How to Build & Use an Electrolysis Tank - Florida Urban Homesteading Nonprofit
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ม.ค. 2017
- This video explains how to build and use an electrolysis tank. We show you why you should be using an etank, the materials needed to make a basic etank, safety concerns using an etank, and how to use the etank to clean rusty cast iron.
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Stainless is a major No. The water/electrolyte becomes hazmat (poison and environmental hazard).
I’m new to restoring cast iron for my own personal use. I really appreciate your demonstration and explanation. You made this so easy to understandThat 65-year-old woman who’s never done anything like this before could feel confident enough to try it. Thank you again and I have subscribed. Looking forward to viewing more of your videos.
With your guidance, that's what I'm doin'. Thanks, JD
You can skip getting a battery charger altogether. I used an old 12V, 3.3A power brick from Goodwill for $2 and it worked great. The wire with a stripe or dashed lines is the positive side.
Great job, loved the video. Thank you for your time
Thanks for posting this.
Great video,on to building my own tank.
thank you.
Great!
Great video….
Watching other videos. The black is a carbon deposit. The gas that comes off of this process is Hydrogen gas. (explosive). Do not use stainless steel anodes as it produces chromium. (Known cancer causing substance). FYI. Nice video.
Positive terminal produces hydrogen the negative terminal produces oxygen this is the same thing as a Hydrogen generator You can use baking soda on this to and get the same effect.i have use stainless steel and run lawnmowers off it the byproduct of this oxygen and water
Does a cookie pan work for the metal sheets.
@@jsaaverbeck8059 Yes, probably best to make sure they're clean with no surface on them, like non stick surface.
Where did you buy your battery charger. I can’t find a manual charger in the Los Angeles area. I need to have one shipped I believe. Your video is very helpful. Thank you.
@@joselatios5073 Harbor Freight
In looking at the video, I believe you should have trimmed back the end of the first wire you hooked up a bit further, as it looked as if you had the washer actually squeezing onto the insulation beneath it when you put it on and tightened the first lead wire to the metal anode. It may just be the camera angle though, but just what it looked like to me. Nice video and a great explanation of the system you use. Thanks for posting the video.
can connect the plates together using a treaded rod it will halp keep the plates upright
i didnt used plates like that but tincans with the bottom taken out cut lengthwize and bend open , didnt used a charger either but a ATX powersupply out of an old pc i converted slightly , both options cost me nothing and worked fine
Great video. Wondering if you could daisy chain the anodes with an additional green wire to complete the circuit and equalize the charge. Great job. Thanks
The process creates a perfectly balanced mixture of hydrogen and oxygen that is highly explosive if you allow it to concentrate. You are right to take precautions to avoid sparking. Ventilation is extremely important.
As a by-product the reverse electrolysis process creates iron oxide, both the rust removed from the workpiece and from the sacrificial anodes. You can collect it, roast until it's all red, then mix with powdered aluminum to make thermite. :-)
Im doing this on two cast iron knuckles from my car,, but it seems that some spots
is harder to clean even if the metal is close and im using copper wires.
Nice video. Are the nuts, bolts and hooks coated in zinc?
N1, thank you.
Did you get around to doing a follow up video & if so, where might one view it?
It looks like your steel plates are almost the same length as the tub. Seems like it would be more beneficial to turn the plates horizontally instead of standing them up like you have them to have more anode surface area in the solution? Great video..I’m getting ready to do this.
The likelihood that such a tank will be re-used suggests the need for a tank with a lid (perhaps a floating lid) and an arrangement of anode and cathode that doesn't interfere with such a lid. The cathode support, of course, can be removed and stored across the lid, but the anodes should not project above the top edge if non-evaporative storage is expected. This suggests the anode bolt(s) be run through the side wall, near the top of the container.
Information on 'resetting' the arrangement (e.g. whether to simply add sodium carbonate in water at suggested dilution, or add more sodium carbonate to remaining liquid in tank; whether to reverse anode plates, or to remove deposits with rotary brush, etc.) would be useful points to cover in a follow-up video.
Also of some relevance would be information on the relationship between liquid volume and surface area to be treated. Does more liquid make the process more efficient -- or is it just more liquid in case the same tank is pressed into service for a very large object?
