats Power Blaster!

 

[RalphVa]

I can vouch for this electrolysis method. I used it to derust a rotary plow that I bought for my Gravely (all since sold).

The best thing to apply to the cleaned metal is one of the products that react with any rust present to make iron sulfide. You can paint right over it, once dry. Rustoleum makes one called Rust Reformer. NAPA makes another. Trustan may still be available. All these are the same.

I once applied some to parts of the Gravely snow plow that had had the paint rubbed completely off. That metal never did dull or rust.

Ralph