Clean out that Rusty Tank

Retiredgentleman · Posted: May 3, 2007, 4:45 pm Post subject: Clean out that Rusty Tank

I had read about rusty tanks from 2 months ago and since my 78 special has a rusty tank, I just had to try cleaning it out. Royfisk said Electrolysis was the way to go so here is how it worked for me.
Removed petcocks and covered holes with aluminum plates and rubber gaskets. Added 11 litres water and 1/2 cup "Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda". Made up "Anode" from coat hanger and placed into tank filler. Connected battery and charger in parallel, with positive connected to the anode and negative connected to the bare metal on rear of tank. I found that the current flow is slightly less than 1 Amp ( I thought it would be higher, but this small current flow gets the job done.) My charger cycles on and off but only went up to 3 Amps. I ran this set up for 5 days for a total of 48 hours. I drained the electrolyte at the end of each day. You will need to remove the anode (coat hanger) about every 4 hours to clean off the nasty green and brown crud. When finished I flushed the tank with clean water. Next, I added 1/2 litre phosphoric acid mixed with 1/2 litre water and agitated tank. Left the acid mix in the tank for 2 hours and agitated it every 30 minutes. Drained out the acid/water mix and flushed with water. Added 1 litre rubbing alcohol and agitated tank , then drained alcohol. Blow dry tank with hair blower and then sprayed WD40 on inside of tank.
Tank is clean right down to bare metal. This is a very impressive method and cost is very little. I hope this is helpful to others with those rusty tanks. . The pail shows the the colour of the electrolyte after the first day. I'll try to put a few more pictures in my gallery.

slim · New Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 1

The product that i used on my bike's tank was called KREEM. it worked awesome and didnt cost very much, but it is somewhat difficult to find

rwreed · Posted: May 4, 2007, 7:17 am Post subject: Re: Clean out that Rusty Tank

Slim,
Welcome aboard. My username is rwreed but I go by Slim. Hope we can share some stories.

Retiredgentleman,
I have several questions about your setup. I see in your gallery has several pics associated with this thread.

1. Is the "W" shaped crusty device your anode? I am assuming it is.

2. I also assume you stripped the laquer coating off the hanger before starting?

3. How did you support it so it so it didn't touch the side of the tank?

4. Did you have your charger set to 2 or 10 amps?

Slim (rwreed)

Retiredgentleman · Posted: May 4, 2007, 11:26 pm Post subject: Re: Clean out that Rusty Tank

rwreed;
Thats correct, the "W" is the coat hanger Anode. Oops, I didn't even think about the lacquer coating, but it worked anyway. To support the Anode, I found a plastic tapered cup and drilled 2 holes in the bottom. Just find something that is a poor conductor and will sit in the tank filler hole.
The charger was set on 10 Amps and worked automatically to turn on and off every few minutes. When the battery voltage reached 14.5 volts the charger shut off, when battery voltage fell to 13 volts the charger came back on.
Total cost for the washing soda/acid/rubbing alcohol about $19.00 (Canadian bucks, so even less for US bucks)

dryeager · Posted: June 4, 2007, 10:58 am Post subject: Re: Clean out that Rusty Tank

I used this method but my problem was the "anode" completely denigrated in the tank! What did I do wrong?

jayel · Posted: June 4, 2007, 11:06 am Post subject: Re: Clean out that Rusty Tank

change it for a new one or more often, or use a heavier gauge wire as a anode

dryeager · Posted: June 4, 2007, 11:08 am Post subject: Re: Clean out that Rusty Tank

I used a coat hanger. maybe it was my charger.

Xumi · Posted: June 4, 2007, 11:18 am Post subject: Re: Clean out that Rusty Tank

dryeager wrote:

I used this method but my problem was the "anode" completely denigrated in the tank! What did I do wrong?

You didn't do anything wrong.. that's why it's called a sacrificial anode. Change it for a new one and finish the procedure. You're on the right track!

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