I've seen videos on the subject that suggest that the physical relationship between anode and cathode affects performance of the tank i.e. that an anode that surrounds the cathodic surface will better enable electrolysis on the entire surface to be treated. This suggests a grill/mesh lining the tank, with cathodic objects centred within that. If so, can anyone suggest suitable commonplace materials that can be had for free, or cheaply, that would work?
The water is good for a while but gets to nasty and stinky after a while. I will clean quite a few things using the same water only changing anodes then dump it. The tote I use holds about 20 gallons. No big deal.
I think you might be overthinking this.
how often or at all do you change the water?
you need to edit the video and when you tell them to make sure they unplug it before they put their hands around any of it and not touch anything that could shock them tell them it could be a real shocking experience if you don’t follow that part correctly 😂🤣 very nice video enjoyed it 💯❤️👀👍
Could you list out the parts you used specifically in the description? I dabbled with a tank this week, but I like your design better :)
Apparently he can't.
@@JosephWolf 😂😂 Truth. I ended up getting a decent tank put together anyway.
Do the anode plates need to be rust free?
Nice video, but how would you place a larger item (like a 12" skillet) in the tub?
Can you hang it sideways?
Zinc or aluminum works . i do cathodic protection for a living
The battery charger is acting as a rectifier
Some people say stainless steel can give off mercury and other dangerous chemicals. Your thoughts?
I have couple of questions. I either didn't notice or you didn't say, but what setting do you set your charger too? How or where do you disposed the used water? If you disposed by dumping it outside do i have to worry about pets? Thanks for sharing.
It has baking soda And rust so so Dumping it out on the ground shouldn't be no problem whatsoever
@@rustyridenour2136 It's not baking soda
@@jtlos what did you put in it
@@rustyridenour2136 it’s washing soda. “Sodium Carbonate”. You can get Sodium Carbonate from baking soda but you have to put it on a pan in the oven at 400° to burn off the The H2O and CO2. 👍
What happens if you touch it while it is on?
Hello!
I hope you still check this from time to time, and find my question.
First, thank you you for such a detailed account of how to set up.
My problem is, I cannot find the steel. I have no Home Depot near me but would order if I knew exactly what to order.
Could you give me the info for that?
Thank you!
Use REBAR. Perfect tor electrolysis
I am curious if this would also work on old rusty tools such as pliers and wire cutters. I have a ton of old tools that got ruined from being left out in the rain
Yes. It works great.
ALAN REILLY , A lot of guy use them for tools. Anything steel, tools, car parts etc.
yes
Wldnt this cause some serious pitting
****Warning - Do not use his soap to water ratio. You should only use 1/2 cup of soda per 5 gallons of water. By his calculation he's using a full cup per 5 gallons of water. I followed his calculation based off this video since it was such a clean setup but found out my battery charger was getting overworked. Use the 1/2 cup per 5 gal. ration and it will be so much easier on your charger which will also extend its life. The first time around I had a bunch of foam. Now that I redid my tank I have minimal foam at times and not a lot of those hydrogen bubbles. Good luck all.
Edit: As a side note you don't see much foam when he pulls this pan out. That's because it only had rust. As you do more gunky skillets foam can start and if you use this ratio it will definitely start to show and will be too much.
He also said people use stainless steel as a sacrificial anode.
Do not do this.
Stainless steel will release Hexavalent chromium which is illegal to dispose of as it has been linked to causing several different cancers.
Use steel or iron or graphite as your anode
@@gujit ^^ This is absolutely incorrect. For a typical electrolysis tank for restoring cast iron home use, it is safe. I use SS and even if the hexavalent chromium is released, it's such a miniscule amount and it's outside.
This information the commenter is referring to is directed at large manufacturers that could potentially have such a large facility that it becomes relevant. This is an overblown statement from under educated folks. Truth be told though, even though I used stainless, currently using stainless, I like graphite plates better. That's what I suggest.
@@scotmaciver^^ this is very silly. so you know using stainless steel releases Hexavalent chromium which is toxic to humans but you do it anyway?
Plus it being “outside” doesn’t have anything to do with Hexavalent chromium being released. It isn’t released in the air as a gas, it’s released in the water along with the liquid, which when disposed of are toxic, a little or a lot it doesn’t matter it’s still toxic. And when there are viable alternative materials, there’s no excuse. The gases released are hydrogen and oxygen. What were you saying about under educated folks?
