Gas tank cleaning machine.....

[tkent02]

Im sure it works, but I don't have room for a clothes dryer in the shop and I'm not doing a gas tank in the laundry.

[Eli69]

i don't think a tank fits in a dryer. i tried mine (after my wife left for work). it did fit in my cement mixer.

[Deuce]

i don't think a tank fits in a dryer. i tried mine (after my wife left for work). it did fit in my cement mixer.

You must have a huge tank or a tiny dryer.

By the way, I thought I got an email stating Photobucket was up and running. Never mind, still down.

[tkent02]

This thing is running fine now. Windshield wiper motor, tank rocking back and forth, kerosene sloshing around inside. Need to go get some pumice or something to give it a little tooth to scrape the rust off. I'd use aquarium rocks but they sink, need something mildly abrasive that floats in kerosene. Any ideas? Does pumice float in kerosene?

[Fjbj40]

How about corks with finishing nails drove through?

[Nessism]

Why kerosene? Are you cleaning varnish out of the tank? Cleaning varnish requires a different technique compared to derusting. For derusting you are going to want something acidic.

[tkent02]

Kerosene, because it's a lot safer to use than gasoline. If I wanted to use acid I wouldn't have built a tank cleaning machine.
That's the whole idea, to clean it without making it want to flash rust again right away.

Most of my tanks have just a tiny bit of surface rust inside. Old dried gunk at the bottom and some old varnish smelling gasoline. Not worth going all medieval with nasty chemicals.


I like the idea of corks with screws sticking out. Might try that if the pumice doesn't float... But just the kerosene with the rocking and sloshing motion is getting them pretty clean inside.

[Crankthat]

Really like kero.
Use it in tanks I have stored also.
Keeps them nice!

[AMK]

Quads don't suck.

[tkent02]

Quads don't suck.

You should see what they've done to the trails around here.

[DohcBikes]

Quads don't suck.

Couches for lazy riders

[wymple]

I built a 55 gallon tumbler. Put some abrasive in the tank, wrap it in a blanket & let it roll as long as it takes.

[Phred]

I dumped 4 litres of evaporust in mine and turned it around every 3 or 4 hours for a few days. Evaporust removes the rust through chelation and does not attack the steel. When it was clean I dumped out the evaporust, blew the tank out with air and fed an old sheet into it to pick up any residue. The tank came out as clean as a whistle.

[wymple]

Evapo-Rust is really good stuff. I use it on fine, intricate stuff such as gun parts. It's great for cleaning up areas you can't get to with brushes, etc. Never harms the metal and can be saved & reused many times.

[Nessism]

I agree that EvapoRust is great stuff...for derusting. For what Tom is doing, not so much. It won't remove varnish.

Every time one of these threads pops up people chime in with their favorite methods, which are numerous. My personal favorite to derust is phosphoric acid. It leaves behind a thin phosphate coating which helps ward off flash rust. And speaking of that, a couple of pints of IA and a can of WD-40 after rinsing will help quickly dry out the tank after rinsing. Using this method the flash rust is minimal and washes away with a couple tanks of fuel.