@@gujit You need to do better research. I'm saying that it's so minimal that it will not reach the tolerance levels to be an issue. These tolerances come into play with large-scale electroplating facilities. A typical tank uses a small battery charger which does not have anywhere near the power required to even create the hexovalent so it's really a non-issue. I've been restoring cast iron with electrolysis many years and have done extensive research on this matter and it's been brought up many times in group forums. I still argue that graphite seems to be the best solution based on my experience.
Another thing, this hexavalent issue concerns disposal, not human ingestion as there's no way to ingest it unless you are drinking the solution.
@@scotmaciver How miniscule is worth the cancer risk and poisoning the environment? How does your miniscule amount of hexavalent chromium bioaccumulate over the years compared to none? You are arguing against the safe and smart approach and calling your betters dumb.
I’m taking it from work lol
I’m finding it hard to find a manual battery charger.
Mark Baugher I got the identical manual charger on eBay for $49 with free shipping just a week ago. Try there.
You don't NEED a manual charger. You just need to "trick" the charger into thinking it's charging a battery. This can be done several ways. Setup the apparatus as described in the video and then turn it on. While it is on touch both leads with the positive and negative sides of either a battery or an old wall charger, positive to positive and negative to negative. The old wall charger can be from something else like an old phone or an old gaming system charger. Just make sure the old wall charger puts out DC voltage though and it has to be less than 12 volts or your car battery charger may not start thinking it's fully charged already.
Harbor freight. Got my last one for $19. Has been working now about a year. Plus I bought the warranty if I recall right was $15. When it quits they give me a new one.
Any special charger to buy?
Nobody knows
I use a cheap Harbor freight manual charger. Got my last one for $19. Been using the same one for a long time. Still works fine. When I am at the scrap yard getting rid of some metal I pick up small pieces of clean scrap iron to use as anodes. I was told by an old timer to only use one heaping tablespoon of soda per gallon. Works for me.
What’s the model on that charger ?
No body knows.
@@JosephWolf Exactly. Trying to find a manual charger these days isn't so easy.
I'm looking for a "manual" battery charger...EVERY "manual" I looked at stated something to the effect "in order to not overcharge the battery the charger will switch automatically to maintain mode". Does not sound "manual" to me. Any ideas?
I can find no charge on the internet that has the phrase manual select and the link in just reply is invalid
I followed these steps but nothing has happening and its been over 12 hrs. The only difference I did was I used a taller trashcan and I added the powder before I added the water. Does that make a difference? Can you add too much cleaning powder where it will effect the charge? The battery charger was bought used but we tested it and it was putting out 11.4 v but the needle on the front, never moved. Help!
You probably have an automatic charger. It will not turn on unless it senses a charge less than the amount it will charge at.
You don't NEED a manual charger. You just need to "trick" the charger into thinking it's charging a battery. This can be done several ways. Setup the apparatus as described in the video and then turn it on. While it is on touch both leads with the positive and negative sides of either a battery or an old wall charger, positive to positive and negative to negative. The old wall charger can be from something else like an old phone or an old gaming system charger. Just make sure the old wall charger puts out DC voltage though and it has to be less than 12 volts or your car battery charger may not start thinking it's fully charged already.
@@jbrown7441 I've seen people open up the charger and do some things with the wiring but it's easier in my opinion to just get a cheap manual charger from Harbor freight and buy their warranty. I paid $19 for the one I have. I think the warranty was another $15 bucks. It has so far lasted almost a year. But if it blows up the warranty will replace it.
P
12 volt is not dangerous, not even with 50 amps.
DO NOT USE STAINLESS STEEL !!!!!!!
IDIOT DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT!!!!
Jack 5657 agreed! Absolutely DANGEROUS and wrong advice!!
None of yall know what you're talking about, stainless is fine for small at home setups. It doesn't produce what industrial setups do.
@@pvt_pylee Hexavalent chromium is toxic, teratogenic, and carcinogenic in minute amounts. It also is a durable molecule that can concentrate in your well or aquifer, and it bioaccumulates. Do you want to contribute to the multiple non-point source toxic pollution, the effects of which can exceed industrial point-source pollution????????